The 1923 Anglesey by-election was a parliamentary by-election for the

British House of Commons 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 mem ...

constituency of Anglesey on 7 April 1923.

Vacancy

The by-election was caused by the death of the sitting Labour MP, Sir Owen Thomas on 17 January 1923. He had been MP here since winning the seat in 1918.

Election history

Anglesey had been won by either the Liberal Party or the Whigs at every election since 1784, until Thomas surprisingly gained it as an independent Labour candidate in 1918. He held onto it at the 1922 general election, standing as an Independent. The result at the last General Election was as follows;

Candidates

*The Labour party selected Edward John to defend the seat. He had been Liberal MP for

East Denbighshire East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

from December 1910-18. John, a pacifist, had left the Liberals to stand unsuccessfully as a Labour candidate in 1918. He was a prominent Welsh Nationalist. *The Liberal candidate was again

Sir Robert Thomas ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

, the former Wrexham MP who had fought here at the 1922 general election. Thomas was a ship and insurance broker. Thomas had been allied to Lloyd George and had stood as a National Liberal last time. Even though the Liberals nationally had been divided between followers of Asquith and Lloyd George, the local Liberals managed to unite behind Thomas. *Even though the Coalition Government between the National Liberals and the Unionists had ended, the local Unionists chose not to contest the seat in 1922. However, for the by-election, they decided to intervene and field their own candidate, Richard Owen Roberts. Roberts had stood for the Unionists at Anglesey in 1910. He was a Barrister and sat on the London County Council for Lewisham East.

Campaign

Labour's campaign was supported by visits from national figures such as Arthur Henderson, and a host of Labour MPs from south Wales such as David Watts Morgan, Tom Griffiths,

David Grenfell David Rhys Grenfell, (16 June 1881 – 21 November 1968), sometimes known as Dai Grenfell, was a Welsh Member of Parliament. He represented the Gower constituency for the Labour Party from 1922 to 1959. Early life Grenfell was born on 16 Ju ...

and T. I. Mardy Jones, as well as prominent Welsh nationalist figures such as future Liberal MP

William John Gruffydd William John Gruffydd (14 February 1881 – 29 September 1954) was a Welsh scholar, poet, writer and editor, and the last Member of Parliament to represent the University of Wales seat. Gruffydd was elected to Parliament as a Liberal Member of ...

and Principal Thomas Rees. John called for Welsh Home Rule, even though it was not Labour party policy.

Result

The Liberal party gained the seat from Labour and the Unionists trailed a poor third; The good Liberal result spurred moves towards Liberal reunion at a national level. Within days, the two Liberal groups in the House of Lords decided to accept Viscount Grey as their leader in the Lords.

Aftermath

Sir Robert Thomas sat for the constituency until retiring in 1929. The Liberal Party held the constituency until 1951. The result at the following General election; John did not stand again. Roberts did not stand again and became a County Court Judge in 1924.

Vacancy

Election history

Candidates

Campaign

Result

Aftermath

See also

Notes and references

Further reading