Ashburton by-election, 1904

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The Ashburton by-election, 1904 was a parliamentary by-election held in England on 7 January 1904 to elect a new Member of Parliament (MP) for the British House of Commons constituency of Ashburton in Devon. It was triggerred by the death of the sitting Liberal Party MP Charles Seale-Hayne.

By-elections, also spelled bye-elections, are used to fill elected offices that have become vacant between general elections.

England Country in north-west Europe, part of the United Kingdom

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to the west and Scotland to the north-northwest. The Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.

House of Commons of the United Kingdom lower house in the Parliament of the United Kingdom

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster. Officially, the full name of the house is the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. Owing to shortage of space, its office accommodation extends into Portcullis House.

Contents

The election was contested by the Conservative and Liberal parties and won by the Liberal candidate, Harry Trelawney Eve, with a majority of 1,476 votes.

Conservative Party (UK) Political party in the United Kingdom

The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom. Presently led by Theresa May, it has been the governing party since 2010. It presently has 314 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons, 249 members of the House of Lords, and 18 members of the European Parliament. It also has 31 Members of the Scottish Parliament, 12 members of the Welsh Assembly, eight members of the London Assembly and 9,008 local councillors. One of the major parties of UK politics, it has formed the government on 45 occasions, more than any other party.

Vacancy

The by-election was caused by the death on 22 November 1903 of the sitting Liberal Party MP Charles Seale-Hayne, who had held the seat since the 1885 general election. [1]

Liberal Party (UK) political party of the United Kingdom, 1859–1988

The Liberal Party was one of the two major parties in the United Kingdom with the opposing Conservative Party in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The party arose from an alliance of Whigs and free trade Peelites and Radicals favourable to the ideals of the American and French Revolutions in the 1850s. By the end of the 19th century, it had formed four governments under William Gladstone. Despite being divided over the issue of Irish Home Rule, the party returned to government in 1905 and then won a landslide victory in the following year's general election.

Charles Seale-Hayne British politician

Charles Hayne Seale Hayne PC of Fuge House in the parish of Blackawton and of Kingswear Castle, Dartmouth harbour, both in Devon, was a British businessman and Liberal politician, serving as Member of Parliament for Ashburton in Devon, from 1885 until his death in 1903. He served as Paymaster-General between 1892 and 1895 in the Liberal administrations of William Ewart Gladstone and the Earl of Rosebery.

Candidates

Liberals

The Liberals adopted Harry Trelawney Eve KC, a 57-year-old barrister who practiced at the Chancery Bar. Eve had connections with Devon. He owned land in the county at Yarner Wood near Bovey Tracey [2] and farmed it professionally, [3] taking a particular interest in the breeding of South Devon cattle. [4] He was appointed a Justice of the Peace for the county in 1903 and his wife came from Torquay. [5] He identified himself as a Radical and a supporter of Free Trade. [6]

Queens Counsel jurist appointed by letters patent

A Queen's Counsel, or King's Counsel during the reign of a king, is an eminent lawyer who is appointed by the monarch to be one of "Her Majesty's Counsel learned in the law." The term is recognised as an honorific. The position exists in some Commonwealth jurisdictions around the world, but other Commonwealth countries have either abolished the position, or re-named it to eliminate monarchical connotations, such as "Senior Counsel" or "Senior Advocate". Queen's Counsel is an office, conferred by the Crown, that is recognised by courts. Members have the privilege of sitting within the bar of court.

Barrister lawyer specialized in court representation in Wales, England and some other jurisdictions

A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching the philosophy, hypothesis and history of law, and giving expert legal opinions. Often, barristers are also recognised as legal scholars.

Court of Chancery court of equity in England and Wales

The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid the slow pace of change and possible harshness of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equity, including trusts, land law, the estates of lunatics and the guardianship of infants. Its initial role was somewhat different: as an extension of the Lord Chancellor's role as Keeper of the King's Conscience, the Court was an administrative body primarily concerned with conscientious law. Thus the Court of Chancery had a far greater remit than the common law courts, whose decisions it had the jurisdiction to overrule for much of its existence, and was far more flexible. Until the 19th century, the Court of Chancery could apply a far wider range of remedies than common law courts, such as specific performance and injunctions, and had some power to grant damages in special circumstances. With the shift of the Exchequer of Pleas towards a common law court and loss of its equitable jurisdiction by the Administration of Justice Act 1841, the Chancery became the only national equitable body in the English legal system.

