William Reginald Hipwell

William Reginald Hipwell or Reg Hipwell (died 1966) was a populist forces journalist and parliamentary candidate.

Background

Hipwell was born in Olney, Buckinghamshire. He attended Rugby School. He was President of the Horse-Brass Society.^[1]

Career

Hipwell was the founder^[2] and editor of Reveille, a " barrack room newspaper for the fighting forces",^[3] and stood as an Independent Progressive in four Parliamentary by-elections during the Second World War when the major parties honoured a war time electoral truce. His campaigns focused on complaints about the conditions of services personnel.^[4] He campaigned for an increase in pay for servicemen and their dependents. He said that he admired "many of the planks in the Conservative platform, yet he felt he also stood for the best that the Labour and Liberal parties had to offer".^[5] He was also the agent for the successful independent candidate, William Brown in the Rugby by-election, 1942. At the 1945 General Election he contested Eastbourne as an Independent National, finishing fourth and did not stand for parliament again.

Electoral record

Hampstead by-election, 1941
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Challen	7,630	67.4	-5.8
	National Independent	Noel Pemberton Billing	2,734	24.1	N/A
	Independent Progressive	William Reginald Hipwell	636	5.6	N/A
	Independent	A.L. Dolland	326	2.9	N/A
Majority			4,896	43.3	N/A
Turnout			65,511	17.3	-41.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Scarborough and Whitby by-election, 1941
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alexander Cadwallader Mainwaring Spearman	12,518	60.8
	Independent Progressive	William Reginald Hipwell	8,086	39.2
Majority			4,432
Turnout				35.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Salisbury by-election, 1942
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Morrison	12,076	67.8	−3.7
	Independent Progressive	William Reginald Hipwell	3,218	18.1	N/A
	Independent Democrat	J. D. Monro	2,519	14.1	N/A
Majority			8,858	49.7	+6.7
Turnout			17,813	39.7	−26.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

The Hartlepools by-election, 1943[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Col. Thomas George Greenwell	13,333	64.1	+16.3
	Common Wealth	Elaine Frances Burton	3,634	17.4	n/a
	The People's Candidate	Oswald Tupton	2,351	11.3	n/a
	Independent Progressive	William Reginald Hipwell	1,510	7.2	n/a
Majority			9,699	46.7	+36.0
Turnout				39.5	-43.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1945: Eastbourne
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Stuart Taylor	18,173	53.24
	Labour	Duncan Newman Smith	12,637	37.02
	Liberal	John Stafford Gowland	2,797	8.19
	Independent National	William Reginald Hipwell	524	1.54
Majority			5,536	16.22
Turnout				77.35
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

1. Mr. John Gawsworth. "Mr. W. R. Hipwell." Times [London, England] 10 Mar. 1966: 12. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 30 Apr. 2016.
2. By-Elections in British Politics, Cook & Ramsden
3. "Investigation into the affairs of W.R. Hipwell of "The Reveille"". The National Archives. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
4. "An Outbreak of 'Ginger'". The Times. 29 September 1941.
5. By-Elections in British Politics, Cook & Ramsden
6. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig, F. W. S.