1897 Newfoundland general election

1897 Newfoundland general election

←  1893 October 28, 1897 1900  →
←  Outgoing members Elected members  →
36 seats of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly 19 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	75.30% [1] ( 0.94pp)
First party Second party   Leader James Winter William Whiteway Party Conservative Liberal Leader since 1897 1885 Leader's seat Burin [a] Harbour Grace Ran in Trinity Bay (lost) Last election 12 seats, 45.59% 23 seats, 50.68% Seats won 23 13 Seat change 11 10 Popular vote 47,581 36,062 Percentage 55.89% 42.36% Swing 10.30% 8.32%
Premier before election William Whiteway Liberal Premier after election James Winter Conservative

The 1897 Newfoundland general election was held on October 28, 1897 to elect members of the 18th General Assembly of Newfoundland. The Conservative Party led by James Spearman Winter formed the government. On February 15, 1900, the government was defeated following a vote on a motion of no confidence which was supported by the Liberals and several Tories.

Results

	Party	Leader	1893	Candidates	Seats won	Seat change	% of seats (% change)	Popular vote	% of vote (% change)
	Conservative	James Winter	12	36	23	11	63.89% (30.56%)	47,581	55.89% (10.30%)
	Liberal	William Whiteway	23	36	13	10	36.11% (27.78%)	36,062	42.36% (8.32%)
	Other		1	4	0	1	0.00% ( 2.78%)	1,490	1.75% ( 1.97%)
Totals			36	76	36		100%	85,133 [b]	100%

Results by district

• Names in boldface type represent party leaders.
• † indicates that the incumbent did not run again.
• ‡ indicates that the incumbent ran in a different district.

St. John's

Electoral district	Candidates						Incumbent
	Liberal (historical)		Conservative (historical)		Other
St. John's East 78.79% turnout		John P. Fox 1,973 19.06%		Edward Shea 1,531 14.79%		Thomas Keating (Independent) [2] 669 6.46%		John P. Fox
		Thomas Murphy 1,720 16.62%		Robert Parsons Jr. 1,478 14.28%				Charles Hultan†
		Lawrence Furlong 1,577 15.24%		Patrick O'Neil [3] 1,401 13.54%				Lawrence Furlong
St. John's West 81.99% turnout		Edward Morris 1,752 19.04%		Thomas White [3] 1,461 15.88%				Edward Morris
		James Tessier 1,610 17.50%		Charles Ryan [3] 1,418 15.41%				Patrick Scott‡ (ran in Placentia and St. Mary's)
		James Callanan 1,588 17.26%		Jacob Chafe [3] 1,371 14.90%				George Tessier†

Conception Bay

Electoral district	Candidates						Incumbent
	Liberal (historical)		Conservative (historical)		Other
Bay de Verde 80.98% turnout		Henry J. B. Woods 829 22.64%		Abram Kean 1,035 28.27%				Henry Woods
		Michael Knight 784 21.41%		William Rogerson 1,013 27.67%				John Ayre†
Carbonear 71.75% turnout		William Duff 537 51.68%		Alfred Penney 502 48.32%				William Duff
Harbour Grace 76.00% turnout		William Horwood 1,073 17.57%		William Ward [4] 915 14.98%		D. J. Green (Independent) 247 4.04%		Henry Dawe
		Eli Dawe 1,060 17.35%		Henry Dawe 902 14.77%				William Whiteway ‡ (ran in Trinity Bay)
		William Oke 1,050 17.19%		Graham Munn 861 14.10%				Eli Dawe
Harbour Main 74.80% turnout		Frank Morris 687 20.56%		John St. John 1,038 31.06%				Frank Morris
		Richard MacDonnell 599 17.92%		William Woodford 1,018 30.46%				William Woodford
Port de Grave 69.18% turnout		James Clift 390 30.12%		Charles Dawe 905 69.88%				Charles Dawe

Avalon Peninsula

Electoral district	Candidates						Incumbent
	Liberal (historical)		Conservative (historical)		Other
Ferryland 86.88% turnout		Michael Cashin 809 32.03%		George Shea 677 26.80%		Michael Condon (Independent) 245 9.70%		Michael Cashin
		Martin Furlong [5] 512 20.27%		J. E. White 283 11.20%				Daniel Greene†
Placentia and St. Mary's 78.32% turnout		Richard McGrath 1,005 12.55%		William J. S. Donnelly 1,769 22.09%				Richard McGrath
		Patrick Scott 930 11.61%		Rhodie Callahan 1,707 21.31%				Michael Tobin†
		William O'Reilly [6] 894 11.16%		Michael Carty 1,704 21.28%				John Dunphy†

