The

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Ro ...

by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 7 June 1918. The constituency returned one

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) to the

House of Commons of the United Kingdom The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 me ...

, elected by the

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

voting system.

Vacancy

Sir Gilbert Parker Sir Horatio Gilbert George Parker, 1st Baronet (23 November 1862 – 6 September 1932), known as Gilbert Parker, Canadian novelist and British politician, was born at Camden East, Addington, Ontario, the son of Captain Joseph Parker, R.A. Edu ...

had been Conservative MP for the seat of Gravesend since the 1900 general elections. In 1918, Parker resigned his seat.

Electoral history

Parker had encountered few problems in holding the seat for the Conservatives, even in the Liberal landslide year of 1906. At the previous general election in 1910, Parker had a comfortable majority.

Candidates

Alexander Richardson was chosen to defend the seat for both the Unionist Party and the Coalition Government. He was a 54 year old engineering journalist and editor.‘RICHARDSON, Sir Alexander’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 ; online edn, April 201
accessed 22 May 2017
/ref> He was standing for parliament for the first time. Due to the war-time electoral truce, he faced no opposition from either the Liberal Party or the Labour Patty. He faced two opponents, Alderman Henry Edward Davis running as an Independent Unionist and Harry Hinkley running as an Independent Labour candidate. Alderman Davis also supported the Coalition Government.

Campaign

Polling Day was fixed for 7 June 1918.

Result

The Unionists held the seat with a reduced share of the vote.

Aftermath

At the general election later that year, Richardson was again endorsed by the Coalition Government. He again faced Davis and Hinkley. Hinkley this time being endorsed by the right-wing National Party. The Labour and Liberal parties also ran candidates, splitting the ant-coalition government vote and Richardson thus won easily.

References

{{By-elections to the 30th UK Parliament 1918 in England 1918 elections in the United Kingdom

Gravesham History of Gravesend, Kent By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Kent constituencies 1910s in Kent