The seat had become vacant when the Conservative Member of Parliament Robert Henderson died on 16 January 1932.
Liberal candidate Sir Henry Rew came very close to winning at both the 1922 and 1923 general elections.
The Labour Party, had only ever run candidates at the two previous elections, 1929 and 1931, finishing in third place on both occasions.
The Conservative share of the vote was still higher than it had been at the free trade v tariff general election in 1923.
At the following general election, Sir Gifford Fox faced a new Liberal challenger and comfortably won re-election.