1937 Chertsey by-election

1937 Chertsey by-election

← 1935 2 July 1937 1945 →
Constituency of Chertsey
Turnout	39.2% (21.0%)
First party Second party   Lib Candidate Arthur Marsden Ernest Ronald Haylor Party Conservative Liberal Popular vote 19,767 10,722 Percentage 64.8% 35.2% Swing 6.6% 6.6%
MP before election Archibald Boyd-Carpenter Conservative Subsequent MP Arthur Marsden Conservative

The 1937 Chertsey by-election was held on 2 July 1937. The by-election was held due to the death of the incumbent Conservative MP, Archibald Boyd-Carpenter.

Candidates

The Liberal Party selected Ronald Haylor, a Buckingham Gate Barrister. He was educated at the Leys and Trinity College, Oxford. He played hockey for Oxford University and rugby union for a leading London club.^[1] He was Liberal Party candidate at Windsor in the 1929 general election and at Totnes for the general elections of 1931 and 1935.^[2] There were growing moves for a Popular Front, where parties of the left came together to oppose fascism and Nazi appeasement. In Chertsey, a local Popular Front was formed, which hoped to see the Liberal and Labour parties support a progressive candidate. They launched a charter in February 1937.^[3] Haylor was given the backing of the Chertsey Popular Front and added the suffix of 'Progressive' to the party label.^[4]

At first, a three-cornered contest had been expected between the Conservative candidate, the retired naval officer Arthur Marsden, Haylor and Mr F. J. Tompsett, a City rubber broker, who was to have stood as an Independent and anti-Communist. However, Tompsett decided to withdraw in favour of Marsden.^[5]

Result and votes

The Conservative Party held the seat with a reduced majority.

References

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