1955 Torquay by-election

The Torquay by-election of 15 December 1955 was held after the death of Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Charles Williams:[1]

Electoral history

The seat was safe, having been won by Williams at the 1955 general election with a majority of over 17,000 votes[2] 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.

General election 1955: Torquay
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Charles Williams 29,777 60.36
Labour Robert Briscoe 12,547 25.43
Liberal Peter Bessell 7,012 14.21
Majority 17,230 34.92
Turnout 49,336 75.49
Conservative hold Swing

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.
  • William Hamling was the new Labour candidate. He defeated Thomas Ponsonby (grandson of the Lord Ponsonby who lead the Labour Party in the House of Lords in the early 1930s) and C. B. Attlee (nephew of the former Labour leader and Prime Minister, Clement Attlee).[3]
  • Peter Bessell 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.

Result
Torquay by-election, 15 December 1955
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Frederic Bennett 20,964 50.98 -9.38
Labour William Hamling 10,383 25.25 -0.18
Liberal Peter Bessell 9,775 23.77 +9.56
Majority 10,581 25.73 -9.19
Turnout 41,122
Conservative hold Swing
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References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 29 January 2005. Retrieved 23 August 2019.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. Election results Archived 11 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine PoliticsResources.net
  3. "Labour Short List for Torquay By-election". The Times. 11 November 1945.


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