Lewisham West by-election, 1921 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Lewisham West by-election, 1921 was a by-election

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

held on 13 September 1921 for the British House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

constituency

United Kingdom constituencies

In the United Kingdom , each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one or more members to a parliament or assembly.Within the United Kingdom there are now five bodies with members elected by constituencies:...

of Lewisham West.

The by-election was triggered by the death of the serving Conservative Party

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

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), Sir Edward Coates

Sir Edward Coates, 1st Baronet

Major Sir Edward Coates was a British stockbroker and politician.The eldest son of magistrate John Coates, he was born in 1853 and educated at Marlborough College. He was a member of the city stockbroking firm of Coates and Son.In 1903 he was elected Conservative Party Member of Parliament for...

Candidates

The Unionist

Conservative Party (UK)

candidate was Sir Philip Dawson

Philip Dawson

Sir Philip Dawson was a British electrical engineer and Conservative politician.Following education at Ghent and Liège Universities, Dawson became a member of the Institutes of Civil, Mechanical, and Electrical Engineers. He became a partner in the firm of Kincaid, Waller, Manville and Dawson,...

, who represented the district on London County Council

London County Council

London County Council was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889–1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council...

. He was opposed by Lieutenant-Commander W. G. Windham of the Anti-Waste League

Anti-Waste League

The Anti-Waste League was a political party in the United Kingdom, founded in 1921 by Lord Rothermere.The formation of the League was announced in a January 1921 edition of the Sunday Pictorial with Rothermere attacking what he saw as government waste during a time of recession. As such the party...

, and F. W. Raffety

Frank Walter Raffety

Frank Walter Raffety OBE was a British barrister and Liberal Party politician.He was the son of C W Raffety, of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. In 1898 he was called to the bar at the Middle Temple, and practiced on the Northern Circuit.He developed an interest in politics, and became honorary...

, an Independent Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

. Excessive government expenditure was a major theme of the campaign: Dawson ran under the 'Conservative and Anti-Waste' banner, and Raffety also proclaimed himself an opponent of high spending.

No other major issues separated the candidates - all, for instance, declared themselves in favour of proportional representation - and the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship, who questioned all three on behalf of women voters, declined to make a recommendation. Dawson won the support of the Middle Classes Union. The only point of controversy consisted of rumours which circulated to the effect that Dawson, who had worked for the Ministry of Munitions during the war, was a foreigner. He responded, according to The Times, by issuing a leaflet entitled 'Dirt' which insisted that he was of pure British stock, and produced details. An article in the Washington Post claimed that he admitted to being the illegitimate son of Field Marshal Sir Neville Chamberlain

Neville Bowles Chamberlain

Field Marshal Sir Neville Bowles Chamberlain GCB GCSI was a British soldier who served in India.-Military career:...

, and to have originally been given the surname Duvalle.

Polling

Although this was considered a normally safe Conservative seat - Coates had been unopposed at the preceding general election- the result was a close three-way fight, with Dawson elected with a majority of only 847. He would go on to hold the seat until his death 17 years later.

Candidates

Polling

Votes

See also