The 1931 Islington East by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 19 February 1931 for 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. ...

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger State (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...

Islington East Islington East was a United Kingdom constituencies, constituency which returned one Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United ...

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nort ...

. The seat had become vacant when the

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 of ...

, Dr

Ethel Bentham Ethel Bentham, (5 January 1861 – 19 January 1931) was a progressive doctor, a politician and a suffragist in the United Kingdom. She was born in London, educated at Alexandra School and College in Dublin, the London School of Medicine for W ...

, died on 19 January 1931, aged 70. She had held the seat since the 1929 general election.

Candidates

Labour selected as its candidate the 45-year-old

Leah Manning Dame Elizabeth Leah Manning DBE (''née'' Perrett; 14 April 1886 – 15 September 1977) was a British educationalist, social reformer, and Labour Member of Parliament (MP) in the 1930s and 1940s. She organised the evacuation of orphaned or at ...

, President of the

National Union of Teachers The National Union of Teachers (NUT; ) was a trade union for school teachers in Education in England, England, Education in Wales, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It was a member of the Trades Union Congress. In March 2017, NU ...

. 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 ...

candidate was

Thelma Cazalet Thelma Cazalet-Keir CBE (née Cazalet; 28 May 1899 – 13 January 1989) was a British feminist and Conservative Party politician. Early life Thelma Cazalet was born in London, the third child - of four - and only daughter, of William Marshall ...

, a 31-year-old

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

and member of the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

. The Liberal candidate was

Horace Crawfurd Horace Evelyn Crawfurd (13 January 1881 – 14 March 1958) was a Liberal Party politician in the United Kingdom. Professional career Crawfurd was a lecturer at Liverpool University. In 1930, Elinor Glyn Ltd employed Crawfurd to undertake the pub ...

, who had been the MP for Walthamstow West from 1924 until his defeat at the 1929 general election. The fourth candidate, Air Commodore Alfred Critchley, was referred to by

as "the Beaverbrook candidate". He stood for the

Empire Free Trade Crusade The Empire Free Trade Crusade was a political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded by Lord Beaverbrook in July 1929 to press for the British Empire to become a free trade bloc. The group was founded to oppose both the Labour minority go ...

and the

United Empire Party The Empire Free Trade Crusade was a political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded by Lord Beaverbrook in July 1929 to press for the British Empire to become a free trade bloc. The group was founded to oppose both the Labour minority ...

, which both sought to make the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...

bloc. The Empire Crusade had won the Paddington South by-election in October 1930, and hoped to repeat its success. Critchley had been the Conservative candidate in

Manchester Gorton Manchester Gorton is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Labour's Afzal Khan, who was elected at the 2017 general election. It is the safest Labour seat in Greater Manchester by numerical majority and ...

in 1929.

Results

On a reduced turnout, Manning held the seat for Labour with a majority of 2,277 votes. Critchley came second with 27.2% of the votes, a setback for the Empire Crusade.

Aftermath

The Empire Crusade also failed to win the Westminster St George's by-election in March. At the 1931 general election, Cazalet won the seat by a large majority, serving as Islington East's MP until her defeat by Labour's Eric Fletcher at the 1945 general election. After her defeat in 1931, Manning did not return to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

until her victory in

Epping Epping may refer to: Places Australia * Epping, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Epping railway station, Sydney * Electoral district of Epping, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly * Epping Forest, Kearns, a he ...

in 1945. Critchley rejoined the Conservative Party, and won the Twickenham by-election in 1934.

References

* * {{By-elections to the 35th UK Parliament Islington East by-election Islington East,1931 Islington East by-election Islington East,1931 Islington East by-election

Candidates

Results

Aftermath

See also

References