1922 Cambridge by-election

1922 Cambridge by-election

16 March 1922
Constituency of Cambridge
Registered	27,833
Turnout	80.4% ( 19.5%)
First party Second party Third party   Con Lib Candidate George Newton Hugh Dalton Sydney Cope Morgan Party Conservative Labour Liberal Popular vote 10,897 6,954 4,529 Percentage 48.69% 31.07% 20.24% Swing 26.61% 6.37% New
MP before election Eric Geddes Conservative Subsequent MP George Newton Conservative

The 1922 Cambridge by-election was a by-election held on 16 March 1922 for the British House of Commons constituency of Cambridge.

The by-election was caused by the resignation on 7 November 1921 of the town's Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) Sir Eric Geddes, who had held the seat since 1917, and had come under criticism as Minister of Transport for the scale of nationalisation he had overseen, and over charges of departmental inefficiency. He chose to resign as both cabinet minister and MP.

The result was a comfortable victory for the new Conservative candidate Sir George Newton, who held the seat until his elevation to the peerage in 1934 as Baron Eltisley. The election nonetheless saw a sharp fall in the Conservative share of the vote (by over one third) since the 'khaki election' of 1918, although the Conservative vote only actually fell by 656, and Newton's fall in vote share is mainly attributable by a slight rise in the Labour vote, and the appearance of the first Liberal candidate to contest the seat since 1910.

Of the two unsuccessful candidates, Hugh Dalton was a Cambridge-educated LSE lecturer in economics who went on to be an MP from 1924, and became Labour's Chancellor under Clement Attlee; and Sydney Cope Morgan was a Cambridge-educated barrister who went on to contest the seat again for the Liberals with an increased vote at each of the next two general elections.

All three candidates were contesting the seat for the first time, and Dalton would not contest the seat again.

Result of the previous general election in Cambridge

General election 1918: Cambridge

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Eric Geddes	11,553	75.30	N/A
	Labour	Thomas Rhondda Williams	3,789	24.70	New
Majority			7,764	50.60	N/A
Turnout			15,342	60.95	N/A
	Unionist hold		Swing
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Result of 16 March 1922 by-election

By-election 1922: Cambridge

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Newton	10,897	48.7	−26.6
	Labour	Hugh Dalton	6,954	31.1	+6.4
	Liberal	Sydney Cope Morgan	4,529	20.2	New
Majority			3,943	17.6	−33.0
Turnout			22,380	80.4	+19.5
	Unionist hold		Swing

References

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.

See also

• List of United Kingdom by-elections
• Cambridge constituency
• 1934 Cambridge by-election
• 1967 Cambridge by-election
• 1976 Cambridge by-election