The 1940 Spen Valley 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 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 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, ...

of Spen Valley on 1 June 1940. The seat had become vacant when the Liberal National Member of Parliament

Sir John Simon John Allsebrook Simon, 1st Viscount Simon, (28 February 1873 – 11 January 1954), was a British politician who held senior Cabinet posts from the beginning of the First World War to the end of the Second World War. He is one of only three peop ...

, had been elevated to the peerage as

Viscount Simon Viscount Simon, of Stackpole Elidor in the County of Pembroke, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 20 May 1940 for the Liberal politician Sir John Simon. He was Home Secretary from 1915 to 1916 and 1935 to 1937 ...

. Simon had held the seat since the 1922 general election. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the political parties in the

Coalition Government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

had agreed not to contest by-elections when a vacancy arose in any of the seats held by the other coalition parties. As a result, the only candidate was

William Woolley William Edward Woolley (17 March 1901 – 11 May 1989) was a National Liberal Party (UK, 1931), National Liberal Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was elected in 1940 as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) fo ...

of the Liberal National Party, who was returned unopposed. He represented the constituency until his defeat at the

1945 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1945. Africa * 1945 South-West African legislative election Asia * 1945 Indian general election Australia * 1945 Fremantle by-election Europe * 1945 Albanian parliamentary election * 1945 Bulgaria ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spen Valley By-Election, 1940 1940 elections in the United Kingdom 1940 in England By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in West Yorkshire constituencies Unopposed by-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in English constituencies Elections in Kirklees 1940s in Yorkshire June 1940 events

See also

References