1954 Harwich by-election

The Harwich by-election, 1954 was a parliamentary by-election held on 11 February 1954 for the House of Commons constituency of Harwich. The seat had become vacant when the National Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) Stanley Holmes was elevated to the peerage as Baron Dovercourt, having held the seat since the 1935 general election. The Conservative and Liberal candidate, Julian Ridsdale held the seat for the government. He remained the constituency's MP until his retirement 38 years later at the 1992 general election. The Labour candidate Shirley Catlin would later, under her married name Shirley Williams; be elected as MP for Hitchin and would serve in the Cabinets of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan.[1]

Result

Harwich by-election, 1954[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative and National Liberal	Julian Ridsdale	19,532	59.1	+0.2
	Labour	Shirley Catlin	13,535	40.9	-0.2
Majority			5,997	18.1	+0.4
Turnout			33,067
	Conservative and National Liberal hold		Swing

References

1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 March 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
2. "1954 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 4 February 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2015.