1938 Dartford by-election

1938 Dartford by-election

7 November 1938
Constituency of Dartford
First party Second party   Con Candidate Jennie Adamson Godfrey Mitchell Party Labour Conservative Popular vote 46,514 42,276 Percentage 52.4% 47.6%
MP before election Frank Clarke Conservative Elected MP Jennie Adamson Labour

The 1938 Dartford by-election was held on 7 November 1938. The by-election was held due to the death of the incumbent Conservative MP, Frank Edward Clarke. It was won by the Labour candidate Jennie Adamson.[1] Adamson afterwards stated that she won, because the voters "were ashamed of Mr. Chamberlain's betrayal of Czechoslovakia and of democracy."[2] This was in reference to the Munich Pact, in which the United Kingdom under Prime Minister Chamberlain, accepted Nazi Germany's annexation of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia.[3]

Dartford by-election, 1938 [2][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jennie Adamson	46,514	52.4
	Conservative	Godfrey Mitchell	42,276	47.6
Majority			4,238	4.8	N/A
Turnout			88,790	68.0
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

References

1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
2. "LABOUR GAINS". The Sydney Morning Herald. 9 November 1938. p. 17. Retrieved 2 December 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
3. Chamberlain, Neville; Mussolini, Benito; Hitler, Adolf; Daladier, Edouard (1938). Munich Agreement – via Wikisource.
4. Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 383. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.