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Background
The war time truce between the major political parties remained largely intact until 1942, when, in spite of Americas entry into the war, things continued to go badly for Britain. The loss of Singapore to the Japanese, followed by a series of defeats in North Africa, meant that people became increasingly critical of the conduct of the war and restive about the prospects for victory in the near future. The seeming reluctance of the Government to open a Second Front to aid Russia led to further criticism of its apparent ineffective prosecution of the war. Disapproval of government policy surfaced in a number of by-elections and in March and April Conservative candidates were defeated by Independents at Grantham, Rugby and Wallasey.
The Maldon Constituency
Against this background of growing discontent, the constituency of Maldon came to the fore in national politics in 1942. In May the 60-year old Conservative MP for Maldon, Sir Edward RugglesBrise, died. Apart from one brief period he had been MP since 1922, and Maldon had been a Conservative stronghold for the better part of half a century. In the 1935 election, although his majority fell by over a third, it was still a comfortable 7,808. RugglesBrise was a landowner and farmer and he had acquired a reputation for championing the interests of agriculture, both in and out of Parliament. Given the level of criticism which was being aimed at the Government, his death was the perfect opportunity for independent-minded individuals to step forward and apply further pressure by forcing a by-election. Wartime by-elections were not fully representative because of the large-scale demographic changes that had occurred since 1939. Maldohs pre-war electoral register had 45,406 names on it but many voters were now serving in the forces or were in other parts of the country doing vital war work. With the normal reductions for deaths and out-migration that had occurred since 1935, it was clear that the register was now reduced significantly. In 1942 the Burnham Advertiser estimated that there were now only about 36,000 voters in the constituency; the Essex County Standard put it even lower at about 33,000.
The constituency was predominantly agricultural although there were significant urban communities within its boundaries. The largest towns (ranked according to...