The Blaydon byelection of 2 February 1956 was a
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections.
A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...
held in the
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...
constituency of
Blaydon
Blaydon is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, and historically in County Durham. Blaydon, and neighbouring Winlaton, which Blaydon is now contiguous with, form the town of Blaydon-on-Tyne. The Blaydon/Winl ...
in
County Durham
County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...
, the North East of England.
It was caused by the death on 3 November 1955 of
William Whiteley, the sitting
Labour Party Member of Parliament for the constituency, who had first been elected in 1922 and had represented it ever since with the exception of 1931 to 1935. Labour Party candidate
Robert Woof held the seat with little change in the majority.
Candidates
Labour selected Robert Woof, who was a miner and official with the
National Union of Mineworkers; Woof, who was 44, had been a member of
Durham County Council
Durham County Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of County Durham (district), County Durham in North East England. The council is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority, bein ...
since 1947. The
Conservative Party candidate was John Reay-Smith, a 40-year-old solicitor who had been a member of
Bishop Auckland
Bishop Auckland ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham, England, Durham.
M ...
Urban District Council
In England and Wales, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected urban district council (UDC), which shared local government responsibilities with a county council. ...
and fought the constituency in the
1955 general election.
Results
Robert Woof won with a majority of 10,714, and went on to hold it for the next 23 years before retiring at the
1979 general election.
Votes
See also
*
Blaydon (UK Parliament constituency)
Blaydon was a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons from 2017 United Kingdom general election, 2017 until its abolition for the 2024 United King ...
*
List of United Kingdom by-elections (1950-1979)
A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
References
*''The Times House of Commons Supplement'' issued June 1957.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blaydon By-Election, 1956
1956 elections in the United Kingdom
By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in County Durham constituencies
1956 in England
February 1956 in the United Kingdom
Politics of Gateshead
Elections in Tyne and Wear
20th century in County Durham