Conservatives

The Conservative candidate was Sir Richard Harrison, a recently retired professional soldier, educated at Harrow School. Sir Richard was aged 66 years, had a home in Brixham [7] and owned a farm in Hampshire. [8]

General Sir Richard Harrison was a British Army officer and engineer.

Harrow School English independent school for boys

Harrow School is an independent boarding school for boys in Harrow, London, England. The School was founded in 1572 by John Lyon under a Royal Charter of Elizabeth I, and is one of the original seven public schools that were regulated by the Public Schools Act 1868. Harrow charges up to £12,850 per term, with three terms per academic year (2017/18). Harrow is the fourth most expensive boarding school in the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.

Brixham town and civil parish in Devon, England

Brixham is a small fishing town and civil parish in the district of Torbay in the county of Devon, in the south-west of England. Brixham is at the southern end of Torbay, across the bay from Torquay, and fishing and tourism are the major industries of the town. At the time of the 2011 census it had a population of 16,693.

Issues

Trade

Eve, having from the outset adopted the traditional Liberal stance as a Free Trader, made the most of this position to attack government policy on tariff reform and to warn that this would lead to taxes on food. [9] Harrison supported the government line, arguing that this was the only effective way to deal with the unfair competition to which British industry and trade were being subjected by foreign countries and that it would maintain a strong home manufacturing base to guarantee full employment. [10] Harrison received a letter of support from Joseph Chamberlain arguing that agriculture was one of the industries which had suffered most from unrestricted imports and contending that tariff reform proposals would not add a penny to the cost of living while helping farmers and allotment holders. [11] It was reported that the arguments concerning cheap food found most resonance among the town-dwellers of the constituency and the agricultural labourers, a traditional source of strength for the Liberal Party in the area. [12] The attempts of the Tariff Reform League to hold a public meeting in Newton Abbott during the election campaign proved a bit of a disaster. The meeting was first disrupted by about a hundred Radicals singing political songs, causing the speakers to delay but then a fight broke out in the hall and the meeting had to be abandoned for fear of violence to the speakers. Once the speakers had withdrawn the fighting got worse and a lot of damage was done. [13] However The Times reported that Newton Abbott had a reputation for rowdyism at times of political excitement and the incident was unlikely to affect the outcome of the election but it did note that the future meeting of the Tariff Reform League had been postponed. [14]

Protectionism economic policy of restraining trade between states through government regulations

Protectionism is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. Proponents claim that protectionist policies shield the producers, businesses, and workers of the import-competing sector in the country from foreign competitors. However, they also reduce trade and adversely affect consumers in general, and harm the producers and workers in export sectors, both in the country implementing protectionist policies, and in the countries protected against.

Joseph Chamberlain British businessman, politician, and statesman

Joseph Chamberlain was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal, then, after opposing home rule for Ireland, a Liberal Unionist, and eventually served as a leading imperialist in coalition with the Conservatives. He split both major British parties in the course of his career.

Tariff Reform League

The Tariff Reform League (TRL) was a protectionist British pressure group formed in 1903 to protest against what they considered to be unfair foreign imports and to advocate Imperial Preference to protect British industry from foreign competition. It was well funded and included politicians, intellectuals and businessmen, and was popular with the grassroots of the Conservative Party. It was internally opposed by the Unionist Free Food League but that had virtually disappeared as a viable force by 1910. By 1914 the Tariff Reform League had approximately 250,000 members. It is associated with the national campaign of Joseph Chamberlain, the most outspoken and charismatic supporter of Tariff Reform. The historian Bruce Murray has claimed that the TRL "possessed fewer prejudices against large-scale government expenditure than any other political group in Edwardian Britain".

