The 1936 Combined Scottish Universities 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 from 27 to 31 January 1936 for the Combined Scottish Universities, a

university constituency A university constituency is a constituency, used in elections to a legislature, that represents the members of one or more universities rather than residents of a geographical area. These may or may not involve plural voting, in which voters ar ...

of 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 ...

Vacancy

The seat had become vacant when the Unionist

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 ...

(MP)

Noel Skelton Archibald Noel Skelton (1 July 1880 – 22 November 1935) was a Scottish Unionist politician, journalist and intellectual. Early life The son of Sir John Skelton KCB LLD, Skelton was born on 1 July 1880 at Hermitage of Braid in Edinburgh ...

had died at the age of 55 on 22 November 1935, 3 days before being returned posthumously at the 1935 general election. A lawyer, journalist and Conservative intellectual, he had held the seat since being elected unopposed at the 1931 general election.

Candidates

The Unionists and their

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 ...

allies were the dominant group in the National Government, whose parties did not usually stand candidates against each other. A by-election in a Unionist-held seat would therefore normally have been contested by a Unionist candidate, but in this case there was a need to find a seat for

Ramsay MacDonald James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the first who belonged to the Labour Party, leading minority Labour governments for nine months in 1924 ...

of National Labour, who had been defeated in his Seaham constituency at the 1935 general election. He had led the National Government from 1931 to 1935 and remained

Lord President of the Council The lord president of the Council is the presiding officer of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and the fourth of the Great Officers of State (United Kingdom), Great Officers of State, ranking below the Lord High Treasurer but above the ...

, so the other government parties agreed that he should contest this by-election, the first since the general election. The Labour Party, which formed the

official opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''th ...

at Westminster, fielded

David Cleghorn Thomson David Cleghorn Thomson (9 October 1900 – 23 April 1980), was a Scottish journalist, author, poet, playwright, and Liberal and Labour Party politician. He was notably Director of the BBC's Scottish Region. Background Thomson was born in Edinb ...

. As a Liberal candidate, Thomson had contested Willesden West 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 ...

and Edinburgh South in

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

. After joining Labour, he stood as the Labour candidate in

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * ...

. The third candidate was

Andrew Dewar Gibb Andrew Dewar Gibb MBE QC (13 February 1888 – 24 January 1974) was a Scottish advocate, barrister, professor and politician. He taught law at Edinburgh and Cambridge, and was Regius Professor of Law at the University of Glasgow 1934–1958.

, of the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

. Gibb, who was Regius Professor of Law at Glasgow University, had also contested the seat in the 1935 general election.

Result

The result was a clear victory for MacDonald, who won over 56% of the votes. However his physical and mental health collapsed later in the year, exacerbated by the death of King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. Born duri ...

a week before polling; a sea voyage was recommended to restore his health, and he died at sea in November 1937, triggering another by-election.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Combined Scottish Universities By-Election, 1936 1936 in Scotland 1930s elections in Scotland 1936 elections in the United Kingdom By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in the Combined Scottish Universities Ramsay MacDonald

Vacancy

Candidates

Result

See also

References

Sources