The

Galloway Galloway ( ; sco, Gallowa; la, Gallovidia) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway. A native or i ...

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 ...

of 9 April 1959 was held after the death of 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) John Mackie:Full results
The seat was safe, having been won by the Unionists at the 1955 general election by 8,014 votes
PoliticsResources.net

Result of the previous general election

Result of the by-election

Aftermath

''The

Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'' stated that the initial reaction to the result among the political parties was "Government satisfaction,

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

jubilation, and

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

despondency." However, the same newspaper also noted that

Conservatives 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 in ...

would be happy to have held the seat with a "substantial majority", the Liberal performance would worry them. The result indicated that the Liberals were maintaining their recent trend of polling well in by-elections. The Conservatives were reported to fear that if this trend in Liberal candidates taking votes from their party continued, it could allow Labour to win the next general election, if the Liberals fielded 200 candidates.

References

1959 in Scotland 1950s elections in Scotland By-election, 1959 By-election, 1959 1959 elections in the United Kingdom April 1959 events in the United Kingdom By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Scottish constituencies {{Scotland-UK-Parl-by-election-stub