1923 Portsmouth South by-election

The 1923 Portsmouth South by-election was a parliamentary by-election held in England on 13 August 1923 to elect a new Member of Parliament (MP) for the House of Commons constituency of Portsmouth South in Hampshire.

Vacancy

The seat had become vacant when the constituency's Conservative MP Leslie Orme Wilson had been appointed as Governor of Bombay,^[1] and had therefore resigned from the Commons on 26 July by the procedural device of accepting appointment as Steward of the Manor of Northstead.^[2] Wilson had held the seat for less than a year, having won it at a by-election in December 1922.^[3] He had previously been the MP for Reading from 1913 to 1922.

Electoral history

The result at the last election was

1922 Portsmouth South by-election^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Leslie Orme Wilson	14,301	62.9	−5.8
	Ind. Unionist	G. C. Thomas	4,834	37.1	New
Majority			5,867	25.8	−11.6
Turnout			22,735	57.7
	Unionist hold		Swing

Candidates

Sir Henry Lawson

The Conservative candidate was Herbert Cayzer, who had held the seat from the 1918 general election until his resignation on 27 November 1922, only two weeks after being returned at the general election in November 1922.
The Liberal Party candidate was 64-year-old retired army general, Sir Henry Lawson, who had previously contested the seat unsuccessfully at the 1922 general election.

Campaign

Result

Portsmouth South by-election, 1923^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Herbert Cayzer	11,884	54.9	−8.0
	Liberal	Henry Merrick Lawson	9,763	45.1	New
Majority			2,121	9.8	−14.0
Turnout			21,647	54.9	−2.8
	Unionist hold		Swing

Aftermath

Cayzer was re-elected for Portsmouth South at the next five general elections, and held the seat until he was ennobled in 1939. Lawson never stood for Parliament again. The result at the following general election;

1923 general election^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Herbert Cayzer	16,625	55.9	+1.0
	Labour	J. Stephen	7,388	24.9	New
	Liberal	Sidney Robert Drury-Lowe	5,698	19.2	−25.9
Majority			9,237	31.0	+21.2
Turnout			29,711	72.7	+17.8
	Unionist hold		Swing

References

^ "No. 32855". The London Gazette. 21 August 1923. p. 5704.
^ "No. 32854". The London Gazette. 17 August 1923. p. 5619.
^ Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 219. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
^ ^a ^b ^c F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949

[1] "No. 32855". The London Gazette. 21 August 1923. p. 5704.

[gazette-eln-result-2] "No. 32854". The London Gazette. 17 August 1923. p. 5619.

[craig1918-1949-portsm-s-3] Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 219. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.

[ReferenceA-4] F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949

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