The last time the party had gained two seats, in different constituencies on the same day, was on 2 June 1896, at the Frome and the Wick Burghs by-elections.
The seat had become vacant on the death of the constituency's Member of Parliament (MP), Major Sir Harry Legge-Bourke KBE (16 May 1914 – 21 May 1973).
Legge-Bourke, a Conservative, had gained the seat from the Liberal Party in the 1945 general election.
The list below is set out in descending order of the number of votes received at the by-election.
Freud won the by-election, in a seat which his party had not contested in the 1970 general election.