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
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 23 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	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
	Conservative (historical)		Liberal (historical)		Other
St. John's East		Edward Shea 1,531 14.79%		John P. Fox 1,973 19.06%		Thomas Keating (Independent) [1] 669 6.46%		John P. Fox
		Robert Parsons Jr. 1,478 14.28%		Thomas Murphy 1,720 16.62%				Charles Hultan†
		Patrick O'Neil [2] 1,401 13.54%		Lawrence Furlong 1,577 15.24%				Lawrence Furlong
St. John's West		Thomas White [2] 1,461 15.88%		Edward Morris 1,752 19.04%				Edward Morris
		Charles Ryan [2] 1,418 15.41%		James Tessier 1,610 17.50%				Patrick Scott‡ (ran in Placentia and St. Mary's)
		Jacob Chafe [2] 1,371 14.90%		James Callanan 1,588 17.26%				George Tessier†

Conception Bay

Electoral district	Candidates						Incumbent
	Conservative (historical)		Liberal (historical)		Other
Bay de Verde		Abram Kean 1,035 28.27%		Henry J. B. Woods 829 22.64%				Henry Woods
		William Rogerson 1,013 27.67%		Michael Knight 784 21.41%				John Ayre†
Carbonear		Alfred Penney 502 48.32%		William Duff 537 51.68%				William Duff
Harbour Grace		William Ward [3] 915 14.98%		William Horwood 1,073 17.57%		D. J. Green (Independent) 247 4.04%		Henry Dawe
		Henry Dawe 902 14.77%		Eli Dawe 1,060 17.35%				William Whiteway ‡ (ran in Trinity Bay)
		Graham Munn 861 14.10%		William Oke 1,050 17.19%				Eli Dawe
Harbour Main		John St. John 1,038 31.06%		Frank Morris 687 20.56%				Frank Morris
		William Woodford 1,018 30.46%		Richard MacDonnell 599 17.92%				William Woodford
Port de Grave		Charles Dawe 905 69.88%		James Clift 390 30.12%				Charles Dawe

Avalon Peninsula

Electoral district	Candidates						Incumbent
	Conservative (historical)		Liberal (historical)		Other
Ferryland		George Shea 677 26.80%		Michael Cashin 809 32.03%		Michael Condon (Independent) 245 9.70%		Michael Cashin
		J. E. White 283 11.20%		Martin Furlong [4] 512 20.27%				Daniel Greene†
Placentia and St. Mary's		William J. S. Donnelly 1,769 22.09%		Richard McGrath 1,005 12.55%				Richard McGrath
		Rhodie Callahan 1,707 21.31%		Patrick Scott 930 11.61%				Michael Tobin†
		Michael Carty 1,704 21.28%		William O'Reilly [5] 894 11.16%				John Dunphy†

Eastern Newfoundland

Electoral district	Candidates				Incumbent
	Conservative (historical)		Liberal (historical)
Bonavista Bay		Darius Blandford 2,524 25.73%		James Tait 829 8.45%		Donald Morison†
		John Cowan 2,519 25.68%		Albert Martin [6] 788 8.03%		Alfred Morine‡ (ran in Twillingate)
		John A. Robinson 2,384 24.30%		James Blandford [6] 767 7.81%		Darius Blandford
Trinity Bay		Robert Bremner 2,507 23.20%		William Whiteway 1,317 12.19%		William Horwood‡ (ran in Harbour Grace)
		Robert Watson 2,317 21.44%		George Gushue 1,250 11.57%		George Gushue
		Levi March 2,186 20.23%		George Johnson 1,229 11.37%		George Johnson

Central Newfoundland

Electoral district	Candidates				Incumbent
	Conservative (historical)		Liberal (historical)
Fogo		Thomas Duder 719 60.78%		Charles Earle [6] 464 39.22%		Thomas Duder
Twillingate		Alan Goodridge 1,674 16.92%		Robert Bond 1,865 18.85%		Giles Foote†
		Alfred Morine 1,606 16.23%		Donald Browning 1,688 17.06%		Augustus Goodridge†
		Joshua Taverner 1,447 14.62%		George Roberts 1,615 16.32%		Michael Knight‡ (ran in Bay de Verde)

Southern and Western Newfoundland

Electoral district	Candidates						Incumbent
	Conservative (historical)		Liberal (historical)		Other
Burgeo and LaPoile		Henry Mott 635 59.07%		James Murray [7] [8] 440 40.93%				Henry Mott
Burin		James Winter 1,072 33.10%		Henry Gear 578 17.85%				James Pitman‡ (ran in Fortune Bay)
		John Lake 1,012 31.24%		William B. Payne 577 17.81%				Henry Gear
Fortune Bay		Henry Hayward 780 62.20%		James Pitman 474 37.80%				Vacant [b]
St. Barbe		Albert Bradshaw 611 63.25%		Alexander A. Parsons 355 36.75%				Alexander Parsons
St. George's		Michael Gibbs 599 43.56%		Maurice Devine 447 32.51%		James Hayse [9] (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. James Fraser Jr. had been elected in 1893, but he had died while in office on April 22, 1896.

References

1. "Note from Mr. Keating". Evening Telegram. September 27, 1897. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
2. "Nomination". Evening Telegram. October 18, 1897. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
3. "Nomination Day". Harbour Grace Standard. October 22, 1897. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
4. "Martin Furlong's Failure". Daily News. October 28, 1897. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
5. "The Deadly Parallel! Electors, Read This!". Evening Telegram. October 5, 1897. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
6. "Political Notes". Harbour Grace Standard. October 1, 1897. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
7. "Editorial Notes". Evening Telegram. September 13, 1897. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
8. "Political Pars". The Daily News. September 14, 1897. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
9. "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.