The 1926 Howdenshire by-election was a parliamentary

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

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 Howdenshire in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

on 25 November 1926.

Vacancy

The by-election was caused by the resignation of the sitting Conservative MP, Hon. F.S. Jackson on 3 November 1926. He had been MP here since winning the seat in the

1915 Howdenshire by-election The 1915 Howdenshire by-election was held on 10 February 1915. The by-election was held due to the death of the incumbent Conservative MP, Henry Harrison-Broadley. It was won by the Conservative candidate Stanley Jackson who was unopposed due t ...

Election history

The constituency was created in 1885 and had been won by the Unionist candidate at every election to date. The result at the last general election was Previously, the only recent contested elections had seen an Agriculture candidate easily beaten in 1922 and a Liberal beaten with the help of the Coalition coupon in 1918.

Candidates

58-year-old William Carver had been the prearranged candidate of the Howdenshire Unionist Association. He had been in business in

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

since 1890 and had been President of the Hull

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...

since 1925. He had been a member of the

East Riding County Council East Riding County Council (ERCC) was the county council of the East Riding of Yorkshire (excluding the county borough of Kingston upon Hull) from 1 April 1889 to 31 March 1974. Chairmen * 1889–1890: David Burton (resigned) * 1890–1891: B ...

since 1915. He was standing for parliament for the first time. 65-year-old Frederick Linfield was hurriedly chosen by the Liberals to fight the seat. He had sat as Liberal MP for Mid Bedfordshire from 1922 to 1923 when he was defeated. He had stood there again at the last general election. In 1924 he was appointed as a Member of the East African Parliamentary Commission. The report of the Parliamentary Commission was published in May 1925 and various proposals for development and reform were put forward. Linfield also wrote a 13-page supplementary memorandum to the report in which he proposed the setting up of an Imperial Development Board. He followed this up with an article in the Contemporary Review of March 1926 on ‘Empire Development’. A Labour candidate, John Kneeshaw also emerged. He had been the Labour candidate for Birmingham Ladywood in 1918, finishing second.

Campaign

The resigning MP, F.S. Jackson was Chairman of the Conservative Party which meant that the party both locally and nationally were not caught unprepared about the vacancy and they were able to move swiftly to announce a polling day of 26 November, just 22 days after his resignation. Thus the campaign was very short, leaving little time for the opposition parties to respond. A keen fight was anticipated, especially on land and agricultural issues in what was to be a three-cornered contest.

Result

On polling day it was reported that voting was interfered with by fog and early polling was very light.''The Times'', 26 November 1926 Carver held the seat for the Unionists, while the Labour candidate losing his deposit.

Aftermath

Established as the main challengers, the Liberals, with a new candidate, at the 1929 general election just failed to unseat Carver. Linfield stood at

Horncastle Horncastle is a town and civil parish in the East Lindsey district in Lincolnshire, east of Lincoln. Its population was 6,815 at the 2011 census and estimated at 7,123 in 2019. A section of the ancient Roman walls remains. History Romans Alt ...

and came second. Kneeshaw did not stand for parliament again and the Labour party did not field a candidate at Howdenshire again until 1935. The result at the following general election;

References

{{By-elections to the 34th UK Parliament 1926 in England Elections in the East Riding of Yorkshire 1926 elections in the United Kingdom By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Yorkshire and the Humber constituencies 1920s in the East Riding of Yorkshire