The 1935 Aberdeen South by-election was held on 21 May 1935. The by-election was held due to the death of the incumbent Conservative MP,

Sir Frederick Thomson, 1st Baronet Sir Frederick Charles Thomson, 1st Baronet, (27 May 1875 – 21 April 1935) was a Scottish Unionist politician and lawyer. Life He was the third son of James Wishart Thomson of Glenpark, Balerno, Midlothian; James was a son of William Th ...

. It was won by the Conservative candidate Sir Douglas Thomson.

Arthur Woodburn Arthur Woodburn (25 October 1890 – 1 June 1978) was a Scottish Labour Party politician who was Secretary of State for Scotland from 1947 to 1950. Born in Edinburgh, he was educated at Heriot-Watt College. Imprisoned as a conscientious obje ...

, the Secretary of the Scottish Labour Party, wrote a report in June 1935 for the

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

in which he claimed that national issues were key to public support for the Unionist candidate. The recent Budget and King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...

's Silver Jubilee had increased the prestige of the National Government. Woodburn also claimed that Labour's commitment to nationalisation of the banks had frightened people, especially the poor, and that the "growing war atmosphere was shaking people's faith in the ability of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

to guarantee security". Thomson had proclaimed his policy as "Peace by Preparedness" (i.e. increased

armaments A weapon, arm, or armament is any implement or device that is used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime (e.g., murder), law ...

) and Woodburn claimed that this was extremely popular with the constituency: "The positive passion for Peace which gave us such a powerful plea in earlier elections was not so effective under the shadow of

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's threats".Tom Stannage, ''Baldwin Thwarts the Opposition: The British General Election of 1935'' (London: Croom Helm, 1980), p. 77.

References

Aberdeen South by-election Aberdeen South by-election 1930s elections in Scotland 1930s in Aberdeen Aberdeen South by-election By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Aberdeen constituencies {{Scotland-UK-Parl-by-election-stub