Hastings by-election, 1908

The Hastings by-election of 1908 was held for the British House of Commons constituency of Hastings on 3 March 1908. The seat had become vacant following the resignation of the sitting Unionist MP, Harvey Du Cros, on grounds of ill health. The Conservatives quickly adopted his son Arthur Du Cros as their new candidate. The Liberals had no local candidate in waiting and there was a delay in selecting Sir Robert Vernon Harcourt, the son of Sir William Harcourt as their man.^[1]

The issues raised in the by-election ranged over many issues of the day and the clash between what was seen as the local man (Du Cros) versus the government incomer (Harcourt) who promoted his candidacy as that of a strong supporter of Free Trade. It did not help him however as both the Sussex Express and The Times newspapers were agreed that the Unionist victory was ‘first and foremost [due] to Tariff Reform and particularly to the colonial preference side of the question’.

Turnout was slightly down on the 1906 election but was still very high at 91%. The result was a Conservative hold with Du Cros receiving 4,495 votes to Harcourt’s 3,477 – a majority of 1,018.^[2] Du Cros held the seat until 1918 when he transferred to stand as a Coalition Conservative in Clapham, a seat he held until 1922. However, Harcourt had to wait only a few more weeks to get into Parliament. He was adopted as Liberal candidate at a by-election at Montrose Burghs following the elevation to the peerage of the sitting member there, the veteran Liberal John Morley, was elected on 12 May 1908, and served as Member for Montrose until 1918.

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