From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base
1943 King's Lynn by-election
UK by-election
UK by-election
The King's Lynn by-election, 1943 was a by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of King's Lynn in Norfolk on 12 February 1943. The seat had become vacant when the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Somerset Maxwell had died in December 1942 from wounds received at the Battle of El Alamein.
Candidates
The Conservative candidate was Maurice Roche, who had been the MP for King's Lynn from 1924 until he stepped down in favour of Maxwell at the 1935 general election. Although a hereditary peer, his succession in 1920 to the title of Baron Fermoy had not disqualified him from the House of Commons, because his title was in the Peerage of Ireland, and did not grant a seat in the House of Lords.
During World War II, the parties in the Coalition Government had agreed not to contest by-elections in seats held by other coalition parties, and many wartime by-elections were therefore unopposed. However, local party members who disagreed with the truce could not be prevented from standing as independent candidates. In King's Lynn, Frederick Wise, who had been the official Labour Party candidate at the 1935 general election, stood as an "Independent Labour" candidate.
Result
On a heavily reduced turnout, Lord Fermoy held the seat for the Conservatives, albeit with a much reduced majority. Fermoy retired (for a second time) at the 1945 general election, when Wise won the seat as an official Labour Party candidate.
References
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
Ask Mako anything about 1943 King's Lynn by-election — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.
Research with MakoFree with your Surf account
Create a free account to save articles, ask Mako questions, and organize your research.
Sign up freeThis content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.
Report