|
The St Albans by-election of 1943 was a parliamentary by-election held in England in October 1943 for the House of Commons constituency of St Albans in Hertfordshire. The by-election was held to fill the vacancy caused when the town's Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) Sir Francis Fremantle died suddenly at home on 26 August, aged 71.〔Deaths, ''The Times'', 28 August 1943, page 1〕 Fremantle had held the seat since a by-election in 1919. == Candidates == The Conservative Party nominated as its candidate, 31-year-old John Grimston, who was then serving in the Royal Air Force. Grimston was the son and heir of 4th Earl of Verlam, and a cousin of the Assistant Postmaster-General Robert Grimston MP.〔Political Notes: Four By-Elections Pending, ''The Times'', Tuesday 28 September 1943, page 2〕 In accordance with an electoral truce between the parties in the wartime coalition government, neither the Liberal nor Labour parties nominated a candidate.〔 However, the dramatist William Douglas-Home, who was then an officer of the Royal Armoured Corps and an opponent of the policy of requiring the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany, announced that he would stand as an independent candidate.〔 Polling day (if a vote was needed) was set for 14 October.〔 Nominations closed on 5 October, when Douglas-Home abandoned his plans to stand, because the necessary permission from the Army Council had not been received, despite an application having been made on 22 September.〔Nominations At St. Albans: Would-Be Candidate And Army Council, ''The Times'', Tuesday 5 October 1943, page 2〕 However, a statement from the Army Council said that permission had been granted that afternoon, and blamed the delay on Douglas-Home not marking the application as urgent. Douglas-Home's agent R.T.A Cornwell was unable to contact the would-be candidate to let him know that permission had finally been granted, because Douglas-Home was away on "some protracted military exercise". He had come up to London in a torn battledress in the morning, and had left after announcing his withdrawal.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「St Albans by-election, 1943」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|