1958 Rochdale by-election

The 1958 Rochdale by-election held on 13 February was a by-election for the constituency of Rochdale, in Lancashire, England, in the House of Commons. It was called following the death on 16 December 1957 of the sitting Conservative Member of Parliament, Wentworth Schofield.^[1]

This was the first British by-election to be televised^[2] and Liberal candidate Ludovic Kennedy used his media experience to increase coverage of his campaign. Granada Television broadcast two debates between the candidates as well as the election count, and the BBC conducted many interviews with voters.^[3]

The by-election was won by the Labour candidate, Jack McCann, with 22,000 votes, but Kennedy polled 17,603, the highest Liberal vote since the 1920s. The Conservative candidate, John Parkinson, was squeezed into third place with fewer than 10,000 votes.

Results

By-election 1958: Rochdale^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jack McCann	22,133	44.66	−3.79
	Liberal	Ludovic Kennedy	17,603	35.52	New
	Conservative	John E. Parkinson	9,827	19.83	−31.72
Majority			4,530	9.14	N/A
Turnout			49,563
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+14.0

General election 1955: Rochdale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Wentworth Schofield	26,518	51.55	+1.14
	Labour	Jack McCann	24,928	48.45	−1.14
Majority			1,590	3.10	+2.28
Turnout			51,446	82.80	−2.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.1

References

^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 December 2011. Retrieved 29 August 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ Granada Goes to Rochdale
^ Rochdale in the 1950s: TV election – yet another first for pioneering town (archived)
^ "1958 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 25 June 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2015.

External links

British Parliamentary By Elections: Campaign literature from the by-election

This article about a by-election to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in England is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 December 2011. Retrieved 29 August 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[2] Granada Goes to Rochdale

[3] Rochdale in the 1950s: TV election – yet another first for pioneering town (archived)

[4] "1958 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 25 June 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2015.

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1955	August: Mid Ulster December: Gateshead West Greenock Torquay
1956	February: Blaydon Leeds North East Hereford Gainsborough Taunton March: Walthamstow West May: Mid Ulster June: Tonbridge July: Newport September: Chester-le-Street November: City of Chester December: Melton
1957	February: Lewisham North Wednesbury Carmarthen March: Bristol West Warwick and Leamington Beckenham Newcastle-upon-Tyne North May: Edinburgh South East Ham North Hornsey June: North Dorset September: Gloucester October: Ipswich November: Leicester South East December: Liverpool Garston
1958	February: Rochdale March: Glasgow Kelvingrove Torrington May: Islington North June: Argyll Ealing South St Helens Weston-super-Mare Wigan November: Morecambe and Lonsdale Chichester Pontypool East Aberdeenshire Shoreditch and Finsbury
1959	January: Southend West March: Belfast East Harrow East South West Norfolk April: Galloway June: Penistone Whitehaven
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Results

See also

References

External links