1939 Westminster Abbey by-election

The 1939 Westminster Abbey by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 17 May 1939 for the British House of Commons constituency of Westminster Abbey in London.

Previous MP

The seat had become vacant when the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Sir Sidney Herbert had died on 22 March 1939. Herbert had held the seat since an unopposed 1932 by-election.

Previous Result

General election, 14 November 1935

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sidney Herbert	18,117	77.5	N/A
	Labour	William S. Kennedy	5,255	22.5	New
Majority			12,862	55.0	N/A
Turnout			47,538	49.2	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Candidates

The Conservative candidate was Harold Webbe. The Labour candidate in 1935, William Kennedy, had been reselected to contest the next General Election; however, the Labour party decided not to contest the by-election. The Communist party, who had not contested the seat before, chose Dr Billy Carritt. In an attempt to revive the Popular Front strategy, Carritt stood as an Independent Progressive.

Campaign

Carritt's campaign chairman was Liberal MP, Richard Acland. Both the constituency Liberal and Labour parties actively supported his campaign. Those who came to speak for him in the constituency included Liberal MP Wilfrid Roberts, expelled Labour MPs Sir Stafford Cripps and George Strauss and other public figures such as J.B. Priestley.

Result

Westminster Abbey by-election, 1939

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Harold Webbe	9,678	67.4	−10.1
	Independent Progressive	G. Billy Carritt	4,674	32.6	New
Majority			5,004	34.8	−20.2
Turnout			47,396	30.3	−18.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Carritt attracted the highest ever percentage poll of any anti-Conservative candidate in this seat. The performance revived interest nationally in electoral co-operation to defeat National Government candidates at a General Election, expected to take place later in the year.

Aftermath

In the 1945 general election, Carritt stood in Westminster Abbey as a Communist.

General election, 5 July 1945

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Harold Webbe	9,160	54.4	−23.1
	Labour	Jeremy Hutchinson	4,408	26.1	+3.6
	Communist	G. Billy Carritt	2,964	17.6	New
	Democratic	Norman Leith-Hay-Clark	326	1.9	New
Majority			4,752	28.3	−6.5
Turnout			28,823	58.5	+28.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Webbe remained its MP until the constituency was abolished for the 1950 general election, when he became MP for the new Cities of London and Westminster constituency.

References

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1979)