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The1926 Darlington by-election was aby-election held on 17 February 1926 for theBritish House of Commonsconstituency ofDarlington inCounty Durham.
The seat had become vacant when the sittingConservativeMember of Parliament (MP),William Pease had died on 23 January 1926, aged 60. He had held the seat since aby-election in 1923.
TheLiberal Party candidate was 51-year-oldJohn Dickie, who had been the MP forGateshead from1923 until his defeat at the1924 general election.
TheLabour Party candidate was 42-year-oldArthur Shepherd, and E. H. Pease stood for theConservatives. Pease had not previously contested a parliamentary election, but Shepherd had contested Darlington in 1924, losing by over 2000 votes to William Pease.
On a slightly increased turnout, the result was a narrow victory for Shepherd. His share of the vote was lower than in 1924, when there had been no Liberal candidate, but the presence of a Liberal in the by-election impacted more heavily on the Conservatives than on Labour.
Shepherd held the seat at the1929 general election, but was defeated in1931.
Pease did not stand for Parliament again, but Dickie was elected in 1931 asNational Liberal MP forConsett.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Arthur Shepherd | 12,965 | 44.5 | −1.7 | |
| Conservative | E. H. Pease | 12,636 | 43.3 | −10.5 | |
| Liberal | John Dickie | 3,573 | 12.2 | New | |
| Majority | 329 | 1.2 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 29,174 | 87.6 | +1.5 | ||
| Labourgain fromConservative | Swing | +4.4 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | William Pease | 15,174 | 53.8 | +11.6 | |
| Labour | Arthur Shepherd | 13,008 | 46.2 | +12.6 | |
| Majority | 2,166 | 7.6 | −1.0 | ||
| Turnout | 28,182 | 86.1 | −0.7 | ||
| Conservativehold | Swing | −0.5 | |||