1922 City of London by-election

1922 City of London by-election

19 May 1922
Constituency of City of London
Turnout	36.96%
First party Second party   UP Candidate Edward Grenfell Vansittart Bowater Party Unionist Ind. Unionist Popular vote 10,114 6,178 Percentage 62.08% 37.92%
A map of parliamentary constituencies within the County of London at the time of the by-election, with City of London highlighted in red.
MP before election Arthur Balfour Unionist Subsequent MP Edward Grenfell Unionist

The 1922 City of London by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 19 May 1922 for the British House of Commons constituency of City of London, which covered the "Square Mile" which was the United Kingdom's traditional financial district.

The seat had become vacant on the elevation to the peerage of one of the constituency's two Unionist Members of Parliament (MPs), Arthur James Balfour, as the Earl of Balfour.

Balfour had held the seat since a by-election in 1906, following his defeat at Manchester East in the 1906 general election. He had also been Prime Minister between 1902 and 1905.

Candidates

The Unionist Party selected as its candidate Edward Grenfell, who was a director of the Bank of England. Sir Vansittart Bowater, who had been Lord Mayor of London in 1913, stood as an Independent Unionist.

Results

Turnout was unsurprisingly low in the first contested election in the City since the first 1910 general election. Grenfell won the seat by a convincing margin.

Curiously, Bowater would go on to be elected as the official Unionist candidate at a by-election in 1924, and he and Grenfell would share the representation of the City until 1935.

Votes

By-Election 19 May 1922: City of London

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Edward Grenfell	10,114	62.08	N/A
	Ind. Unionist	Vansittart Bowater	6,178	37.92	New
Majority			3,936	24.16	N/A
Turnout			16,292	36.96	N/A
	Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General election 14 December 1918: City of London (2 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Arthur Balfour	Unopposed
C	Unionist	Frederick Banbury	Unopposed
	Unionist hold
	Unionist hold
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

See also

• List of United Kingdom by-elections
• City of London constituency
• 1904 City of London by-election
• February 1906 City of London by-election
• June 1906 City of London by-election
• 1924 City of London by-election
• 1935 City of London by-election
• 1938 City of London by-election
• 1940 City of London by-election
• 1945 City of London by-election

References

• 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 Peerage Pages