Education

The Education Act 1902 provided Eve with a campaigning issue to appeal to his traditional supporters. The Act handed over responsibility for education from local school boards to borough or county education authorities. The Act also brought voluntary schools under some control of the government, giving them funding. The nonconformist and dissenting religionists, who were by and large Liberal supporters, resented this funding of Anglican and Roman Catholic church schools from the general rates. ‘No Rome on the Rates’ was the rallying cry. [15] Eve raised this subject early in the election campaign, at his adoption meeting, [16] realising its resonance for committed Liberals and their traditional constituency of nonconformist church and chapel-goers. The Liberals also hoped to pick up votes from Conservative nonconformists. [17] Harrison took a neutral line on the 1902 Act. He said it had been controversial but was now law and should be given a complete and fair trial, while being monitored for discrimination against particular religious groups. [18]

The Armed Forces

In the aftermath of the Boer Wars and given his own military background it was not surprising that Harrison felt comfortable dealing with issues around the armed forces. He supported the proposals being contemplated to reform the administration of the War Office and he favoured the introduction of a comprehensive scheme to improve the strength, efficiency and organisation of all Britain’s military – particularly the navy. [19] These measures were the subject of Royal Commissions established in 1902. The Esher and Norfolk Committees eventually bore fruit in certain reforms brought in by the Conservative Hugh Arnold-Foster in 1904-05 [20] but ironically major reform had to wait until the new Liberal government of December 1905 and the implementation of the Haldane Reforms. [21]

Result

Eve held Ashburton for the Liberals with a majority of 1,476. The size of the majority was larger than expected, doubling Seale-Hayne’s majority at the 1900 general election. The Times commented that the government clearly needed to do more in agricultural constituencies to persuade voters of the value of protectionism. [22] The fact was that the Conservative government re-elected in 1900 and which first came to office in 1895 was by now appearing stale and weary to the electorate. The government would in the year following the by-election give up the ghost and allow the creation of a Liberal administration in December 1905, an administration which would go on in the general election of January–February 1906 to secure a landslide mandate from the electorate. In the sixty by-elections between 1895 and 1905 the Liberal poll went up, overall, by 30% and the Unionist poll went down by 7%. That trend had gathered momentum since 1902, the year of the Education Act and the imposition of a tax on corn [23] – the two major campaign issues of the Ashburton by-election.

Eve retained his seat at the 1906 general election with a majority of 1,289. [24] He resigned the seat in 1907 to become a judge in the Chancery Division. [25]

The vote

Harry Eve 1904 Harry Eve.jpg
Harry Eve
Ashburton by-election, 1904 [26]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Liberal Harry Trelawney Eve 5,034 58.6
Conservative Richard Harrison 3,558 41.4
Majority 1,476 17.2
Turnout
Liberal hold Swing

See also

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References

  1. ↑ The Times, 23 November 1903 p6
  2. ↑ http://jearnshaw.me.uk/pictures/yarner.htm
  3. ↑ The Times, 11 December 1917 p12
  4. ↑ The British Year Book of Agriculture and Agricultural Who’s Who; Vinton & Co, 1908 p500
  5. ↑ Who was Who, OUP 2007
  6. ↑ The Times, 3 December 1903 p5
  7. ↑ Who was Who, OUP 2007
  8. ↑ The Times, 1 January 1904 p4
  9. ↑ The Times, 7 December 1903 p6
  10. ↑ The Times, 12 December 1903 p12
  11. ↑ The Times 5 January 1904 p8
  12. ↑ The Times, 1 January 1904 p4
  13. ↑ The Times, 4 January 1904 p4
  14. ↑ The Times, 5 January 1904 p8
  15. ↑ David M Thompson (ed.),Protestant Nonconformist Texts: Volume 4, The Twentieth Century, Ashgate, 2006-7 p.219
  16. ↑ The Times, 3 December 1903 p5
  17. ↑ The Times, 4 January 1904 p4
  18. ↑ The Times, 12 December 1903 p12
  19. ↑ The Times, 12 December 1903 p12
  20. ↑ J K Dunlop, The development of the British Army 1899–1914; Methuen, 1938 pp. 179-83, 193-4
  21. ↑ Pat Thane, R B Haldane in Cassell’s Companion to Twentieth Century Britain; Cassell & Co, 2001 p185
  22. ↑ The Times, 9 January 1904 p9
  23. ↑ A K Russell, Liberal landslide: The General Election of 1906; David & Charles, 1973 p146
  24. ↑ The Times House of Commons 1910; Politico’s Publishing 2004 p60
  25. ↑ H G Hanbury, revised by S Hanbury, Sir Harry Trelawney Eve in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; OUP 2004-09
  26. ↑ Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN   9781349022984.
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