Sir James Henderson-Stewart, 1st Baronet - Liberal Party Candidacies

Liberal Party Candidacies

At the 1923 general election Stewart was Liberal Party candidate for Leicester East, but finished in third place with only 27% of the vote. In the 1924 general election he fought Derby as the sole Liberal candidate, opposing J. H. Thomas who was a senior Labour Minister. His task was reckoned "a difficult one" and he again finished bottom of the poll.

During the 1920s Henderson-Stewart worked at the British Overseas Bank in London. His political activity occurred through the Land and Nation League, a Liberal body which had been set up to promote the land policy which was being promoted by David Lloyd George. By 1929 he was Secretary of the League, and he was selected as the Liberal candidate for Dundee. Like Derby this was a two-member constituency but unlike Derby the Conservatives nominated only one candidate, and it was recognised that Liberal and Conservative voters (each of whom had two votes) would use their second vote for the other party's candidate. Henderson-Stewart finished as runner-up, some 13,712 votes from winning a seat but having put in a creditable performance.