Rugby by-election, 1942

The Rugby by-election, 1942 was a parliamentary by-election for the British House of Commons constituency of Rugby on 29 April 1942.

The by-election was caused by the resignation of the sitting Conservative MP, David Margesson in March 1942. He had been MP here since gaining the seat from the Liberal, Ernest Brown in 1924. Margesson had been Secretary of State for War until February 1942 when Winston Churchill sacked him following the fall of Singapore.

Rugby had been won by the Conservative Party at every election since 1924 and was a safe seat. The result at the last General election was as follows;

The local Conservatives selected 56-year-old Lt-Col. Sir Claude Holbrook. He was a serving officer with the Royal Army Service Corps who had also served in the European War from 1914-18. He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Warwickshire in 1931. He had been Chairman of Rugby Conservative Association since 1927. He was Officer-in-Charge of a big Ordnance Depot. The Labour party had selected A E Millett to contest a General Election expected to take place in 1939-40. He had fought Yeovil in 1935, coming third behind the Liberal. Although the General Election had not taken place because of the war, he had remained active for the Labour party in Rugby and was still officially their candidate. In accordance with the terms of the wartime electoral truce, Millett was not put forward by the Rugby Labour party. The Liberals had not fought the constituency since 1929 and had no candidate in place. The Rugby Liberals had remained active through their Chairman, M E Avery, but did not put forward a candidate.

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