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1921 Woolwich East by-election

UK parliamentary by-election

Field	Value
election_name	1921 Woolwich East by-election
type	presidential
country	United Kingdom
previous_election	Woolwich East (UK Parliament constituency)#Elections in the 1910s
previous_year	1918
next_election	Woolwich East (UK Parliament constituency)#Elections in the 1920s
next_year	1922
election_date	2 March 1921
candidate1	Gee
image1	[[File:Robert Gee.jpg	85px]]
party1	Unionist Party (UK)
popular_vote1	13,724
percentage1	51.3%
candidate2	MacDonald
image2	[[File:1921 Ramsay MacDonald.jpg	85px]]
party2	Labour Party (UK)
popular_vote2	13,041
percentage2	48.7%
map_image	WoolwichEast1918.png
map_size	250px
title	MP
posttitle	Subsequent MP
before_election	Crooks
before_party	Labour Party (UK)
after_election	Gee
after_party	Unionist Party (UK)

The 1921 Woolwich East by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 2 March 1921 for the British House of Commons constituency of Woolwich East, in the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich in London.

Vacancy

The seat had become vacant on the resignation of the constituency's Labour Member of Parliament (MP), Will Crooks, due to ill-health. Crooks was a noted trade unionist and working-class organiser, and had represented Woolwich East and its predecessor seat, Woolwich, since a by-election in 1903, with a gap between the two general elections of 1910.

Candidates

The Labour Party selected as its candidate former leader Ramsay MacDonald, who had lost his Leicester seat at the coupon election of 1918.
The Conservatives selected Robert Gee, an ex-miner who had stood for the National Democratic Party at Consett in 1918. Gee had been a Captain in The Royal Fusiliers during the First World War, and had gained a Victoria Cross for his actions. This was contrasted with MacDonald, who had been a pacifist opposed to the war, for which he had had to resign the Chairmanship of the Labour Party.

Campaign

The newly formed Communist Party of Great Britain urged voters to abstain, saying ""that while the coalition candidate stands openly and avowedly for capitalism in all its ramifications, its industrial autocracy, its attacks on trade unions, its exploitation, its predatory imperialism, the Labour candidate stands for Capitalism and all its manifestations, none the less surely because its purpose is hidden under high sounding words".

Result

Gee took the seat with a majority of nearly 700 votes.

Aftermath

Gee held the seat until the 1922 election, when Harry Snell retook the seat for Labour. MacDonald would go on to be elected MP for Aberavon in 1922, and be re-elected Leader of the Labour Party, then become Prime Minister after the 1923 election.

Sources

Ramsay MacDonald campaigning at Woolwich

References

Bibliography

References

[http://www.whatnextjournal.co.uk/pages/History/Squires.html British Communists and Elections, 1920-1935]

Info: Wikipedia Source

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