List of United Kingdom by-elections (1950–1979)

[edit] 47th Parliament (October 1974–1979)

• ¹ - Gain retained at the 1979 UK general election.
• ² - Gain not retained at the 1979 UK general election.

[edit] 46th Parliament (February 1974–October 1974)

[edit] 45th Parliament (1970–February 1974)

• ¹ - Gain not retained at the February 1974 UK general election.
• ² - Gain retained at the February 1974 UK general election.
• ³ - George Machin retained the seat for Labour in the by-election but lost it to the SNP in the February 1974 UK general election.

[edit] 44th Parliament (1966–1970)

• ¹ Gain retained at the 1970 UK general election.
• ² Gain not retained at the 1970 UK general election.

[edit] 43rd Parliament (1964–1966)

• ¹ - Gain retained at the 1966 UK general election.
• ² - Gain not retained at the 1966 UK general election.

[edit] 42nd Parliament (1959–1964)

• ¹ - Gain retained at the 1964 UK general election.
• ² - Gain not retained at the 1964 UK general election.
• ³ - Tony Benn won the most votes but was disqualified by virtue of his Peerage; the Election Court declared Malcolm St.Clair duly elected. St. Clair undertook that if the law was changed to allow Benn to disclaim his hereditary peerage, he would resign and create a by-election. The law was changed by the Peerage Act 1963 and St. Clair duly resigned, allowing Benn to return to the Commons in 1963.
• ⁴ - Edwin Taylor retained the seat for the Conservatives in the by-election but lost it to Labour in the 1964 UK general election.
• ⁵ - A rare occasion when an incumbent government gained a seat from the opposition in a by-election, although it was lost at the 1964 UK general election.

[edit] 41st Parliament (1955–1959)

• ¹ - Gain not retained at the 1959 UK general election.
• ² - Gain retained at the 1959 UK general election.
• ³ - Tom Mitchell won the most votes in the 1955 General Election but was disqualified by the House of Commons on the grounds that he was a convicted felon. A by-election was called at which Mitchell again stood and won the most votes. On this occasion an election petition was lodged and Mitchell was again disqualified with the Election Court declaring his opponent Charles Beattie duly elected. It was then discovered that Beattie was ineligible to sit because he held offices of profit under the Crown. Beattie was indemnified by Parliament against the consequences of sitting and voting while ineligible, and a further writ was moved. In the subsequent by-election Independent Unionist George Forrest gained more votes than Mitchell and duly took his seat. Subsequently Forrest took the Ulster Unionist whip and won the seat in his new party colours at the 1959 General Election.

[edit] 40th Parliament (1951–1955)

• ¹ - The Armagh by-election was the last time to date when a UK Parliamentary election was uncontested.
• ² - A rare occasion when an incumbent government gained a seat from the opposition in a by-election. The gain was held at the 1955 UK general election.
• ³ - An uncontested by-election.

[edit] 39th Parliament (1950–1951)

No seats changed hands during this Parliament.

• ¹ - uncontested by-election.
• ² - MacManaway had been ordained a priest in the Church of Ireland in 1925. Before his candidature he sought legal advice and resigned all offices in the Church. However after his election the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council determined him ineligible to sit, ruling that the House of Commons (Clergy Disqualification) Act 1801 disqualified him.