Chichester by-election, 1905
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The Chichester 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. It was held on 2 June 1905 after the incumbent Conservative MP Lord Edmund Talbot was appointed as Lord Commissioner of the Treasury and he was obliged to stand again in a ministerial by-election. It was retained by Talbot.
Vacancy
Lord Edmund Talbot had been Conservative MP for the seat of Chichester since the Chichester by-election, 1894. He was appointed as Lord Commissioner of the Treasury and he was obliged to stand again in a ministerial by-election.
Electoral history
The seat had been Conservative since creation in 1868. Lord Edmund Talbot held the seat at the last election, unopposed;
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Lord Edmund Talbot | unopposed | n/a | n/a | |
| Conservative hold | Swing | n/a | |||
Talbot had always been returned unopposed. The last contest in the constituency came in 1892, when the Conservative out-polled the Liberal by nearly two to one.[1]
Candidates
The local Conservative Association re-selected 50 year-old Lord Edmund Talbot as their candidate to defend the seat. The local Liberal Association selected 33 year-old John Ernest Allen as their candidate to challenge for the seat. Allen was a Barrister-at-law, who had been educated at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities where he gained a Master of Arts.[4]
Campaign
Polling Day was fixed for the 2 June 1905, the day after the Whitby by-election, 1905. On the eve of poll, the Liberals gained Whitby from the Conservatives.[1]
Result
The Conservatives held the seat with their lowest majority since 1885;
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Lord Edmund Talbot | 4,174 | 52.6 | n/a | |
| Liberal | John Ernest Allen | 3,762 | 47.4 | n/a | |
| Majority | 412 | 5.2 | n/a | ||
| Turnout | 73.6 | n/a | |||
| Conservative hold | Swing | n/a | |||
Aftermath
At the following General Election, Talbot again held the seat, the result was;
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Lord Edmund Talbot | 5,197 | |||
| Liberal | John Ernest Allen | 4,023 | |||
| Majority | 1,174 | ||||
| Turnout | |||||
| Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
References
- 1 2 3 4 British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
- 1 2 3 The Liberal Year Book, 1907
- ↑ Debrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
- ↑ ‘ALLEN, John Ernest’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 ; online edn, April 2014 accessed 10 Jan 2017
- ↑ "Chichester By-election". Ballymena Observer. 9 June 1905. Retrieved 8 December 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive. (Subscription required (help)).