East Renfrewshire by-election, 1930

The East Renfrewshire by-election, 1930 was a parliamentary by-election held on 28 November 1930 for the British House of Commons constituency of East Renfrewshire in Scotland.

Previous MP

The seat had become vacant on when the constituency's Unionist Member of Parliament (MP), Alexander Munro MacRobert, had died on 18 October 1930, aged 57. He had been East Renfrewshire's MP since winning the seat from Labour at the 1924 general election.

Candidates

The Unionist candidate was The Marquess of Clydesdale, eldest son of the 13th Duke of Hamilton.

The Independent Labour Party candidate was T. Irwin, and W. O. Brown stood for the Scottish National Party.

The Liberal Party did not field a candidate; it had last contested the seat in 1923, finishing a poor third.

Results

On a slightly-reduced turnout, the result was a victory for The Marquess of Clydesdale, who won 52% of the votes. He was re-elected at the next two general elections, remaining East Renfrewshire's MP until he succeeded to the Dukedom in 1940, triggering another by-election.

Votes

East Renfrewshire by-election, 28 November 1930
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	The Marquess of Cydesdale	19,753	53.6	+1.4
	Ind. Labour Party	T. Irwin	12,293	33.3	N/A
	SNP	W. O. Brown	4,818	13.1	N/A
Majority			7,460	20.3	+15.9
Turnout				69.0	−17.8
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election, 1929: East Renfrewshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Alexander Munro MacRobert	18,487	52.2	+0.2
	Labour	Rev. J. M. Munro	16,924	47.8	−0.2
Majority			13,646	21.5	−11.2
Turnout			63,189	75.9	−4.8
	Unionist hold		Swing	−6.6

References

Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd edition ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs