The 1945 Middlesbrough West by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 14 May 1945 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. T ...

constituency of Middlesbrough West.

Previous MP

The seat had become vacant when the constituency's Liberal Member of Parliament,

Harcourt Johnstone Harcourt Johnstone (19 May 18951 March 1945), nicknamed Crinks, was a British Liberal Party politician. Early life and education Johnstone was born in London in 1895, the son of the Hon. Sir Alan Johnstone, a British diplomat, and his American ...

died on 1 March 1945, aged 49. Johnstone was elected unopposed as the constituency's MP at a by-election in 1940, caused by the previous Liberal MP Frank Kingsley Griffith becoming a County Court Judge. Johnstone had previously served as MP for Willesden East from 1923–24 and for South Shields from 1931-35.

Candidates

The election took place during the Second World War. Under an agreement between the Conservative, Labour and Liberal parties; who were participating in a wartime coalition, the party holding a seat would not be opposed by the other two at a by-election. Accordingly, the Liberal Party nominated a candidate, but no Labour or Conservative representative was put forward. As no one else was nominated, there was an unopposed return and no poll took place. The Liberal Party candidate, supporting the coalition government, was the war hero Air Vice Marshal Donald Clifford Tyndall Bennett (14 September 1910 – 15 September 1986). After winning the by-election, he only served in Parliament between May and June 1945. Bennett was defeated by Geoffrey Cooper of the Labour Party 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 Bulgarian ...

. Bennett stood as a Liberal candidate at the 1948 Croydon North by-election and at Norwich North in

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

. In the 1960s, he was a National Party candidate at the

1967 Nuneaton by-election The Nuneaton by-election of 9 March 1967 was held after the resignation of Labour MP (MP) Frank Cousins. The seat was safe, having been won by Labour at the 1966 United Kingdom general election by over 11,000 votesMiddlesbrough West constituency *

List of United Kingdom by-elections The list of by-elections in the United Kingdom is divided chronologically by parliament: Parliament of the United Kingdom *List of United Kingdom by-elections (1801–1806) * List of United Kingdom by-elections (1806–1818) * List of United King ...

United Kingdom by-election records Parliamentary by-elections in the United Kingdom occur when a Member of Parliament (MP) vacates a House of Commons seat (due to resignation, death, disqualification or expulsion) during the course of a parliament. Scope of these records Altho ...

References

* ''British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949'', compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Macmillan Press 1977) * ''Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume III 1919-1945'', edited by M. Stenton and S. Lees (Harvester Press 1979) {{By-elections to the 37th UK Parliament Middlesbrough West by-election West, 1945 Unopposed by-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom (need citation) Middlesbrough West by-election Middlesbrough West by-election, 1945 Middlesbrough West by-election