1908 Leeds South by-election
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The1908 Leeds South by-electionwas a parliamentaryby-electionfor the BritishHouse of Commonsconstituency ofLeeds Southin theWest Riding of Yorkshireheld on 13 February 1908.
Vacancy[edit]
The by-election was caused by the death of the sittingLiberalMP,John Lawson Walton.Lawson wasAttorney-Generalin the Liberal government ofHenry Campbell-Bannerman[1]and had been MP for Leeds South since 1892 when he himself won the seat at aby-election.[2]
History[edit]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | John Walton | 6,200 | 50.2 | −1.0 | |
| Labour Repr. Cmte. | Albert E. Fox | 4,030 | 32.6 | New | |
| Conservative | Henry Cameron-Ramsay-Fairfax-Lucy | 2,126 | 17.2 | −31.6 | |
| Majority | 2,170 | 17.6 | +15.2 | ||
| Turnout | 12,356 | 81.7 | +9.8 | ||
| Registered electors | 15,119 | ||||
| Liberalhold | Swing | +15.3 | |||
Candidates[edit]
Liberals[edit]
The South Leeds Liberals selectedWilliam Middlebrook,a 57-year-oldsolicitorto be their candidate. Middlebrook had been a local councillor inLeedsandMorley[4]and it seems that one of the reasons he was selected was his ability to give financial aid to the Leeds South Liberal Association. John Lawson Walton had had paid the salary of his political agent and Middlebrook undertook to pay the constituency £100 a year.[5]
Conservatives[edit]
TheConservativesoriginally seemed to be favouring the candidacy of Sir Henry Fairfax-Lucy, scion of the well-knownLucy family.Sir Henry had fought Leeds South for the Tories at the1906 general election.[2]However Sir Henry was afree-trader,which was a traditional Liberal policy and the Conservatives feared thattariff reformwould become a controversial topic in the election if they chose Sir Henry as their man.[6]Perhaps to enable the local Conservatives to overcome this problem, Fairfax-Lucy diplomatically announced that he was not able to stand for Parliament at this time because he was too busy with theTerritorial ForceAssociation inWarwickshireof which he was chairman.[7]
At a meeting on 27 January 1908, the local Conservative organisation in Leeds South adoptedR J Neville,theRecorderofBury St Edmundsas their candidate. Neville was 44 years old and had unsuccessfully contested South Leeds for the Conservatives on four previous occasions.[2]
Labour[edit]
TheLabourcandidate at the 1906 general election,Albert E. Fox,the secretary of theAssociated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemenexpressed his desire to stand again at the by-election but members of a rival railwaytrade union,theAmalgamated Society of Railway Servantshad protested against his candidacy and this caused some doubt over Labour's participation.[8]It seems there had been a falling out between Fox and some railway workers over the tactics and policies to be adopted in respect of union campaigning for improved working conditions and union recognition by the employers. There was considerable discord between the two unions over strategy[9]and Fox's loyally to the labour cause was questioned.[10]For some of his labour colleagues it was clear that Fox'ssocialismdid not go far enough.[11]It was reported that Fox had secured the approval of party headquarters but the local Labour Representation Committee (LRC) were required to endorse him[6]and there remained a danger that if he stood, a rival Labour candidate would enter the field as well.[12]The National Council of theIndependent Labour Partyhad considered standing T R Williams who had been the Labour candidate inHuddersfieldin 1906 among other possibles but these men withdrew their interest due to lack of funding to fight a campaign.[13]
In the final week of January, the Labour party had officially appointedJoseph Pointeras their candidate. Pointer was aged 32 and atrades councilactivist fromSheffield,[14]a member of theUnited Patternmakers' Association.[15]It was reported he and his supporters had started campaigning in Leeds[14]but by the end of the month Pointer had withdrawn from the field, the internal struggles in the Labour organisation having taken their toll. Fox emerged after all as Labour's candidate for the by-election[15]despite the reservations of the local LRC about whether or not they should actively support his campaign. In the end the LRC voted by 89 votes to 85 not to endorse Fox's candidature but, despite this setback, he carried on as the representative of labour in the election fight.[10]
Election issues[edit]
Neville issued his election address on 30 January, declaring himself a loyal supporter ofArthur Balfour.He agreed with Balfour's policy to reduce unemployment by taxation reform. He spoke in favour of freedom forRoman Catholic,NonconformistandJewishparents to choose to have their children taught about their religion. Neville was expected to carry the 900 or so votes of the Catholic community[11]who strongly opposed national and local measures taken by the Liberal Party in respect of education and training which they claimed would destroy the character of Catholic schools.[16]However Irish voters in the constituency were divided in their loyalties, supporting Neville's stance on Catholic education but disliking his party's opposition toIrish Home Rule.Neville also opposed the Licensing Bill, which proposed restoration of local control of drinking establishments, a reduction in the number ofpublic housesand the abolition of certain rights to compensation of suppressed licence-holders.[17]Neville called this an attempt to confiscate without full and reasonable compensation the interests of the property of a trade which has received the sanction and encouragement of the state.[15]It was reported that all sections of the licensing trade were aligning themselves with Neville.[11]
