The 1956 Hereford by-election of 14 February 1956 was held after the resignation of Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Jim Thomas.[1]

The seat was safe, having been won by Thomas at the 1955 United Kingdom general election albeit with a reduced majority of over 2,000 votes.[2] The Liberals, who had already polled nearly one-quarter of the vote in 1955, increased their share to 36.4%.

Candidates

  • David Gibson-Watt was the Conservative candidate to hold the seat. He had served in the Welsh Guards and was a former local councillor.
  • Frank Owen: A local man who had served in his youth as the Liberal MP for Hereford between 1929 and 1931. At the 1955 general election, he had contested the seat for the first time since losing it in 1931, and polled a good second place.
  • Labour candidate Bryan Stanley was, at the time, a technical engineer and member of the Labour National Executive Committee.

Result of the previous general election

General election 1955: Hereford
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative James Thomas 18,058 51.79
Liberal Frank Owen 8,658 24.83
Labour E.L.P. Seers 8,154 23.38
Majority 9,400 26.96
Turnout 34,870
Conservative hold Swing

Result of the by-election

The Conservative Party held the seat with a reduced majority.

Hereford by-election, 14 February 1956[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Gibson-Watt 12,129 44.29 -7.50
Liberal Frank Owen 9,979 36.44 +11.61
Labour Bryan Stanley 5,277 19.27 -4.11
Majority 2,150 7.85 -19.11
Turnout 27,385
Conservative hold Swing

References

  1. ↑ Full results Archived 2012-10-10 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ Election results Archived 11 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine PoliticsResources.net
  3. ↑ "1956 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 10 October 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2015.


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