1921 Woolwich East by-election

← 1918

2 March 1921

1922 →


Candidate	Gee	MacDonald
Party	Unionist	Labour
Popular vote	13,724	13,041
Percentage	51.3	48.7

MP before election

Crooks
Labour

Subsequent MP

Gee
Unionist

The 1921 Woolwich East by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 2 March 1921 for the British House of Commons constituency of Woolwich East, in the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich in London.

Vacancy

The seat had become vacant on the resignation of the constituency's Labour Member of Parliament (MP), Will Crooks, due to ill-health. Crooks was a noted trade unionist and working-class organiser, and had represented Woolwich East and its predecessor seat, Woolwich, since a by-election in 1903, with a gap between the two general elections of 1910.

1918 general election: Woolwich East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Will Crooks	Unopposed	*N/A*	*N/A*
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

Candidates

The Labour Party selected as its candidate former leader Ramsay MacDonald, who had lost his Leicester seat at the coupon election of 1918.
The Conservatives selected Robert Gee, an ex-miner who had stood for the National Democratic Party at Consett in 1918. Gee had been a Captain in The Royal Fusiliers during the First World War, and had gained a Victoria Cross for his actions. This was contrasted with MacDonald, who had been a pacifist opposed to the war, for which he had had to resign the Chairmanship of the Labour Party.

Campaign

The newly formed Communist Party of Great Britain urged voters to abstain, saying ""that while the coalition candidate stands openly and avowedly for capitalism in all its ramifications, its industrial autocracy, its attacks on trade unions, its exploitation, its predatory imperialism, the Labour candidate stands for Capitalism and all its manifestations, none the less surely because its purpose is hidden under high sounding words".

Result

Gee took the seat with a majority of nearly 700 votes.

Woolwich East by-election, 1921
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Robert Gee	13,724	51.3	*New*
	Labour	Ramsay MacDonald	13,041	48.7	N/A
Majority			683	2.6	N/A
Turnout			26,805	78.5	N/A
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing	N/A
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Aftermath

Gee held the seat until the 1922 election, when Harry Snell retook the seat for Labour.

1922 general election: Woolwich, East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Harry Snell	15,620	57.1
	Conservative	Robert Gee	11,714	42.9
Majority			3,906	14.2
Turnout			33,993	80.4
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

MacDonald would go on to be elected MP for Aberavon in 1922, and be re-elected Leader of the Labour Party, then become Prime Minister after the 1923 election.

Sources

Ramsay MacDonald campaigning at Woolwich

References

British Communists and Elections, 1920-1935

Bibliography

Craig, F. W. S. (1983) . British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages

v t e « 30th Parliament « By-elections to the 31st Parliament of the United Kingdom » 32nd Parliament »
1919	February: Liverpool West Derby March: Leyton West North Londonderry Oxford University Hull Central April: Aberdeenshire and Kincardineshire Central May: East Antrim July: Swansea East Bothwell Dublin University August: Widnes September: Pontefract October: Manchester Rusholme November: Chester-le-Street Croydon South Isle of Thanet Plymouth Sutton December: St Albans Bromley Spen Valley
1920	January: Ashton-under-Lyne February: The Wrekin Paisley Horncastle March: Argyll Dartford Stockport Basingstoke Camberwell North West April: Northampton Edinburgh North Edinburgh South Sunderland June: Louth Nelson and Colne July: Ebbw Vale South Norfolk Woodbridge September: Ilford November: Hemel Hempstead The Wrekin Middleton and Prestwich December: Abertillery Rhondda West
1921	January: Hereford Dover February: Cardiganshire March: Woolwich East Dudley Birmingham Moseley Kirkcaldy Burghs Penistone Birmingham West April: Taunton Bristol West Glasgow Pollok East Dorset Bewdley Eddisbury Bedford Chichester May: Hastings Penrith and Cockermouth Abingdon Orkney and Shetland June: Belfast Duncairn Mid Armagh North Down West Down July: Mid Down Westminster St George's Heywood and Radcliffe Hertford August: Caerphilly Westminster Abbey South Londonderry September: Lewisham West Louth October: Westhoughton November: Hornsey December: Southwark South East
1922	January: Ludlow Tamworth South Londonderry February: West Down Manchester Clayton Camberwell North North Down Bodmin March: Wolverhampton West Liverpool Exchange Cambridge Inverness Chertsey Leicester East May: Clapham City of London June: North Londonderry Newbury Moray and Nairn Banbury Nottingham East July: Gower North Down Pontypridd August: Hackney South October: Newport
Lists of UK by-elections 1801–1806 1806–1818 1818–1832 1832–1847 1847–1857 1857–1868 1868–1885 1885–1900 1900–1918 1918–1931 1931–1950 1950–1979 1979–2010 2010–present Northern Ireland Hereditary peers

v t e Ramsay MacDonald
Premierships	Labour Government, 1924 Labour Government, 1929–1931 First National Government, 1931 Second National Government, 1931–1935
General elections	1923 1924 1929 1931 1935
Constituencies	Leicester Aberavon Seaham Combined Scottish Universities
Career	Gladstone–MacDonald pact 1922 party leadership election Campbell Case Defeat of the MacDonald ministry Zinoviev letter Great Depression London Naval Treaty India Round Table Conferences MacDonald Award National Government Anglo-German Naval Agreement
Family	Margaret Ethel MacDonald (wife) Malcolm MacDonald (son) Ishbel MacDonald (daughter) Sheila MacDonald (daughter)
Cultural depictions	Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (TV, 1981) Gandhi (Film, 1982) Number 10 (TV, 1983) Mosley (TV, 1998)
Related articles	1921 Woolwich East by-election 1936 Combined Scottish Universities by-election Lady Margaret Sackville MacDonald letter MV Reina del Pacifico National Labour Organisation

Categories:

Misplaced Pages