1922 Inverness by-election

The Inverness by-election, 1922 was a by-election held on 16 March 1922 for the British House of Commons constituency of Inverness.

1922 Inverness by-election

16 March 1922

Candidate MacDonald Livingstone Party Liberal Independent Liberal Popular vote 8,340 8,024 Percentage 51.0 49.0

MP before election Morison Liberal Subsequent MP MacDonald National Liberal

Vacancy

The by-election was caused by the resignation of the sitting Coalition Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) Rt Hon. Sir Thomas Brash Morison, upon his appointment as a Senator of the College of Justice. Morison had held the seat since 1917.

Electoral history

At the last general election, the Liberal candidate, Sir Thomas Morison was elected with the endorsement of the Coalition Government.

Morison

General election, 1918: Inverness[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Liberal	Thomas Brash Morison	7,991	73.2	N/A
	Highland Land League	George James Bruce	2,930	26.8	N/A
Majority			5,061	46.4	N/A
Turnout			10,921	37.3	N/A
Registered electors			29,263
	Liberal win (new seat)
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Candidates

The Inverness Liberal Association chose as their candidate to defend the seat, Sir Murdoch Macdonald. Macdonald was a supporter of the Coalition Government and received the additional support of the Inverness Unionist Association. The Scottish Liberal Federation, who were opposed to the Coalition Government, organised support for Mackenzie Livingstone, who was adopted as an Independent Liberal candidate.[2]

Result

The result was a victory for the Coalition Liberal candidate.

By-election 1922: Inverness

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Liberal	Murdoch Macdonald	8,340	51.0	-22.2
	Independent Liberal	Mackenzie Livingstone	8,024	49.0	New
Majority			316	2.0	-44.4
Turnout			16,364	50.1	+13.8
Registered electors			32,695
	Liberal hold		Swing	-22.2
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Aftermath

General election, 1922: Inverness[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Murdoch Macdonald	9,796	52.7	+1.7
	Liberal	Mackenzie Livingstone	8,785	47.3	-1.7
Majority			1,011	5.4	+3.4
Turnout			18,581	54.3	+4.2
Registered electors			34,244
	National Liberal hold		Swing	+1.7

Sir Murdoch Macdonald held the seat until he retired in 1950 aged 83.

References

1. Whitaker's Almanack, 1920
2. "News in Brief." Times [London, England] 6 Mar. 1922: 9. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 7 June 2016.
3. The Times, 20 November 1922