1912 Taunton by-election

The1912Tauntonby-electionwas aParliamentary by-electionheld for theBritish House of Commonsconstituency ofTauntoninSomerseton 11 November 1912. Taunton returned oneMember of Parliament(MP) to theHouse of Commons of the United Kingdom,elected by thefirst past the postvoting system.

Vacancy

William Peelhad been Unionist MP forTauntonsince 1909. He inherited his father's viscountcy in 1912, and moved to theHouse of Lords.

Previous result

General election December 1910:Taunton Electorate 3,590

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Peel	1,806	53.4	−1.9
	Liberal	John Edward Schunk	1,573	46.6	+1.9
Majority			233	6.8	−3.8
Turnout			3,379	88.6	−1.7
	Conservativehold		Swing	-1.9

Result

Wills held the seat for the Unionist Party.

1912 by-Election: Taunton Electorate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Gilbert Wills	1,882	54.1	+0.7
	Liberal	John Edward Schunk	1,597	45.9	−0.7
Majority			285	8.2	+1.4
Turnout			3,479	88.7	+0.1
	Unionisthold		Swing	+0.7

Aftermath

A General Election was due to take place by the end of 1915. By the summer of 1914, the following candidates had been adopted to contest that election. Due to the outbreak of war, the election never took place.

General Election 1914/15: Electorate 3,914

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Gilbert Wills
	Liberal

In 1918, Wills switched to contest the neighbouring seat of Weston super mare.

General election 14 December 1918: Electorate 28,845

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	*Dennis Boles	12,619	72.4	+19.0
	Labour	George Woods	4,816	27.6	New
Majority			7,803	44.8	+38.0
Turnout			17,435	60.4	−28.2
	Unionisthold		Swing	N/A

• Boles was the endorsed candidate of the Coalition Government.

References

• Craig, F. W. S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885-1918 (1 ed.). London: Macmillan.
• Who's Who: ukwhoswho
• Debrett's House of Commons 1916