The by-election was held to fill the vacancy caused when the town 's 45-year-old Conservative Party Member of Parliament Brigadier John Whiteley was killed in a plane crash in Gibraltar , along with another Conservative member , Victor Cazalet , and General Sikorski , the leader of the Polish government-in-exile . Whiteley had held the seat since a by-election in 1937
plane crash
1943 Gibraltar B-24 crash
1943 Buckingham by-election