The 1923 Willesden East by-election was a parliamentary by-election for the British House of Commons constituency of Willesden East held on 3 March 1923. The constituency was a large one extending from Kilburn in the south to the Welsh Harp and on to Neasden. Vacancy The by-election was caused by the resignation of the sitting Unionist MP, Sir Harry Mallaby-Deeley. Mallaby-Deeley had been MP for Willesden East since the 1918 general election. Despite the protestations of ill-health which Mallaby-Deeley cited to justify his standing down from Parliament, he lived for another 14 years during which he carried on a substantial business career. The strong likelihood is that Mallaby-Deeley was asked to stand aside and cause a by-election as a route back into Parliament for the Hon. G.F.Stanley, Electoral history At the previous General Election, the constituency had become a Unionist/Liberal marginal; Candidates The Unionist candidate was Hon. George Stanley, the sixth son of the Earl of Derby. Stanley had been a soldier serving in the Second Boer War and during the Great War. He had been Unionist MP for Preston from 1910 to 1922. Although out of Parliament, Stanley was still a government minister being Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department. The Liberals re-selected Harcourt Johnstone, 27-year-old son of a British diplomat who had also served in the War and who had fought Willesden East at the 1922 general election losing by 1,314 votes to Mallaby-Deeley. There had been a Labour candidate at the 1918 general election but the party had not fought in 1922. It was reported however that Labour was seriously considering putting up a candidate for the by-election and the name of Alfred Smith, the President of the Licensed Vehicle Workers Association and a previous Labour candidate at Dorset East and at West Leyton was mentioned. Smith later gained election to the House of Commons as Labour MP for Sunderland in 1929. In the end Labour decided not to contest the election. At one point it seemed possible that a candidate standing under the Anti-Waste banner would be nominated. A few days before close of nominations, posters bearing the name of W. Lennard appeared in the constituency as an Anti-Waste and Independent Unionist. The bills warned the electorate that the issue was Anti-Waste or bankruptcy. Lennard indicated that he would announce on 20 February if he intended to stand but despite the appearance of the posters