The 1919 Plymouth Sutton by-election was a
parliamentary by-election held on 28 November 1919
for the
British House of Commons constituency of
Sutton
Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to:
Places
United Kingdom
England
In alphabetical order by county:
* Sutton, Bedfordshire
* Sutton, Berkshire, a location
* Sutton-in-the-Isle, Ely, Cambridgeshire
* ...
in the city of
Plymouth,
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
.
The seat had become vacant when the constituency's
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
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 o ...
(MP),
Waldorf Astor, succeeded the peerage as the second
Viscount Astor
Viscount Astor, of Hever Castle in the County of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1917 for the financier and statesman William Waldorf Astor, 1st Baron Astor. He had already been created Baron Astor, of ...
on the death of
his father on 18 October 1919.
Astor had held the seat since the
1918 general election, and its predecessor
Plymouth since the
December 1910 general election.
Candidates
* The Conservative Party selected as its candidate Astor's wife
Nancy, Lady Astor. She was also the candidate of the
Coalition Government.
* The
Asquithian Liberals stood
Isaac Foot
Isaac Foot (23 February 1880 – 13 December 1960) was a British Liberal politician and solicitor.
Early life
Isaac Foot was born in Plymouth, the son of a carpenter and undertaker who was also named Isaac Foot, and educated at Plymouth Publi ...
, who had served on Plymouth City Council and had previously contested
Totnes
Totnes ( or ) is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England, within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is about west of Paignton, about west-southwest of Torquay and abo ...
and
Bodmin.
* W. T. Gay stood for
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
, having done so in the 1918 election.
Thomas William Mercer again served as his agent.
[Joyce Bellamy, "Mercer, Thomas William (1884-1947)", ''Dictionary of Labour Biography'', vol.I, pp.238-239]
Results
Lady Astor retained the seat. She became the first woman to take up her seat in the Commons (the first woman to be elected,
Countess Markievicz
Constance Georgine Markievicz ( pl, Markiewicz ; ' Gore-Booth; 4 February 1868 – 15 July 1927), also known as Countess Markievicz and Madame Markievicz, was an Irish politician, revolutionary, nationalist, suffragist, socialist, and the firs ...
, the
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...
MP for
Dublin St Patrick's
Dublin St Patrick's, a division of Dublin, was a borough constituency in Ireland. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the United Kingdom House of Commons from 1885 until 1922.
From the dissolution of 1922, the area was no longer repre ...
, refused to take her seat).
Votes
See also
*
List of United Kingdom by-elections
The list of by-elections in the United Kingdom is divided chronologically by parliament:
Parliament of the United Kingdom
*List of United Kingdom by-elections (1801–1806)
* List of United Kingdom by-elections (1806–1818)
* List of United King ...
*
Plymouth Sutton constituency
References
*
*
{{By-elections to the 31st UK Parliament
Plymouth Sutton by-election
By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Devon constituencies
Plymouth Sutton by-election
Elections in Plymouth, Devon
20th century in Plymouth, Devon
Plymouth Sutton by-election
1910s in Devon