1959 Galloway by-election

The 1959 Galloway by-election of 9 April 1959 was held after the death of Unionist Member of Parliament (MP) John Mackie:

The seat was safe, having been won by the Unionists at the 1955 general election by 8,014 votes

Result of the previous general election

General election 1955: Galloway

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	John Mackie	15,893	66.86	+5.23
	Labour	W S Gray	7,879	33.14	+6.80
Majority			8,014	33.72	−1.43
Turnout			23,772
	Unionist hold		Swing

Result of the by-election

By-election 1959: Galloway

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	John Brewis	13,204	49.93	−16.93
	Liberal	Simon Mackay	6,721	25.42	New
	Labour	W Cross	6,520	24.65	−8.49
Majority			6,483	24.51	−9.21
Turnout			26,445
	Unionist hold		Swing

Aftermath

The Glasgow Herald stated that the initial reaction to the result among the political parties was "Government satisfaction, Liberal jubilation, and Labour despondency." However, the same newspaper also noted that while Conservatives would be happy to have held the seat with a "substantial majority", the Liberal performance would worry them. The result indicated that the Liberals were maintaining their recent trend of polling well in by-elections. The Conservatives were reported to fear that if this trend in Liberal candidates taking votes from their party continued, it could allow Labour to win the next general election, if the Liberals fielded 200 candidates.