The 1929 Holland with Boston 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 on 21 March 1929 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 Holland with Boston in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

. The by-election was caused by the death of the 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 o ...

, Arthur Dean; who had held the seat at the 1924 general election. At that election, Labour came second and the Liberals finished third. Labour had won the seat in 1918, but it had been gained by the Unionists at a by-election just before the 1924 general election.

Candidates

The new Unionist candidate chosen to defend the seat was Frederick J. Van den Berg. He was born and raised in Johannesburg, before moving to London to practise as a Barrister in 1916. He was standing as a candidate for the first time. The Labour Party candidate was George Blanco White, a lawyer who had stood here last time. The Liberals chose a new candidate in

James Blindell Sir James Blindell (1884 – 10 May 1937) was an English Liberal Party politician in the United Kingdom, who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Holland with Boston from 1929 until his death. Born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, Blindell w ...

, a Grimsby councillor and managing director of a boot manufacturing business. The election was marked by the presence of an Independent Agriculturalist candidate, F. W. Dennis.

Campaign

On 1 March, nationally, Liberal leader, David Lloyd George launched the Liberal programme for the upcoming general election, titled ''We Can Conquer Unemployment''. On the eve of poll, the voters of Eddisbury elected a Liberal in place of a Unionist.

Result

The result was a victory for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

candidate

, who overturned a Unionist majority of 4,770 to win by a majority of 3,706 votes.

Aftermath

A general election followed in a matter of months. Blindell held the seat for the Liberals, with Van den Berg again standing for the Unionists, finishing second. White did not stand again and the new Labour candidate dropped to third place. The Agricultural Party did not contest the seat. Blindell remained MP until his death in 1937. This was the last by-election gain for the Liberal Party until the

1958 Torrington by-election The 1958 Torrington by-election, in Devon, England, was the first gain by the British Liberal Party at a by-election since Holland with Boston in 1929. Background The election was caused by the accession of George Lambert, National Liberal and ...

References

Sources