The 1933 Ashford 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

Ashford Ashford may refer to: Places Australia *Ashford, New South Wales *Ashford, South Australia *Electoral district of Ashford, South Australia Ireland *Ashford, County Wicklow *Ashford Castle, County Galway United Kingdom * Ashford, Kent, a town ** ...

on 17 March 1933.

Vacancy

The by-election was caused by the sitting

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 i ...

MP,

Michael Knatchbull Michael Herbert Rudolf Knatchbull, 5th Baron Brabourne, (8 May 1895 – 23 February 1939) was a British peer and soldier, the son of the 4th Baron Brabourne. Early life Born on 8 May 1895 to Cecil Knatchbull-Hugessen, 4th Baron Brabourne, an ...

's succession to the peerage on 15 February 1933. He had been MP here since gaining the seat in 1931.

Election history

Ashford had been gained by the Conservatives from the Liberals at the last election. The Liberals had gained the seat in 1929, the only occasion since the war that the Conservatives did not win. The result at the last General election was as follows;

Candidates

The local Conservatives selected 48-year-old Patrick Spens as candidate to defend the seat. He served in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

as an adjutant in the 5th battalion of the

Queen's Royal Regiment The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) was a line infantry regiment of the English and later the British Army from 1661 to 1959. It was the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, behind only the Royal Scots in the British Ar ...

. After the war Spens started practising as a lawyer and became a

King's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

(KC) in 1925. He unsuccessfully contested St Pancras South West in the 1929 general election. The Liberals selected 52-year-old Wesleyan minister and former MP for the seat, Rev. Roderick Kedward as candidate. During the First World War, Kedward served in Egypt and France.The Times, 7 December 1923 He was invalided out of the army in October 1916 with 'trench fever' but served as president of ex-servicemen's associations after the war. He unsuccessfully contested the Kingston upon Hull Central constituency at the 1918 general election. He stood in Bermondsey West at the 1922 general election. At the next election in

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 ...

, he was elected as the Bermondsey West

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 ...

but was defeated at the 1924 general election. Transferring his political allegiance to his original home area, Kedward stood at the 1929 general election for

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. He won a remarkable victory with a swing of over 20% from the Tories to the Liberals. During this time, Kedward was strongly associated with the National Tithe-payers Association, a group which campaigned against the collection of tithes by the Church of England mainly for the upkeep of the clergy and which was unevenly levied across the country, hitting some areas harder than others. In

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 ...

, having sided with the Simonite faction in the Liberal party, Kedward fought Ashford as a Liberal National but was defeated as the local Conservatives refused to endorse his candidacy, seeing him as too radical and disliking his overt non-conformism (anti-tithe stance). The local Labour party selected W J Beck as candidate. Labour had not contested the seat in 1931 and in 1929 their candidate had finished a poor third.

Main Issues and Campaign

Polling Day was set for 17 March 1933. At this point, the leading Liberal ministers had all resigned from government office, however, they remained supporters of the National Government and sat on the government benches. Many in the Liberal party outside parliament felt that the Liberals should now sit on the opposition benches. Only four Liberals, including

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during t ...

had been elected in 1931 and gone into opposition. In February 1932, a fifth Liberal MP,

Harry Nathan Harry Louis Nathan, 1st Baron Nathan, (2 February 1889 – 23 October 1963) was a British Liberal politician who from 1934 onwards represented the Labour Party. He served two London seats non-consecutively and while serving the second seat w ...

had also moved into opposition. Roderic Kedward, the Liberal candidate, declared that he was contesting the election as a candidate opposed to the National government and would sit on the opposition Liberal benches if he were elected. This allowed Kedward the freedom to criticise the government on a wide range of issues during the campaign. However, his stance highlighted the awkward position of the Liberals in parliament.

Result

Despite a small swing against the National Government, the Conservative managed to hold on to the seat because the Labour intervention split the anti-Tory vote.

Aftermath

The Liberal Party formally moved into opposition to the National government in November 1933. Spens was re-elected in 1935. In 1937 Kedward died from the sudden onset of a duodenal ulcer. The result at the following General election;

References

* Who's Who: www.ukwhoswho.com