1919 Plymouth Sutton by-election

The 1919 Plymouth Sutton by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 28 November 1919^[1] for the British House of Commons constituency of Sutton in the city of Plymouth, Devon.

1919 Plymouth Sutton by-election

← 1918 28 November 1919 1922 →

Candidate Nancy Astor W.T. Gay Isaac Foot Party Unionist Labour Liberal Popular vote 14,495 9,292 4,139 Percentage 51.9% 33.3% 14.8%

MP before election Waldorf Astor Unionist Subsequent MP Nancy Astor Unionist

The seat had become vacant when the constituency's Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), Waldorf Astor, succeeded the peerage as the second Viscount Astor on the death of his father on 18 October 1919.

Astor had held the seat since the 1918 general election, and its predecessor Plymouth since the December 1910 general election.

Candidates

• The Conservative Party selected as its candidate Astor's wife Nancy, Lady Astor. She was also the candidate of the Coalition Government.
• The Asquithian Liberals stood Isaac Foot, who had served on Plymouth City Council and had previously contested Totnes and Bodmin.
• W. T. Gay stood for Labour, having done so in the 1918 election. Thomas William Mercer again served as his agent.^[2]

Result

Lady Astor retained the seat. She became the first woman to take up her seat in the Commons when the first woman to be elected, Countess Markievicz, (the Sinn Féin MP for Dublin St Patrick's) refused to take her seat).

Votes

Plymouth Sutton by-election, 1919

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Nancy Astor	14,495	51.9	−14.0
	Labour	William Thomas Gay	9,292	33.3	+12.7
	Liberal	Isaac Foot	4,139	14.8	+1.3
Majority			5,203	18.6	−26.7
Turnout			27,926
	Unionist hold		Swing	-13.3
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

General election 1918: Plymouth Sutton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Waldorf Astor	17,091	65.9
	Labour	William Thomas Gay	5,334	20.6
	Liberal	Sidney Ransom	3,488	13.5
Majority			11,757	45.3
Turnout			25,913	59.6
	Unionist win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

See also

• List of United Kingdom by-elections
• Plymouth Sutton constituency