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Constituency of Chertsey | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Turnout | 39.2% (21.0%) | |||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1937 Chertsey by-election was held on 2 July 1937. The by-election was held due to the death of the incumbent Conservative MP, Archibald Boyd-Carpenter.
The Liberal Party selected Ronald Haylor, a Buckingham Gate Barrister. He was educated at the Leys and Trinity College, Oxford. He played hockey for Oxford University and rugby union for a leading London club.[1] He was Liberal Party candidate at Windsor in the 1929 general election and at Totnes for the general elections of 1931 and 1935.[2] There were growing moves for a Popular Front, where parties of the left came together to oppose fascism and Nazi appeasement. In Chertsey, a local Popular Front was formed, which hoped to see the Liberal and Labour parties support a progressive candidate. They launched a charter in February 1937.[3] Haylor was given the backing of the Chertsey Popular Front and added the suffix of 'Progressive' to the party label.[4]
At first, a three-cornered contest had been expected between the Conservative candidate, the retired naval officer Arthur Marsden, Haylor and Mr F. J. Tompsett, a City rubber broker, who was to have stood as an Independent and anti-Communist. However, Tompsett decided to withdraw in favour of Marsden.[5]
The Conservative Party held the seat with a reduced majority.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
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Conservative | Arthur Marsden | 19,767 | 64.8 | −6.6 | |
Liberal | Ernest Ronald Haylor | 10,722 | 35.2 | +6.6 | |
Majority | 9,045 | 29.6 | −13.2 | ||
Turnout | 30,489 | 39.2 | −21.0 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing |