Torquay by-election, 1955
Encyclopedia
The Torquay
by-election
of 15 December 1955 was held after the death of Conservative
Member of Parliament
(MP) Charles Williams
:
with a majority of over 17,000 votes The seat had been Conservative since Williams gained the seat from the Liberals in 1924. At the 1955 General Election, the Labour party had come second, as it had done at every election since 1945.
Torquay (UK Parliament constituency)
Torquay was a county constituency in Devon, South West England, which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
of 15 December 1955 was held after the death of Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) Charles Williams
Charles Williams
-United Kingdom:* Sir Charles Hanbury Williams , Member of Parliament and satirist* Charles Williams, Baron Williams of Elvel , life peer ennobled in 1985* Charles Williams , principal of Jesus College, Oxford...
:
Result of the previous general election
The seat was safe, having been won by Williams at the United Kingdom general election, 1955United Kingdom general election, 1955
The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election. It resulted in a substantially increased majority of 60 for the Conservative government under new leader and prime minister Sir Anthony Eden against Labour Party, now in their 20th year...
with a majority of over 17,000 votes The seat had been Conservative since Williams gained the seat from the Liberals in 1924. At the 1955 General Election, the Labour party had come second, as it had done at every election since 1945.
Candidates
- Frederic Bennett was the Conservative candidate selected to hold the seat. He was the former MP for Reading North, who had lost his seat at the 1955 General Election. His father had been an MP for both the Liberal and Labour parties.
- W. Hawling was the new Labour candidate.
- Peter Bessell He had been selected at the last minute to be the Liberal candidate at the 1955 General Election and was re-selected for the by-election.