1940 Kettering by-election

The 1940 Kettering by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 6 March 1940 for the British House of Commons constituency of Kettering in Northamptonshire.

## Previous MP

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The seat had become vacant when the constituency's Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), John Eastwood, resigned his seat following his appointment as a Metropolitan Police magistrate.[1] He had been Kettering's MP since the 1931 general election, when he defeated the sitting Labour MP Samuel Perry.

## Candidates

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The Conservative candidate was John Profumo, a British Army officer and son of a prominent barrister of Italian origin.

During the Second World War unopposed by-elections were common, since the major parties had agreed not to contest by-elections when vacancies arose in seats held by the other parties; contests occurred only when independent candidates or minor parties chose to stand. However, William Ross, a local steelworker and Labour Party councillor in Corby, wanted to contest the seat. He was disowned by his local Labour Party and by the party's National Executive Committee, and stood as a "Workers' and Pensioners' Anti-War" candidate.

## Result

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On a turnout barely half of that at the 1935 general election, Profumo held the seat comfortably, with 73% of the votes. After a successful career in the army (where he rose to the rank of Brigadier and was awarded an OBE), he was defeated at the 1945 general election. He returned to Parliament in 1950, and rose to become Secretary of State for War in 1960, before his career was destroyed in 1963 by a political scandal which became known as the Profumo affair.

## Votes

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Kettering by-election, 6th March 1940  Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| Conservative | John Profumo | 17,914  | 73.0  | +20.9
| Workers' and Pensioners' Anti-War  | William Ross  | 6,616  | 27.0  | New
Majority  | 11,298  | 46.0  | +41.8
Turnout | 24,530  | 37.8  | −37.5
| Conservative hold | Swing |  |

## See also

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* Kettering constituency
* Kettering
* Lists of United Kingdom by-elections
* United Kingdom by-election records

## References

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1. ^ "No. 34810". The London Gazette. 12 March 1940. p. 1467.

* 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 Historical List of MPs

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Electoral wards of Kettering Borough Council

Current wards|

* All Saints
* Avondale Grange
* Barton
* Brambleside
* Burton Latimer
* Desborough Loatland
* Desborough St Giles
* Ise Lodge
* Northfield
* Pipers' Hill
* Queen Eleanor & Buccleuch
* Rothwell
* Slade
* St Michaels & Wicksteed
* St Peters
* Welland
* William Knibb

Historical wards|

* Buccleuch
* Millbrook
* Plessy
* Queen Eleanor
* Spinney
* St Andrews
* St Marys
* St Michaels
* Warkton
* Wicksteed

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« 36th Parliament « By-elections to the 37th Parliament of the United Kingdom » 38th Parliament »

1936|

* January: Combined Scottish Universities
* February: Ross and Cromarty
* March: Dunbartonshire
* Llanelli
* May: Peckham
* June: Lewes
* July: Derby
* Balham and Tooting
* East Grinstead
* October: Birmingham Erdington
* November: Clay Cross
* Preston
* Greenock

1937|

* February: St Pancras North
* Manchester Gorton
* Oxford University
* Richmond-upon-Thames
* March: Combined English Universities
* Tonbridge
* Farnham
* April: Stalybridge and Hyde
* Wandsworth Central
* Birmingham West
* May: York
* June: Glasgow Hillhead
* Buckingham
* Plymouth Drake
* Cheltenham
* Hemel Hempstead
* Holland with Boston
* Bewdley
* Ilford
* St Ives
* July: Kingston-upon-Thames
* Chertsey
* North Dorset
* September: Glasgow Springburn
* October: Islington North
* November: Hastings

1938|

* January: Farnworth
* February: Pontypridd
* Ipswich
* Combined Scottish Universities
* April: City of London
* Fulham West
* May: Lichfield
* Aylesbury
* June: West Derbyshire
* Stafford
* Barnsley
* July: Willesden East
* October: Oxford
* November: Dartford
* Walsall
* Bridgwater
* Doncaster
* Lewisham West
* Fylde
* December: Kinross and Western Perthshire

1939|

* January: East Norfolk
* February: Holderness
* Ripon
* March: Batley and Morley
* Kincardineshire and Western Aberdeenshire
* April: South Ayrshire
* May: Down
* Sheffield Hallam
* Westminster Abbey
* Birmingham Aston
* Southwark North
* Kennington
* July: Caerphilly
* Portsmouth South
* North Cornwall
* Hythe
* Monmouth
* Colne Valley
* August: Brecon and Radnorshire
* October: Fareham
* High Peak
* Clackmannanshire and East Stirlingshire
* Ormskirk
* Ashton-under-Lyne
* November: Macclesfield
* December: Streatham
* Stretford
* Wells

1940|

* February: Southampton
* City of London
* Swansea East
* Belfast East
* Southwark Central
* Silvertown
* Cambridge University
* March: Kettering
* City of Chester
* Leeds North East
* April: Argyllshire
* Lonsdale
* Battersea North
* Glasgow Pollok
* May: Brighton
* East Renfrewshire
* Middleton and Prestwich
* June: Spen Valley
* Newcastle North
* Bow and Bromley
* Croydon North
* Wandsworth Central
* Bournemouth
* July: Newcastle West
* Montrose Burghs
* Nottingham Central
* Rochdale
* Wansbeck
* August: Middlesbrough West
* Mitcham
* Heywood and Radcliffe
* September: Bolton
* Manchester Exchange
* Preston
* November: Queen's University of Belfast
* Aldershot
* Southampton
* December: Northampton
* Birmingham Edgbaston

1941|

* February: Doncaster
* South Dorset
* Petersfield
* Dunbartonshire
* March: Hitchin
* Bodmin
* Carmarthen
* April: Great Yarmouth
* West Bromwich
* Mansfield
* May: Birmingham King's Norton
* Hornsey
* June: West Dorset
* July: Greenock
* Edinburgh West
* Dudley
* Pontefract
* August: Berwick-upon-Tweed
* September: Scarborough and Whitby
* The Wrekin
* October: Lancaster
* November: Brighton
* Hampstead
* December: Harrow
* Edinburgh Central

1942|

* February: North East Derbyshire
* Keighley
* March: Nuneaton
* Manchester Gorton
* Newcastle-under-Lyme
* Wigan
* Grantham
* April: Tavistock
* Cardiff East
* Glasgow Cathcart
* Wallasey
* Rugby
* May: Putney
* Chichester
* June: Llandaff and Barry
* Maldon
* Windsor
* July: Salisbury
* Spennymoor
* August: Rothwell
* Whitechapel and St Georges
* Poplar South
* Sheffield Park
* October: Manchester Clayton
* Ince

1943|

* January: Hamilton
* University of Wales
* February: Belfast West
* Ashford
* Antrim
* Midlothian and Peebles
* King's Lynn
* Portsmouth North
* Bristol Central
* Watford
* April: Buckingham
* Eddisbury
* Daventry
* June: The Hartlepools
* Newark
* Birmingham Aston
* July: Burton-on-Trent
* August: Chippenham
* October: St Albans
* Peterborough
* November: Woolwich West
* December: Consett
* Darwen
* Acton

1944|

* January: Skipton
* February: Brighton
* West Derbyshire
* Kirkcaldy Burghs
* Sheffield Attercliffe
* Bury St Edmunds
* March: Camberwell North
* April: Clay Cross
* July: Manchester Rusholme
* September: Bilston
* October: Chelsea
* Berwick-upon-Tweed

1945|

* April: Motherwell
* Combined Scottish Universities
* Chelmsford
* Caernarvon Boroughs
* May: Middlesbrough West
* Neath
* Newport

Lists of UK by-elections
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