Smethwick by-election, 1945
The Smethwick by-election, 1945 was a by-election held on 1 October 1945 for the British House of Commons constituency of Smethwick in Staffordshire (now in the West Midlands county).
The by-election was caused by the death of the town's newly elected Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP), 63-year-old Alfred Dobbs, who was killed in a car accident on 27 July 1945, only one day after his election at the 1945 general election[1] Apart from some MPs who were elected posthumously, Dobbs remains the United Kingdom's shortest-serving MP.
There were only two candidates in the by-election, Labour and Conservative; the Liberal Party had not fielded a candidate in Smethwick since the 1929 general election.
The result was a victory for the Labour candidate Patrick Gordon Walker, who held the seat comfortably with a slightly increased majority on a slightly reduced turnout. Gordon Walker was an MP for nearly 30 years, serving twice as a Cabinet minister.
Votes
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Patrick Gordon Walker | 19,364 | 68.8 | +2.9 | |
| Conservative | G.H. Edgar | 8,762 | 31.2 | −2.9 | |
| Majority | 10,602 | 37.6 | +5.8 | ||
| Turnout | 43,020 | 65.4 | −7.0 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | 2.9 | |||
References
- ↑ "M.P. Killed in Car Crash". Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail. 28 July 1945. Retrieved 27 May 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
- ↑ Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
- ↑ "1945 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 2012-02-06. Retrieved 2015-08-11.