MINOR PARTIES at BRITISH PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS 1885-1974 OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (in preparation) British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918 British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949 British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1970 British Parliamentary Election Statistics 1918-1970 Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972 MINOR PARTIES at BRITISH PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS 1885-1974 Compiled and Edited by F.W.S. CRAIG M ISBN 978-1-349-02348-6 ISBN 978-1-349-02346-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-02346-2 @ F.W.S. Craig 1975 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1975 978-0-333-17152-3 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission. First published 1975 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Associated companies in New York Dublin Melbourne Johannesburg and Madras SBN 333 17152 7 Typeset by LITHOSET Chichester CONTENTS Preface vii Introductory Notes . ix The Minor Parties Appendix 1 Statistical Summary 115 Appendix 2 Campaign for a More Prosperous Britain . . . . . 128 Appendix 3 Servicemen Candidates 129 Index to Parties and Organisations 130 Index to Names . . . . . . . 133 v PREFACE During the years which I have spent compiling reference books on British elections, I have been frequently incon venienced and frustrated by the lack of a single-volume source of background information and electoral data on the numerous small parties and organisations which have spon sored or supported parliamentary candidates since 1885. This new volume supplements the data in the British Parliamentary Election Results series and is an attempt to provide basic information in a compact form which should meet the needs of journalists and academics. Coverage is confined to Great Britain (to have listed parties operating in Northern Ireland would have created the problem of including election data relating to the former Northern Ireland Parliament and Assembly as well as to the Parliament at Westminster) and 'minor party' has for the purpose of this book been defined as a party not allied or affiliated to the Conservative, Labour or Liberal parties. In deciding what in fact constituted a 'party' as distinct from a 'one-man band' I have excluded all those 'parties' who appeared to have no organisation or membership outwith the founder and his close associates. Anyone can form a political party and in recent years there has been a proliferation of candidates standing under strange 'party' labels but this book is not concerned with the eccentric independent who decides to form a new party for election purposes. The difficulties of obtaining verified information on small parties and organisations was immense. Many of them ceased activities years ago leaving only meagre records and they rarely merited coverage in the national press. In a number of vii instances I have been unable to confirm to my satisfaction the dates of formation or dissolution but no effort has been spared to ensure as high a standard of accuracy as has been possible with the limited and sometimes conflicting material available. With only a few exceptions I have enjoyed the co-operation of many officials, members and former members of the organisations included in this book and I would like to express my thanks to them but at the same time emphasize that the final responsibility for each entry rested with the Editor. To those who for reasons perhaps best known to the Special Branch, either refused or were only willing to provide minimal details of their background, I can only say that I have done my best to provide an accurate entry. As with the other books in this series, I owe a considerable debt of gratitude to my wife, Phyllis and elder daughter, Susan. Not only have they helped in the proof reading and indexing but their encouragement to complete a somewhat difficult and frustrating book was appreciated, although perhaps not always at the time. F.W.S.CRAIG Compiler and Editor Parliamentary Research Services Chichester February 1975 viii INTRODUCTORY NOTES 1. Parties and organisations are listed in alphabetical order under their most recent name. The index on pages 130-3 2 provides references to the former names of parties. 2. The list under Sources is selective and includes only those books and periodicals which were considered by the Editor to be the most useful source of further reference. Periodicals which were the official or semi-official publications of the parties are indicated by an asterisk (*) preceding the title. Opening and closing dates of periodicals have been verified as far as possible from the British Union Catalogue of Periodicals and the catalogues of the British Library (Reference Division and Newspaper Library). Due to the fact that small parties often fail to observe the Copyright Act and do not deposit their periodicals with the Copyright libraries, the listings and dates of publication given in this book will in some cases reflect library holdings which may be incomplete. 3. Under the heading Secessions are listed any MPs who seceded to the party. 4. The complete parliamentary electoral activity of the party is given in chronological order under the heading Elections. The data is provided in six columns which contain (from left to right): (a) The year of the General Election (the two elections of 1910 and 197 4 are distinguished by a letter code for the month) or the year and date (day/month) in the case of a by-election. ix ' A* (b) The constituency name in full except in the case of a county constituency where for reasons of space the county prefix has been omitted. Two and three member constituencies (except at by-elections where there was only one vacancy) are indicated by the number of seats inserted within square [ 2] brackets after the con stituency name. (c) The constituency reference number as used in British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918; British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1970; Boundaries ofP arliamentary Constituencies 1885-19 72. The inclusion of this number will allow rapid reference to the full election result contained in the volumes of constituency figures which at present cover the period from 1885 to mid-1971. A further volume will probably be published in the mid-1980s taking the results through to the next major redistribution of constituency boundaries. (d) The initials and surname of the candidate. A dagger (t) indicates a successful candidate. (e) The number of votes polled. An asterisk (*) indicates a forfeited deposit. (f) The number of votes polled by the candidate expressed as a percentage of the total votes cast in the constituency. X