The 1941 Edinburgh by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 11 December 1941 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 Edinburgh Central in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The seat had become vacant when the

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 ...

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) James Guy had resigned from the House of Commons due to ill-health on 24 November 1941, by the procedural device of accepting the post of

Steward of the Manor of Northstead The office of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead functions as a procedural device to allow a member of Parliament (MP) to resign from the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. As members of the House of Commons are forbidden ...

. Guy had held the seat since the 1931 general election.

Candidates

The Unionist Party selected as its candidate the 45-year-old Frank Watt. The parties in the war-time Coalition Government had agreed not to contest vacancies in seats held by other coalition parties, but other by-elections had been contested by

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidates or those from minor parties. In this case, the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

(ILP) fielded a candidate, Thomas Taylor, who had previously contested the Glasgow Govan seat at the 1935 general election.

Results

The result was a clear victory for Watt, who won comfortably, albeit on a much reduced turnout. He held the seat until his defeat at the 1945 general election by the Labour Party candidate

Andrew Gilzean Andrew Gilzean OBE (3 December 1877 – 6 July 1957) was a Labour Party politician in Scotland. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh Central from 1945 to 1951. Initially a member of the Independent Labour Party, Gilzean joined the S ...

Votes

References

* * Edinburgh Central by-election Edinburgh Central by-election, 1941 Edinburgh Central by-election Cantral, 1941 Central by-election, 1941 {{Scotland-UK-Parl-by-election-stub

Candidates

Results

Votes

See also

References