The 1929 Kilmarnock by-election was a

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 ...

held on 27 September 1929 for the British House of Commons constituency of Kilmarnock in Ayrshire. The first Scottish by-election since the general election in May 1929, it was won by the Labour Party candidate Craigie Aitchison.

Vacancy

The seat had become vacant when the sitting

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 ...

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),

Robert Climie Robert Climie (4 January 1868 – 3 October 1929) was a Scottish trade unionist and Labour Party (UK) politician. Robert was born in Kilmarnock, Scotland on 4 January 1868. He was the son of bonnet weaver Mary McGarvie and underground colliery ...

had died at the age of 61 on 3 October 1929. He had held the seat since the general election in May 1929, having previously been Kilmarnock's MP from

1923 Events January–February * January 9 – Lithuania begins the Klaipėda Revolt to annex the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory). * January 11 – Despite strong British protests, troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area, t ...

until his defeat in the 1924 general election.

Candidates

The Labour Party candidate was 47-year-old Craigie Aitchison KC, who had been the Lord Advocate of Scotland since June 1929. He had stood as a

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

candidate in Clackmannan and East Stirlingshire at the

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éireann, the day after Éamon de Valera ...

and 1923 general elections. He had contested the 1924 general election as a Labour candidate in The Hartlepools, and in May 1929 came within a small margin of winning the Unionist-held Glasgow Central seat. The Unionist candidate was 41-year-old Charles MacAndrew, who had won the seat from Climie in 1924, but lost it again in May 1929. The third candidate was

Isabel Brown Isabel Brown (6 December 1894 – 22 October 1984) was a British communist activist. Born in Tyneside, Brown obtained a scholarship to attend the Sunderland Teacher Training College. Initially highly religious, she changed her views as a resul ...

, of the Communist Party of Great Britain. The Liberals, who had finished third at the general election, did not field a candidate.

Result

The result was a victory for the Labour candidate, Craigie Aitchison, who held the seat with an increased share of the vote. However, his majority was lower than Climie's, the Unionists having benefited from the absence of a Liberal candidate. Aitchison was re-elected at the 1931 general election as a National Labour candidate, having sided with Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald when the Labour Party split and MacDonald formed a National Government with the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. He resigned his seat in 1933, when he was appointed

Lord Justice Clerk The Lord Justice Clerk is the second most senior judge in Scotland, after the Lord President of the Court of Session. Originally ''clericus justiciarie'' or Clerk to the Court of Justiciary, the counterpart in the criminal courts of the Lord ...

. MacAndrew returned to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

as MP for Glasgow Partick.

Votes

Sources

* * {{Westminster by-elections in Scotland 1900–1949 By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Scottish constituencies 1929 in Scotland 1920s elections in Scotland 1929 elections in the United Kingdom Politics of Kilmarnock

Vacancy

Candidates

Result

Votes

See also

Sources