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
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