1905 Buteshire by-election

The1905 Buteshire by-electionwas aby-electionheld on 3 March 1905 for theBritish House of Commonsconstituency ofButeshire.

Vacancy

The election was triggered by the resignation of the sittingConservativeMP,Andrew Murray.Murray held the post ofSecretary for Scotlandwith a seat in theCabinet.In January 1905, Murray was appointedLord Justice GeneralandLord President of the Court of Sessionand was given a seat in theHouse of Lords.At the previous General Election, he had withstood the Liberal challenge:

General election 1900:Buteshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Andrew Murray	1,241	54.3	N/A
	Liberal	Norman Lamont	1,046	45.7	New
Majority			195	8.6	N/A
Turnout			2.287	67.0	N/A
	Conservativehold		Swing	N/A

Candidates

Unionists

The Conservative Party selectedEdward Theodore Salvesen,theSolicitor General for Scotland,as their candidate. Salvesen had fought theLeith Burghsseat as a Unionist at thegeneral election of 1900.

Liberals

The Liberals re-selected their candidate from the1900 general electionNorman Lamont.Lamont came from a prominent and wealthy local family with lands inArgylland a plantation inTrinidad.His father had been Liberal MP for Buteshire from 1865 to 1868.

Tariff Reform candidate

It was reported that at one time it looked likely there would be a three-cornered contest. A Mr. Sinclair, a convincedtariff reformerhad issued an address to the electors as soon it had become known there was a Parliamentary vacancy. However Sinclair decided not to stand. It soon became clear that his supporters were content with the selection of Salvesen by theToriesas he was a member of theTariff Reform Leagueand had stated that if necessary he would be prepared to see the policy ofJoseph ChamberlainonImperial Preferenceadopted in full measure.

Issues

Tariff Reform

Salvesen took advantage of his position as a Tariff Reformer to consolidate his support among the Unionist voters. A significant number of Buteshire electors were middle-class merchants and others doing business inGlasgowbut who had villa residences in towns in the constituency likeRothesayandMillportand good number were Unionist supporters who were generally favourable to tariff reform. Conservative efforts to win the election was particularly focused on these voters as it was felt that apathy in this key part of the electorate had been responsible for the narrowness of Graham's win over Lamont at the 1900 general election.Lamont campaigned as a traditional Liberalfree trader,although he was challenged on his previous support for a form of retaliatory duty to protect West Indian sugar producers from unfair foreign competition, which policy he now renounced.

Chinese labour

After theBoer Warthe government ofArthur Balfourhad agreed to let the owners of the South Africangold minesbring in thousands ofindenturedlabourers ofChineseethnicity to work in the mines. They lived under harsh conditions, in compounds they were not allowed to leave, worked long hours for little reward and were subject tocorporal punishment.The issue was taken up by the Liberal Party under the slogan of 'Chinese slavery' both as a crusade for humanitarianism but also to exploit fear amongst British workers that the Conservative government might allow similar immigration to Britain, threatening British jobs.The issue was raised in Buteshire but was given an added salience because it was alleged against Lamont that theCoolielabour (as it was referred to inEdwardiantimes) on hisWest Indianproperty were similarly indentured and that it was hypocritical of him to object to the practice in theTransvaal.Lamont was able to deflect this attack by showing he had removed the indenture system when he succeeded to the property and that the workers were now retained in an arrangement akin to being tenant farmers. His supporters also made political capital from the fact that Lamont had been the subject of what they chose to characterise as an unwarranted and brutal assault.

Home Rule

The question ofIrish Home Rulewas an ever-present in the election. The letter of support which Balfour sent to Salvesen for publication highlighted the difference between the parties on this issue.Lamont seemed to think Balfour's intervention on Home Rule strengthened the Liberal vote however. He was said to have received the votes of the Irish catholic electors, who numbered around 200.

Other issues

Apart from the specific points of conflict mentioned above, the by-election was fought principally on the basis of the government candidate defending the government record and the opposition candidate promoting the need for change.

Result

The result of the by-election was a gain for the Liberals, albeit by a narrow margin. Lamont turned a Unionist majority of 195 at the previous general election into a Liberal majority of 34.

Bute by-election, 1905 Electorate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Norman Lamont	1,460	50.6	+4.9
	Conservative	Edward Theodore Salvesen	1,426	49.4	−4.9
Majority			34	1.2	N/A
Turnout			2,886	80.7	+13.7
	LiberalgainfromConservative		Swing

In this context Lamont's collection of the Irish vote seems particularly significant and perhaps the resolve of this constituency to come out and vote on the issue of Home Rule was stiffened by Balfour's focussing on it in his letter of support to Salvesen. However, Salvesen stated after the election that the Unionist vote had polled at its full strengthand Buteshire should be seen in the context of the general political trend of the time which since 1902 had been decidedly against the government. Buteshire was the fifteenth by-election gain by the Liberals from the Conservatives since 1902. The government, which had been in office since 1895, was widely seen as tired and divided and the Liberal opposition was united around key policies on free trade and education, as well as being sustained by a new approach to questions ofsocial reform,theNew Liberalismof thinkers such asThomas Hill Green,Leonard Trelawny HobhouseandJ A Hobsonas well as by dynamic,radicalpoliticians such asDavid Lloyd GeorgeandWinston Churchillwho had defected from the Tories in 1904.

Aftermath

General election 1906:Buteshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Norman Lamont	1,637	51.9	+6.2
	Conservative	G. Speir	1,517	48.1	−6.2
Majority			120	3.8	N/A
Turnout			3.154	82.7	+15.7
	LiberalgainfromConservative		Swing