The1937 Combined English Universities by-election was a parliamentaryby-election for theBritish House of Commons dual member constituency of theCombined English Universities held on 22 March 1937.
The by-election was caused by the death of the sittingConservativeMP,Sir Reginald Craddock on 10 February 1937. He had been an MP for the constituency since 1931.
The Combined English Universities was created as a dual member seat in 1918. As with all University seats, general elections were held by theSingle Transferable Vote method; however by-elections were held withFirst Past The Post. The university seats were thought to provide an opportunity for academics, independent of party politics, to gain representation in parliament. However, more often than not, the Conservative Party and latterly, the National government parties had used them as a means to get their own candidates elected. Since 1929,Eleanor Rathbone had overcome the party machine to sit as an Independent MP for one of the seats. The other seat had been won by a Conservative. The result at the last General Election in 1935 was that Craddock and Rathbone were returned unopposed.
The University Conservatives selected 65-year-oldRt Hon. Sir Francis Oswald Lindley. He was a long serving Diplomat who wasAmbassador to Japan 1931–1934, when he retired.[1]A 62-year-old Quaker and formerLiberal MPTed Harvey stood, but not as a Liberal candidate. He stood as anIndependent Progressive candidate, saying that contests for the university seats ought to be fought on ideas and not on party political lines. A Liberal candidate had last stood in 1929 and finished as runner-up, ahead of the second Conservative candidate. Harvey had last stood for parliament at those same elections, atLeeds North coming third. He had previously been Liberal MP forLeeds West from 1910 to 1918 andDewsbury from 1923 to 1924.A third candidate came forward - 71 year oldSir Henry Britten Brackenbury. He had contested the 1922 general election as Liberal candidate forWalthamstow East.
Polling days were set for 15–19 March 1937. When nominations closed, it was to reveal a three horse race between Lindley the Conservative, Harvey the Independent Progressive and Brackenbury the Independent.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent Progressive | Edmund Harvey | 6,596 | 47.4 | New | |
| Conservative | Francis Oswald Lindley | 4,952 | 35.6 | N/A | |
| Independent Liberal | Henry Britten Brackenbury | 2,373 | 17.0 | New | |
| Majority | 1,644 | 11.8 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 13,921 | 48.3 | N/A | ||
| Independent Progressivegain fromConservative | Swing | N/A | |||
The Liberal Party leader SirArchie Sinclair,Ramsay Muir and the Liberal Party Organisation all sent messages of congratulation to Harvey when he won the by-election.[3]
Harvey chose to retire. The result at the following General election;
| Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||||
| Independent | Eleanor Rathbone | 53.3 | 11,176 | |||||
| Independent | Kenneth Lindsay | 9.2 | 1,923 | 3,503 | 3,856 | 4,528 | 5,826 | |
| Independent Labour | Stanley Wormald | 15.3 | 3,212 | 3,973 | 4,081 | 4,473 | 4,675 | |
| National | Eric Cuthbert Arden | 11.6 | 2,433 | 3,073 | 3,389 | 3,829 | eliminated | |
| Independent | John Henry Richardson | 5.3 | 1,124 | 1,995 | 2,341 | eliminated | ||
| Independent | A.R. Foxall | 5.3 | 1,105 | 1,437 | eliminated | |||
| Electorate: 41,976 Valid: 20,973 Quota: 6,992 Turnout: 50.0% | ||||||||