Eastern Newfoundland

Electoral district	Candidates				Incumbent
	Liberal (historical)		Conservative (historical)
Bonavista Bay 69.56% turnout		James Tait 829 8.45%		Darius Blandford 2,524 25.73%		Donald Morison†
		Albert Martin [7] 788 8.03%		John Cowan 2,519 25.68%		Alfred Morine‡ (ran in Twillingate)
		James Blandford [7] 767 7.81%		John A. Robinson 2,384 24.30%		Darius Blandford
Trinity Bay 78.89% turnout		William Whiteway 1,317 12.19%		Robert Bremner 2,507 23.20%		William Horwood‡ (ran in Harbour Grace)
		George Gushue 1,250 11.57%		Robert Watson 2,317 21.44%		George Gushue
		George Johnson 1,229 11.37%		Levi March 2,186 20.23%		George Johnson

Central Newfoundland

Electoral district	Candidates				Incumbent
	Liberal (historical)		Conservative (historical)
Fogo 67.10% turnout		Charles Earle [7] 464 39.22%		Thomas Duder 719 60.78%		Thomas Duder
Twillingate 78.94% turnout		Robert Bond 1,865 18.85%		Alan Goodridge 1,674 16.92%		Giles Foote†
		Donald Browning 1,688 17.06%		Alfred Morine 1,606 16.23%		Augustus Goodridge†
		George Roberts 1,615 16.32%		Joshua Taverner 1,447 14.62%		Michael Knight‡ (ran in Bay de Verde)

Southern and Western Newfoundland

Electoral district	Candidates						Incumbent
	Liberal (historical)		Conservative (historical)		Other
Burgeo and LaPoile 69.94% turnout		James Murray [8] [9] 440 40.93%		Henry Mott 635 59.07%				Henry Mott
Burin 75.39% turnout		Henry Gear 578 17.85%		James Winter 1,072 33.10%				James Pitman‡ (ran in Fortune Bay)
		William B. Payne 577 17.81%		John Lake 1,012 31.24%				Henry Gear
Fortune Bay 64.21% turnout		James Pitman 474 37.80%		Henry Hayward 780 62.20%				Vacant [c]
St. Barbe 58.40% turnout		Alexander A. Parsons 355 36.75%		Albert Bradshaw 611 63.25%				Alexander Parsons
St. George's 74.57% turnout		Maurice Devine 447 32.51%		Michael Gibbs 599 43.56%		James Hayse [10] (Independent) 329 23.93%		Michael Carty‡ (ran in Placentia and St. Mary's)

Notes

1. Not the incumbent, but ran in this district and won.
2. This figure includes votes cast for more than one candidate in multi-member districts. A total of 49,386 individual votes were cast in this election. ^[1]
3. James Fraser Jr. had been elected in 1893, but he had died while in office on April 22, 1896.

References

1. A Year Book and Almanac of Newfoundland for 1898 (PDF). St. John's, NL: J. W. Withers. 1897. pp. 18A–18B. Retrieved January 3, 2026.
2. "Note from Mr. Keating". Evening Telegram. September 27, 1897. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
3. "Nomination". Evening Telegram. October 18, 1897. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
4. "Nomination Day". Harbour Grace Standard. October 22, 1897. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
5. "Martin Furlong's Failure". Daily News. October 28, 1897. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
6. "The Deadly Parallel! Electors, Read This!". Evening Telegram. October 5, 1897. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
7. "Political Notes". Harbour Grace Standard. October 1, 1897. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
8. "Editorial Notes". Evening Telegram. September 13, 1897. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
9. "Political Pars". The Daily News. September 14, 1897. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
10. "Devine vs. Gibbs: For Whom Shall You Vote". Evening Telegram. October 20, 1897. Retrieved May 26, 2025.

Further reading

• Riggs, Bert (1981). "General Election #18: October 28, 1897". Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, volume 1. St. John's: Harry Cuff Publications Ltd. Retrieved May 26, 2025.