The seat had become vacant after the death in October of the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Stuart Russell, who had been killed in World War II.
In the 1935 general election, the Conservatives had won 41% of the votes, with a narrow majority over the outgoing Liberal MP.
However the President of the Association, Sir Frederick Hindle who had been the Liberal MP for the constituency in the 1920s, was one of the people who signed Russell's nomination papers.
[6] Liberal Leader, Sir Archibald Sinclair, in accordance with the wartime electoral truce, signed a public letter of support for Russell.
Balfour was backed by the News Chronicle, but only after the local newspapers had threatened to boycott her campaign altogether.