1962 Lincoln by-election

There was a by-election in the UK parliamentary constituency of Lincoln on 8 March 1962[1] following the resignation of the sitting member, Sir Geoffrey de Freitas, on 20 December 1961 to take up the appointment of High Commissioner to Ghana. The by-election was won by Dick Taverne of the Labour Party. Taverne came to wider attention after he fell out with the Labour Party in 1973, winning a second controversial by-election.

Electoral history
General election 1959: Lincoln
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Geoffrey de Freitas 23,629 55.1
Conservative LH Priestly 19,240 44.9
Majority 4,389 10.2
Turnout 84.1
Labour hold Swing

Candidates

The local Liberal Party selected 35-year-old Patrick Furnell to contest the seat. He was a lecturer and tutor in economics and the British constitution.[2] He was educated at Godalming County Grammar School and Trinity College, Oxford (where he was Kitchener Scholar). He joined the R.A.F. in 1948, was commissioned three months later, and served at the R.A.F. station near Cardiff. His earliest political activity came while he was at Oxford University; in 1947 he was President of Oxford University Liberal Club for the Michaelmas term. He first contested Cardiff South East at the 1950 general election while only 22 years of age. In a bad election for the Liberals nationwide, he polled 8% and came third.[3] At the 1959 general election he contested East Grinstead. On this occasion he polled 18% and came third.[4]

Result
Lincoln by-election, 1962: Lincoln[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Dick Taverne 19,038 50.51 -4.59
Conservative Percy Grieve 11,386 30.21 -14.69
Liberal Patrick Arthur Thomas Furnell 6,856 18.19 +18.19
Independent Capt. A. Taylor 412 1.09
Majority 7,652 20.30 +10.1
Turnout 37,692
Labour hold Swing

Aftermath
General election 1964: Lincoln
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Dick Taverne 19,737 47.8
Conservative Michael McNair-Wilson 15,015 36.4
Liberal Patrick Arthur Thomas Furnell 6,519 15.8
Majority 4,722 11.4
Turnout 80.3
Labour hold Swing
gollark: Please just use this
gollark: ...
gollark: ++delete the strategy
gollark: I expect it'll come out as a nasty gray.
gollark: No.

References
  1. By-elections.co.uk Archived 20 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  2. The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1959
  3. The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1950
  4. The Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1959
  5. "1962 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2015.


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