Hereford by-election, 1956

The Hereford by-election of 14 February 1956 was held after the resignation of Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Jim Thomas.^[1]

The seat was safe, having been won by Thomas at the United Kingdom general election, 1955 albeit with a reduced majority of over 9,000 votes^[2]

Candidates

• David Gibson-Watt was the Conservative candidate to hold the seat. He had served in the Welsh Guards and was a former local councillor.
• Frank Owen A local man who had served in his youth as the Liberal MP for Hereford between 1929 and 1931. At the 1955 General Election, he had contested the seat for the first time since losing it in 1931, and polled a good second place.
• Labour candidate Bryan Stanley was, at the time, a technical engineer and member of the Labour National Executive Committee.

Result of the previous general election

General Election 1955: Hereford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	James Purdon Lewes Thomas	18,058	51.79
	Liberal	Humphrey Frank Owen	8,658	24.83
	Labour	E.L.P. Seers	8,154	23.38
Majority			9,400	26.96	-

Result of the by-election

Hereford by-election, 14 February 1956^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	James David Gibson-Watt	12,129	44.29	-7.50
	Liberal	Humphrey Frank Owen	9,979	36.44	+11.61
	Labour	Bryan Capewell Stanley	5,277	19.27	-4.11
Majority			2,150	7.85

References

1. Full results
2. Election results PoliticsResources.net
3. "1956 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 2012-10-10. Retrieved 2015-08-14.