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1946 Combined English Universities by-election

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The 1946 Combined English Universities by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 18 March 1946 for the British House of Commons constituency of Combined English Universities.

There was no Labour Party candidate, which did not occur again in a Great Britain by-election in the UK until the 2008 Haltemprice and Howden by-election. It was the penultimate election in a university constituency to the British Parliament and the final one to occur in England, with all university constituencies abolished in 1950.

The winning candidate vote share of 30 per cent holds the record for being the lowest in a UK by-election.

Previous MP

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The seat had become vacant when the constituency's independent Member of Parliament (MP), Eleanor Rathbone, died. She had been the constituency's MP since the 1929 general election.

Result and votes

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The Conservative Party gained the seat.

By-Election 13–18 March 1946: Combined English Universities[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Henry Strauss 5,483 30.0 N/A
Independent Progressive Mary Stocks 5,124 28.0 −25.3
Independent Liberal Ernest Simon 4,028 22.0 New
Independent Labour Stanley Wormald 3,414 18.7 +3.4
British People's Gerard Oddie 239 1.3 New
Majority 359 2.0 N/A
Turnout 18,288 42.1 −7.9
Registered electors 43,438
Conservative gain from Independent Swing

References

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  1. ^ "1946 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2015.