1862 Morpeth colonial by-election

A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Morpeth on 18 September 1862 because David Buchanan was insolvent and resigned his seat. ^[1] Buchanan had unsuccessfully sued the Sydney Morning Herald for libel and was required to pay their legal costs. ^[2] He was unable to pay and declared himself bankrupt and resigned from parliament. ^[1] Buchanan re-contested the seat at the resulting by-election but was defeated, with Edward Close Jr. being elected from that electoral district. ^[3]

Dates

Date	Event
2 September 1862	David Buchanan resigned. [4]
	Writ of election issued by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. [5]
16 September 1862	Nominations at Morpeth. [6]
18 September 1862	Polling day between 9 am and 4 pm. [7]
25 September 1862	Return of writ

Polling places

• Morpeth
• Hinton
• Largs
• Clifden

Result

1862 Morpeth by-election
Thursday 18 September  ^{[8] [7]}

Candidate		Votes	%
Edward Close (elected)		330	68.5
David Buchanan (defeated)		152	31.5
Total formal votes		482	100.0
Informal votes		0	0.0
Turnout		482	61.5

See also

• Electoral results for the district of Morpeth
• List of New South Wales state by-elections

References

1. Rutledge, Martha. "Buchanan, David (1823–1890)". Australian Dictionary of Biography . Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN   978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN   1833-7538. OCLC   70677943 . Retrieved 20 June 2021.
2. "Supreme Court: Buchanan v Fairfax". The Sydney Morning Herald . 6 August 1862. p. 5. Retrieved 20 June 2021– via Trove.
3. "Morpeth election — declaration of the poll". The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser . 20 September 1862. p. 2. Retrieved 25 March 2025– via Trove.
4. "Mr David Buchanan (1823-1890)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales . Retrieved 18 April 2019.
5. "Writ of election: Morpeth". New South Wales Government Gazette . No. 155. 18 June 1862. p. 1681. Retrieved 20 June 2021– via Trove.
6. "Election for Morpeth: the nominations". The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser . 18 September 1862. p. 2. Retrieved 20 June 2021– via Trove.
7. "Morpeth election — declaration of the poll". The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser . 20 September 1862. p. 2. Retrieved 20 June 2021– via Trove.
8. Green, Antony. "1862 Morpeth by-election". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales . Retrieved 20 June 2021.