Middlebrook's election address was a generally uncontroversial tract, pledging support for the policies of the Liberal government and avowed his support for Free Trade. However he found it necessary (possibly even on the instruction of party headquarters in London)[18]to specify his support for the granting ofvotes for women,who were qualified. At this time thesuffragetteswere campaigning against all Liberal candidates in by-elections, whatever their declared opinion on votes for women, in protest at the government's unwillingness to bring in a women's suffrage Bill[19]and in retaliation for the government's crackdown on their growing militancy.[20]They promised to attend all Liberal meetings during the election, to heckle and disrupt proceedings.[13]They were apparently unable to make good the threat, as it was reported at the beginning of February that the suffragettes had confined their campaign to the handing out of leaflets,[16]although bothMary GawthorpeandEmmeline Pankhurstvisited the constituency before the election to campaign against Middlebrook[21]and one source records that one suffragette organiser arranged twenty-two meetings in one week alone.[22]
At one meeting on the eve of poll, close to the location of a pro-Middlebrook meeting being addressed byRowland Barranthe Liberal MP forLeeds North,the suffragettes called on electors to keep out the Liberal in retaliation for the government's having sent 54 women to prison for their part in the votes for women movement.[23]The Liberals in Leeds were definitely divided on the issue of women's suffrage and the government's response to the actions of theWomen's Social and Political Union,the main suffragette organisation and one local suffragette recorded that some Liberal women refused to work or canvass for Middlebrook.[18]
Fox's election address declared in favour ofsocial reform,including the immediate introduction ofold age pensions,unemployment relief and education reform free fromreligious sectarianismorclassfavouritism. He supported free trade anduniversal adult suffrage,no doubt hoping to gain the support of the suffragettes and those voters who were in favour of their campaign.[10]
Result[edit]
Middlebrook held the seat for the Liberals with a majority of 359 votes over Neville who restored the Conservatives to second place, Fairfax-Lucy having come bottom of the poll at the 1906 general election. Fox forfeited the second place he had achieved in 1906.[2]While the government was no doubt pleased to retain the seat, the increase of 2,700 votes for the Conservatives and the loss of 1,000 for the Liberals and 1,600 for Labour (Fox presumably suffering from the damaging split in the labour ranks over his candidature) must have been a disappointment to Middlebrook and the Liberal Party, given the turnout was much the same as at the previous general election. The Leeds South result followed the loss ofAshburtonon 17 January and of theRoss or Southern Division of Herefordshireon 31 January, both seats falling to theLiberal Unionists.But all governments suffer mid-term reverses and the government elected in 1906 was voted in with a landslide majority.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | William Middlebrook | 5,274 | 41.7 | −8.5 | |
| Conservative | Reginald Neville | 4,915 | 38.9 | +21.7 | |
| Labour | Albert E. Fox | 2,451 | 19.4 | −13.2 | |
| Majority | 359 | 2.8 | −14.8 | ||
| Turnout | 12,640 | 82.5 | +0.8 | ||
| Registered electors | 15,321 | ||||
| Liberalhold | Swing | +2.4 | |||
Aftermath[edit]
The government continued to lose by-elections down to the next general election inJanuary 1910but they held many seats too, an indicator that the tide of public opinion was not flowing irreversibly away from the Liberal Party. In parliament, one of the first actions Middlebrook took on 28 February was to vote in favour of granting the vote to women.[24]In Leeds South, Middlebrook went on to increase his majority substantially in January 1910, albeit in a straight fight with the Conservatives.[25]Even in a three-cornered contest inDecember 1910he managed a majority of 2,260.[26]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | William Middlebrook | 8,969 | 67.3 | +25.6 | |
| Conservative | William Nicholson | 4,366 | 32.7 | -6.2 | |
| Majority | 4,603 | 34.6 | +31.8 | ||
| Turnout | 13,335 | 84.8 | +2.3 | ||
| Liberalhold | Swing | +15.9 | |||
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^The Times,20 January 1908 p8
- ^abcdF W S Craig,British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918;Macmillan Press, 1974 p134
- ^The Liberal Year Book, 1907
- ^The Times, 14 February 1908 p14
- ^Neal Blewett,The Peers, the Parties and the People: The General Elections of 1910;University of Toronto Press, 1972 p280
- ^abThe Times,22 January 1908 p12
- ^The Times,23 January 1908 p10
- ^The Times,21 January 1908 p4
- ^J R Raynes,Engines and Men: the history of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen. A survey of organisation of railways and railway locomotive men;Goodall & Suddick, 1921, pp134-136
- ^abcThe Times,3 February 1908 p6
- ^abcThe Times,5 February 1908 p14
- ^The Times,27 January 1908 p6
- ^abThe Times,28 January 1908 p10
- ^abThe Times,29 January 1908 p9
- ^abcThe Times,31 January 1908 p12
- ^abThe Times,1 February 1908 p10
- ^George L Bernstein,Liberalism and Liberal Politics in Edwardian England;Allen and Unwin, 1986 p92
- ^abSandra Stanley Holton,Feminism and Democracy:Women’s Suffrage and Reform Politics in Britain;Cambridge University Press, 2003 pp38-39
- ^George L Bernstein,Liberalism and Liberal Politics in Edwardian England;Allen and Unwin, 1986 p152
- ^The Times,13 February 1908 p7
- ^Sandra Stanley Holton,Suffrage days: stories from the women’s suffrage movement;Routledge, 1996 p132
- ^Krista Cowman,Women of the right spirit:paid organisers of the women’s social and political union, 1904-1918;Manchester University Press, 2007 p56
- ^The Times,13 February 1908 p8
- ^"WOMEN'S ENFRANCHISEMENT BILL".Parliamentary Debates (Hansard).28 February 1908.
- ^The Times House of Commons, 1910;Politico’s Publishing, 2004 p41
- ^The Times House of Commons, 1911;Politico’s Publishing, 2004 p44
- ^Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916