1937 Farnham by-election

The 1937 Farnham by-election was held on 23 March 1937. The by-election was held due to the elevation to the peerage of the incumbent Conservative MP, Arthur Samuel. It was won by the Conservative candidate Godfrey Nicholson.[1]

Peter Pain, a recently qualified barrister, contested the election for the Labour Party. Earlier in the decade, he had visited a Hitler Youth camp, and this experience convinced him that a war was inevitable, and that he should oppose Nazism by becoming a socialist.[2]

Linton Thorp, who contested the election as an independent conservative, was a former Conservative MP who had left the party believing that some of its policies were too close to socialism. He stood with the support of the pro-Nazi Liberty Restoration League.[3]

The election was won by the Conservative candidate Godfrey Nicholson.[1]

Farnham by-election, 1937
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Godfrey Nicholson 20,580 66.7 −11.8
Labour Peter Pain 7,792 25.3 +3.8
Ind. Conservative Linton Thorp 2,327 7.5 New
Independent Edward Miller 154 0.5 New
Majority 12,788 41.4 −15.6
Turnout 30,853
Conservative hold Swing
  1. ^ a b Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "F"
  2. ^ Church, Rex (27 February 2003). "Obituary: Sir Peter Pain". The Guardian.
  3. ^ Michael Stenton and Stephen Lees, Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, vol.3, p.356