Mile End by-election, 1905

Mile End in London County with boundaries used in 1905

The Mile End by-election was a Parliamentary by-election for the seat of Mile End, Tower Hamlets, in the east end of London. 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

Spencer Charrington had been Conservative MP for the seat of East Dorset since the seats creation at the 1885 General Election. He died on 11 December 1904.

Electoral history

Carrington easily held the seat at the last election, with an increased majority;

General Election 1900: Tower Hamlets, Mile End[1]

Electorate 5,915

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Spencer Charrington 2,440 65.6 +4.5
Liberal Charles Goddard Clarke 1,280 34.4 -4.5
Majority 1160 31.2 +9.0
Turnout 5,915 62.9 -7.3
Conservative hold Swing +4.5

Candidates

Bertram Straus

Campaign

Polling Day was fixed for the 12 January 1905, just 32 days after the previous MP died.

The Unionist Governments aborted 1904 Aliens Bill featured in the campaign. The Unionist campaign put the Aliens Bill at the centre of their plans.[4] The Liberal candidate, Straus, who had at first followed party policy in opposing it, later sought to distance himself from the position the Liberal party took in opposing the measure. He declared that he was in favour of excluding "undesirable" aliens.[5] This was understood to target Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe. There was quite a large Jewish community in Mile End. Given that Straus was himself a Jew, this might have seemed an odd position for him to take. There had in fact been a reduction of over 500 voters in Mile End compared with the figures of 1900.

Result

The Liberals gained the seat from the Unionists;

Mile End by-election, 1905[6]

Electorate 5,380

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Unionist Hon. Harry Lawson Webster Levy-Lawson 2,138 50.9 -14.7
Liberal Bertram Stuart Straus 2,060 49.1 +14.7
Majority 78 1.8 -29.4
Turnout 5,380 78.0 +15.1
Liberal Unionist hold Swing -14.7

Straus revealed that he felt that Liberal party opposition to the Aliens Bill may have robbed him of the chance to pull off a sensational victory.[7] The Unionist government was able to force through the Aliens Act 1905 later that year.

Aftermath

When a general election was held in the following year, Straus again faced Levy-Lawson at Mile End and managed to unseat him to become member of parliament.

General Election 1906: Tower Hamlets, Mile End[8]

Electorate 5,419

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Bertram Stuart Straus 2,295 51.4 +2.3
Liberal Unionist Hon. Harry Lawson Webster Levy-Lawson 2,169 48.6 -2.3
Majority 126 2.8 4.6
Turnout 5,419 82.4 +4.4
Liberal gain from Liberal Unionist Swing +2.3

References

  1. Craig, F.W.S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885-1918 (1 ed.). London: Macmillan.
  2. ‘STRAUS, Bertram Stuart’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 accessed 8 Feb 2014
  3. "Election Intelligence." Times [London, England] 2 Jan. 1905: 8. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 8 Feb. 2014.
  4. "Election Intelligence." Times [London, England] 13 Jan. 1905: 8. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 8 Feb. 2014.
  5. Illustrated London News [London, England] 21 Jan. 1905: 80. Illustrated London News. Web. 8 Feb. 2014.
  6. Craig, F.W.S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885-1918 (1 ed.). London: Macmillan.
  7. Illustrated London News [London, England] 21 Jan. 1905: 80. Illustrated London News. Web. 8 Feb. 2014.
  8. Craig, F.W.S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885-1918 (1 ed.). London: Macmillan.
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