1919 Swansea East by-election

The 1919 Swansea East by-election was a parliamentary by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Swansea East on 10 July 1919.

Vacancy

The seat had become vacant when the Coalition Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) Thomas Jeremiah Williams had died on 12 June 1919, aged 46. He had held the seat since its creation at the 1918 general election.

Electoral history

T.J. Williams

General election 1918: Swansea East

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Liberal	Thomas Jeremiah Williams	11,071	63.6	N/A
	Labour	David Williams	6,341	36.4	N/A
Majority			4,730	27.2	N/A
Turnout			17,411	64.1	N/A
Registered electors			27,185
	Liberal win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Campaign

At a Labour Party conference in June, a resolution was passed in favour of using the strike weapon for political purposes.

Result

The Coalition Liberal candidate, David Matthews, held the seat for his party, but with a greatly reduced majority.

1919 Swansea East by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Liberal	David Matthews	9,250	53.1	−10.5
	Labour	David Williams	8,158	46.9	+10.5
Majority			1,092	6.2	−21.0
Turnout			17,408	64.0	−0.1
Registered electors			27,185
	Liberal hold		Swing	-10.5
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Aftermath

David Williams stood again at the 1922 general election and won the seat for the Labour Party.

See also

• Swansea East constituency
• 1940 Swansea East by-election
• 1963 Swansea East by-election
• Swansea
• List of United Kingdom by-elections (1918–1931)
• United Kingdom by-election records

Further reading

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• A Vision Of Britain Through Time (Constituency elector numbers)