Louth by-election, 1920

The Louth by-election, 1920 was a parliamentary by-election for the British House of Commons constituency of Louth in Lincolnshire. Voting was held on 3 June 1920. The by-election took place 5 days after the Louth Flood of 29 May 1920 had claimed 23 lives.

The seat had become vacant on the death on 28 April of the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Henry Langton Brackenbury. He had represented the constituency since the 1918 general election, and previously been Louth's MP from January 1910 to December 1910.

The constituency was created in 1885. The Liberals had won the seat six times and the Unionists three times. It was a marginal seat in 1910 but in 1918 the Liberal MP, Timothy Davies surprisingly did not receive endorsement from the Coalition Government, which instead was given to his Unionist opponent. The result at that General Election in was;

The writ for the by-election was moved on 13 May 1920. Polling Day was set for 3 June 1920, 36 days after the death of the former MP. On 25 May 1920 nominations closed to confirm that the election would be a two-way contest. Turnor immediately received the official endorsement of the Coalition Government and a letter of support from Prime Minister David Lloyd George and the Unionist Leader Bonar Law.

Given the nature of the constituency, agricultural issues played a prominent part in the campaign and a subject on which Turnor, the Unionist candidate, felt comfortable given his background. Wintringham, the Liberal candidate was known to be a strong supporter of the temperance movement. The issue of how to resolve problems in Ireland was high on the agenda of the politicians in London. The Liberals argued for the implementation of the Irish Home Rule Bill that had been passed in 1914.

...
Wikipedia