Election Name: | 1937 Chertsey by-election |
Type: | parliamentary |
Country: | United Kingdom |
Seats For Election: | Constituency of Chertsey |
Ongoing: | no |
Previous Election: | 1935 United Kingdom general election |
Previous Year: | 1935 |
Election Date: | 2 July 1937 |
Candidate1: | Arthur Marsden |
Party1: | Conservative Party (UK) |
Popular Vote1: | 19,767 |
Percentage1: | 64.8% |
Swing1: | 6.6% |
Candidate2: | Ernest Ronald Haylor |
Party2: | Liberal Party (UK) |
Popular Vote2: | 10,722 |
Percentage2: | 35.2% |
Swing2: | 6.6% |
MP | |
Posttitle: | Subsequent MP |
Before Election: | Archibald Boyd-Carpenter |
Before Party: | Conservative Party (UK) |
After Election: | Arthur Marsden |
After Party: | Conservative Party (UK) |
Turnout: | 39.2% (21.0%) |
Map Size: | 200px |
Next Election: | 1945 United Kingdom general election |
Next Year: | 1945 |
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.
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]
The Conservative Party held the seat with a reduced majority.