1925 Galloway by-election

The 1925 Galloway by-election was a by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Galloway in Scotland on 17 November 1925. The by-election was won by the Unionist Party candidate Sidney Streatfeild.

Vacancy

The Unionist MP Vice-Admiral Sir Arthur Henniker-Hughan had died on 4 October 1925. He had held the seat since gaining it from the Liberals at the 1924 general election;

General election 1924 Electorate 30,107
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Arthur Henniker-Hughan	12,268	53.1	*New*
	Liberal	Cecil Dudgeon	10,852	46.9	N/A
Majority			1,416	6.2	N/A
Turnout			23,120	76.8	N/A
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A

History

The constituency was created for the 1918 general election, at which a Coalition Government supporting, couponed, sitting Liberal MP was returned unopposed. At the following General Election in 1922, after the Coalition Government had ended, a Liberal beat a Unionist and in 1923, the sitting Liberal was returned unopposed.

Candidates

The Unionist candidate was 31-year-old company director, Captain Sidney Streatfeild, who had previously contested the City of Durham constituency at the 1924 general election.

The Liberal Party candidate was 40-year-old local farmer, Major Cecil Dudgeon, (Portrait)[1] who had held the seat from 1922 until his defeat in 1924 by Henniker-Hughan.

The Labour Party, which had never before contested the constituency, decided to intervene and fielded as candidate, John Mitchell.

Campaign

Polling Day was fixed for 17 November 1925, 43 days after the death of the previous member, allowing for a long campaign.

Result

On an increased turnout, Streatfeild held the seat for the Unionists, with a reduced majority of 928 votes. The Labour candidate finished third, splitting the anti-Unionist vote enough to deny the Liberal victory;

Galloway by-election, 1925 Electorate 29,992
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sidney Streatfeild	10,846	43.5	−9.6
	Liberal	Cecil Dudgeon	9,918	39.7	−7.2
	Labour	John Mitchell	4,207	16.8	New
Majority			928	3.8	−2.4
Turnout			24,971	83.3	+6.5
	Unionist hold		Swing	−1.2

Aftermath

At the following General Election in 1929, Dudgeon gained the seat for the Liberals;

General election 1929 Electorate 39,621^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Cecil Dudgeon	13,461	42.4	+2.7
	Unionist	Sidney Streatfeild	13,360	42.1	−1.4
	Labour	Hector McNeill	4,903	15.5	−1.3
Majority			101	0.3	N/A
Turnout			31,724	80.1	−3.2
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+2.1

Notes

^ The Times, 1 June 1929

References

Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages ^{[self-published source]} ^{[better source needed]}

[1] The Times, 1 June 1929

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