The by-election was caused by the elevation of the constituency's Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) Sir Samuel Hoare to the peerage as Viscount Templewood.
It was created in 1944 for the Conservative politician and former Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary, Sir Samuel Hoare, 2nd Baronet.
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson | Viscount | Vickers Viscount | Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein | William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe | viscount | Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley | Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham | William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim | Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby | William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne | Julian Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy | Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke | William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor | James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce | Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke | Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston | Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon | Charles Bathurst, 1st Viscount Bledisloe | Walter Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford | Viscount Falkland | Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood | John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley | James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon | William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford | William Barrington, 2nd Viscount Barrington | Stapleton Cotton, 1st Viscount Combermere | Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill | Marcus Samuel, 1st Viscount Bearsted | John Monckton, 1st Viscount Galway |
Sidestrand Hall was the family home of Sir Samuel Hoare (later created 1st Viscount Templewood) before becoming Sidestrand Hall School, which caters for boys and girls aged 8 to 16 years with moderate learning difficulties.