Plymouth Sutton by-election, 1919

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

The seat had become vacant when the constituency's Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), Waldorf Astor, succeeded to 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.

Results

Lady Astor retained the seat. She became the first woman to take up her seat in the Commons (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	%	±%
	Coalition Conservative	Lady Astor	14,495
	Labour	William Thomas Gay	9,292
	Liberal	Isaac Foot	4,139
Majority			5,203
Turnout
	Coalition Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1918: Plymouth Sutton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Conservative	Waldorf Astor	17,091		N/A
	Labour	William Thomas Gay	5,334		N/A
	Liberal	Capt. Sidney Ransom	3,488		N/A
Majority			11,757
Turnout				59.6	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

See also

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

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "P" (part 2)