The 1960 Tiverton 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 Tiverton on 16 November 1960.

Vacancy

The by-election was caused by the elevation of 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, Rt Hon. Derick Heathcoat-Amory to the House of Lords on 1 September 1960. He had been MP here since holding the seat in 1945.

Election history

Tiverton had been won by the Conservatives at every election since 1924 when they gained the seat from the Liberals. The result at the last General Election was as follows;

Candidates

The Conservatives selected 29-year-old

Robin Maxwell-Hyslop Sir Robert ("Robin") John Maxwell-Hyslop (6 June 1931 – 13 January 2010) was a British Conservative Party politician. The younger son of Royal Navy Captain Alexander Henry Maxwell-Hyslop (who adopted the additional name of Maxwell in 1925), ...

. He contested the Derby North constituency at the

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

general election. He was Personal Assistant to the director and general manager of the aero engine division of

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

from 1954 to 1960.''Independent'' obituary, 20 January 2010
/ref> Labour selected a new candidate in 35-year-old Raymond Dobson. At the last General election he was Labour candidate for Torrington. The Liberals re-selected 42-year-old James Collier who contested the constituency in 1959. He was a local farmer, his family had farmed in the parish of

Culmstock Culmstock is a village and civil parish in Mid Devon, England, centred 10 miles from Tiverton and 6 NE of Cullompton. It is laid out on both sides of the River Culm; the village is joined by a single old narrow stone bridge across the river. The ...

since 1600.

Main Issues and Campaign

Result

Aftermath

Maxwell-Hyslop and Collier faced each other again at the following General Election while Dobson moved to contest Bristol North East, where he came second. The result at the 1964 general election; Maxwell-Hyslop retained the seat until he retired at the 1992 general election.

References

* Who's Who: www.ukwhoswho.com * By-Elections in British Politics by Cook and Ramsden