John ‘Jack’ Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone, was beaten in the General Election of 28th October 1924, losing to the Conservative candidate Sir Peter McDonald.
What goes round comes round. A century on, his great-great nephew Bob Seely – standing for the Conservatives – was beaten in the battle for the newly created constituency of Isle of Wight West by Labour candidate Richard Quigley in the election of 4th July 2024.
Bob’s great-great uncle was a tremendous character. He was coxswain of the Brook Lifeboat, served as Secretary of State for War, and led one of the last great cavalry charges in British military history in World War I. His beloved horse Warrior has been immortalized as the model for the novel and motion picture War Horse.
Further details on the life and career of John ‘Jack’ Seely can be found in the following article.
Jack Seely was first elected as MP for the Isle of Wight as a Conservative in 1900 when he beat the Liberal Godfrey Baring by a thousand votes in a by-election on 23rd May 1900. He subsequently held the seat unopposed in the General Election of October of that year. In March 1904, he resigned the Conservative whip and stood in a further by-election, in which he was returned unopposed. He did not stand in the following General Election of 1905.
He subsequently became Liberal MP for Liverpool Abercromby in 1906 and Ilkeston in Derbyshire in 1910.
Jack returned to Island politics in 1923, contesting the December General Election as the Liberal candidate, beating his Conservative opponent Sir Peter McDonald by just 90 votes.
McDonald then turned the tables on Jack, winning by 4,566 votes in the 1924 election.
McDonald won 7 subsequent elections for the Conservatives, retaining his Isle of Wight seat until his retirement in 1959 when Mark Woodnutt was elected as his replacement.
The Isle of Wight constituency remained in Conservative hands for half a century until it was won by Steve Ross for the Liberals in the General Election of February 1974.
