1903 Woolwich by-election

1903 Woolwich by-election

←  1902 11 March 1903 1906  →
Woolwich constituency
Registered	16,136
Turnout	87.7%
First party Second party   Lab Candidate Will Crooks Geoffrey Drage Party Labour Repr. Cmte. Conservative Popular vote 8,687 5,458 Percentage 61.4% 38.6% Swing New N/A [a]
MP before election Charles Beresford Conservative Elected MP Will Crooks Labour Repr. Cmte.

A by-election for the United Kingdom parliamentary constituency of Woolwich was held on 11 March 1903. It was trigged by the resignation of incumbent MP, Charles Beresford. The by-election resulted in Will Crooks, the Labour Representation Committee candidate, beating his Conservative opponent.

Background

The constituency had a by-election in 1902 to replace the resignation of Edwin Hughes due to ill health. In this by-election, Charles Beresford was elected unopposed as the Conservative candidate. He subsequently resigned as MP in 1903 after accepting a position as commander of the Channel Fleet. ^{[1] [2]}

Campaign

The Labour Representation Committee came to an agreement with the Liberals for them to stand down in the by-election, making the race between solely their candidate, Will Crooks, and the Conservative. ^[3] Local liberal organisations and papers supported Crooks's campaign. ^{[4] [5]}

Crooks was a moderate, and the mayor of Poplar. During the by-election, he focused on basic economic issues like unemployment, housing and wages. ^[5]

Result

1903 Woolwich by-election ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Repr. Cmte.	Will Crooks	8,687	61.4	New
	Conservative	Geoffrey Drage	5,458	38.6	N/A
Majority			3,229	22.8	N/A
Turnout			14,145	87.7	N/A
Registered electors			16,136
	Labour Repr. Cmte. gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

Previous result

1902 Woolwich by-election ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Beresford	Unopposed
Registered electors			15,376
	Conservative hold

Legacy and aftermath

Crooks became the fourth Labour MP in the party's history. His by-election victory exceeded expectations at the time, ^[7] with the then Speaker of the House describing it as the most spectacular by-election victory of modern times. ^[8]

Crooks held on to the seat in the subsequent 1906 general election, and remained an MP in Woolwich (later Woolwich East) until 1921, with a brief stint outside Parliament in 1910. ^[9]

Notes

1. The previous election saw the MP elected unopposed, so no vote was held and no comparisons can be made.

References

1. "Naval & Military Intelligence". The Times. No. 37058. London. 18 April 1903. p. 8.
2. "Appointments to the Chiltern Hundreds and Manor of Northstead Stewardships since 1880". House of Commons Library . Retrieved 5 May 2022.
3. Goddard, Pete; Hatwal, Atul. "Labour history uncut: Lib-Labbery and the 1906 election « Labour Uncut" . Retrieved 24 May 2025.
4. Purdue, A. W. (1976). "Arthur Henderson and Liberal, Liberal-Labour and Labour Politics in the North-East of England, 1892–1903". Northern History. 11 (1): 195–217. doi:10.1179/nhi.1976.11.1.195 – via Taylor & Francis.
5. Poirier, Philip P. (1958). The Advent of the British Labour Party. Columbia University Press. pp. 168–169.
6. Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885–1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN   9781349022984.
7. Nick Raynsford in Haworth, Alan, and Hayter, Dianne (eds), Men Who Made Labour, Routledge (2006), p. 50.
8. "CENTENARY OF THE ELECTION OF WILLS CROOKS MP - Early Day Motions - UK Parliament". edm.parliament.uk. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
9. The Times House of Commons 1919. London: The Times Publishing Company (Limited). 1919. p. 23.