1931 Islington East by-election

1931 Islington East by-election

19 February 1931
Constituency of Islington East
First party Second party   Candidate Leah Manning Alfred Critchley Party Labour Empire Crusade Popular vote 10,591 8,314 Percentage 34.7% 27.2% Swing 3.3% New   Third party Fourth party   Lib Candidate Thelma Cazalet Horace Crawfurd Party Conservative Liberal Popular vote 7,182 4,450 Percentage 23.5% 14.6% Swing 10.6% 13.3%
A map of parliamentary constituencies within the County of London at the time of the by-election, with Islington East highlighted in red.
MP before election Ethel Bentham Labour Elected MP Leah Manning Labour

The 1931 Islington East by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 19 February 1931 for the House of Commons constituency of Islington East in Islington, North London.

The seat had become vacant when the Labour Member of Parliament, Dr Ethel Bentham, died on 19 January 1931, aged 70. She had held the seat since the 1929 general election.

Candidates

Labour selected as its candidate the 45-year-old Leah Manning, President of the National Union of Teachers. The Conservative Party candidate was Thelma Cazalet, a 31-year-old feminist and member of the London County Council. The Liberal candidate was Horace Crawfurd, who had been the MP for Walthamstow West from 1924 until his defeat at the 1929 general election.

The fourth candidate, Air Commodore Alfred Critchley, was referred to by Thelma Cazalet as "the Beaverbrook candidate". He stood for the Empire Free Trade Crusade and the United Empire Party, which both sought to make the British Empire a free trade bloc. The Empire Crusade had won the Paddington South by-election in October 1930, and hoped to repeat its success. Critchley had been the Conservative candidate in Manchester Gorton in 1929.

Results

On a reduced turnout, Manning held the seat for Labour with a majority of 2,277 votes. Critchley came second with 27.2% of the votes, a setback for the Empire Crusade.

Islington East by-election, 19th February 1931

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Leah Manning	10,591	34.7	−3.3
	Empire Crusade	Alfred Critchley	8,314	27.2	New
	Conservative	Thelma Cazalet	7,182	23.5	−10.6
	Liberal	Horace Crawfurd	4,450	14.6	−13.3
Majority			2,277	7.5	+3.6
Turnout			30,537	50.0	−16.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Aftermath

The Empire Crusade also failed to win the Westminster St George's by-election in March. At the 1931 general election, Cazalet won the seat by a large majority, serving as Islington East's MP until her defeat by Labour's Eric Fletcher at the 1945 general election. After her defeat in 1931, Manning did not return to Parliament until her victory in Epping in 1945. Critchley rejoined the Conservative Party, and won the Twickenham by-election in 1934.

See also

• Islington East (UK Parliament constituency)
• Islington
• List of United Kingdom by-elections

References

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
• Cazalet-Keir, Thelma (1967) [1967]. From the Wings:An Autobiography (1st ed.). London: The Bodley Head.