Jump to content

1905 Whitby by-election

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Cydebot (talk | contribs) at 11:52, 7 October 2018 (Robot - Speedily moving category Politics of Scarborough, North Yorkshire to Category:Politics of the Borough of Scarborough per CFDS.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Whitby by-election, 1905
← 1900 1 June 1905 1906 →
 
Candidate Noel Buxton Gervase Beckett
Party Liberal Conservative
Popular vote 4,547 4,102
Percentage 52.6 47.4
MP before election

Ernest Beckett
Conservative

Subsequent MP

Gervase Beckett
Conservative

The Whitby by-election was a Parliamentary by-election. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

Vacancy

Ernest Beckett had been Conservative MP for the seat of Whitby since the 1885 General Election. He succeeded to the title of Baron Grimthorpe on the death of his uncle on 29 April 1905.

Electoral history

The seat had been Conservative since 1885. They held the seat at the last election, unopposed:

General Election 1900: Whitby[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ernest Beckett unopposed n/a n/a
Conservative hold Swing n/a

Candidates

The Conservatives selected 39-year-old Gervase Beckett as their candidate to defend the seat. Beckett was the younger brother of the previous MP. He was commissioned a Lieutenant in the 3rd (Militia) Battalion, Green Howards in 1884,[2] but resigned his commission in 1886.[3] He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Yorkshire Hussars in 1888.[4] He was promoted Lieutenant in 1895[5] and Captain in 1898,[6] and resigned his commission in 1901[7]

Buxton

The local Liberal Association selected 36-year-old Noel Buxton to challenge for the seat. In 1896, Buxton acted as Aide-de-Camp to his father during his time as Governor of South Australia. He served on the Whitechapel Board of Guardians and Central Unemployment Body, and was a Member of the Home Office Departmental Committee on Lead Poisoning. Buxton stood unsuccessfully for Ipswich in 1900.[8] He had taken a deep interest in temperance reform and was closely connected with East-end settlement work.[9] Despite his interest in temperance reform, Buxton's candidature ran into problems with the Temperance movement who traditionally were supporters of Liberal candidates. The executive of the North of England Temperance League protested to the Liberal Party leader Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman on account of Buxton's supposed brewery interests. They threatened the Liberal Party that if they did not withdraw Buxton's candidature, the league would actively oppose him. The Liberal Party ignored the threat and Buxton remained as candidate.[10]

Campaign

Beckett

Polling Day was fixed for 1 June 1905.

Beckett, the Conservative candidate, was happy to support the Unionist Government's 1902 Education Act, despite the fact that it increased rates in parts of the constituency to help pay for Protestant schools. He claimed that agricultural tenants would benefit from rate relief due to the renewal of the Agricultural Rates Act. He was in favour of the Unionist Government's plans to look at introducing trade tariffs. He also opposed Home Rule for Ireland.[11] Beckett's pro-Protestant positions unsurprisingly won him the endorsement of the Whitby Protestant Electoral Council, who had sent questions to both candidates about issues of their concern. Both candidates replies were considered and the council favoured that of Beckett so much that they urged all Whitby's Protestant voters to vote for and campaign for Beckett.[12]

Result

Buxton and the Liberal campaign managed to overcome their difficulties and gained the seat:

Whitby by-election, 1905[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Noel Buxton 4,547 52.6 n/a
Conservative Gervase Beckett 4,102 47.4 n/a
Majority 445 5.2 n/a
Turnout 79.7 n/a
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing n/a

Speaking on the result, Buxton, the Liberal victor, remarked that the Whitby result was even better than the Liberal victory at Brighton two months earlier. He described the Whitby result as a "great victory for truth, for the cause of the working man and for liberty throughout the world".[14]

Aftermath

Beckett re-gained the seat at the subsequent General Election:

General Election 1906: Whitby [15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Gervase Beckett 4,780 50.4 +3.0
Liberal Noel Buxton 4,709 49.6 −3.0
Majority 71 0.8 −4.4
Turnout 84.2 +4.5
Conservative gain from Liberal Swing +3.0

References

  1. ^ British parliamentary election results 1885-1918
  2. ^ "No. 25349". The London Gazette. 2 May 1884. p. 1983.
  3. ^ "No. 25646". The London Gazette. 19 November 1886. p. 5599.
  4. ^ "No. 25776". The London Gazette. 13 January 1888. p. 361.
  5. ^ "No. 26621". The London Gazette. 3 May 1895. p. 2555.
  6. ^ "No. 26996". The London Gazette. 16 August 1898. p. 4939.
  7. ^ "No. 27311". The London Gazette. 7 May 1901. p. 3132.
  8. ^ Who's Who
  9. ^ Standard 3 June 1905
  10. ^ Monita and New Era, 26 May 1905
  11. ^ Standard 9 May 1905
  12. ^ Standard 26 May 1905
  13. ^ British parliamentary election results 1885-1918
  14. ^ Standard 3 June 1905
  15. ^ British parliamentary election results 1885-1918
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1905_Whitby_by-election&oldid=862896010"