Ashburton by-election, 1908

Last updated

The Ashburton by-election, 1908 was a by-election held in England on 17 January 1908 to elect a new Member of Parliament (MP) for the British House of Commons constituency of Ashburton in Devon.

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

Vacancy

Harry Eve 1904 Harry Eve.jpg
Harry Eve

The by-election was triggered by the appointment of the sitting Liberal MP Harry Trelawney Eve as a judge.

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.

Candidates

The Liberal Unionist candidate Ernest Morrison-Bell, had lost the constituency by 1,283 votes in the previous general election.

The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington and Joseph Chamberlain, the party formed a political alliance with the Conservative Party in opposition to Irish Home Rule. The two parties formed the ten-year-long coalition Unionist Government 1895–1905 but kept separate political funds and their own party organisations until a complete merger was agreed in May 1912.

Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest Fitzroy Morrison-Bell, was a British soldier and parliamentarian.

Campaign

The Liberal government had introduced the Small Holdings and Allotments Act of 1907 which sought to limit the degree to which fixtures and improvements remained the property of landlords, and to increase the number of small farmers. This new measure was expected to have a strong appeal to voters in rural constituencies like Ashburton. [1]

==Result== [2] The result was a victory for the Liberal Unionist candidate Ernest Morrison-Bell.

Charles Buxton Charles Roden Buxton.jpg
Charles Buxton
Ashburton by-election, 1908
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Liberal Unionist Ernest Morrison-Bell 5,191 52.8
Liberal Charles Roden Buxton 4,632 47.2
Majority 559 5.7
Turnout 9,823
Liberal Unionist gain from Liberal Swing

The loss of the seat came as a surprise to the Liberals, who had expected to retain it. The unsuccessful Liberal Candidate, Charles Roden Buxton, complained that the Liberal government had wrongly been blamed for the increased price of food; Morrison-Bell assured his followers that it had been a great victory for the cause of tariff reform. A crowd of over 10,000 people gathered in the town centre to hear the result, and after it was announced, several fights broke out, with Liberal supporters accusing their opponents of having won through 'beer' and 'bribery'. Morrison-Bell had to be escorted to the Conservative Club by the police, and Emmeline Pankhurst and another supporter of the women's suffrage movement were knocked down and injured in a shop in which they had taken refuge. A crowd later invaded the Conservative Club, causing considerable damage, and the police had to charge with truncheons, leaving several people in need of medical treatment. A number of policemen were injured by stones and one was hospitalised. [3]

Emmeline Pankhurst 19th and 20th-century English suffragette

Emmeline Pankhurst was a British political activist and helper of the British suffragette movement who helped women win the right to vote. In 1999 Time named Pankhurst as one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century, stating "she shaped an idea of women for our time; she shook society into a new pattern from which there could be no going back". She was widely criticised for her militant tactics, and historians disagree about their effectiveness, but her work is recognised as a crucial element in achieving women's suffrage in the United Kingdom.

Womens suffrage in the United Kingdom

Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom was a movement to fight for women's right to vote. It finally succeeded through two laws in 1918 and 1928. It became a national movement in the Victorian era. Women were not explicitly banned from voting Great Britain until the 1832 Reform Act and the 1835 Municipal Corporations Act. In 1872 the fight for women's suffrage became a national movement with the formation of the National Society for Women's Suffrage and later the more influential National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). As well as in England, women's suffrage movements in Wales and other parts of the United Kingdom gained momentum. The movements shifted sentiments in favour of woman suffrage by 1906. It was at this point that the militant campaign began with the formation of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU).

Aftermath

Related Research Articles

1959 United Kingdom general election

The 1959 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 8 October 1959. It marked a third consecutive victory for the ruling Conservative Party, now led by Harold Macmillan. For the second time in a row, the Conservatives increased their overall majority in Parliament, to 101 seats over the Labour Party led by Hugh Gaitskell. The Liberal Party led by Jo Grimond again returned only six MPs to the House of Commons, but managed to increase their overall share of the vote to 5.9%; compared to just 2.7% four years earlier. To date, the 1959 general election marks the only occasion since the Second World War when a government has managed to increase its overall majority while seeking a third term in government. However, despite this electoral success; the Conservatives failed to win the most seats in Scotland, and have not done so since. This election marks the beginning of Labour's domination of Scottish seats at Westminster, which lasted until the rise of the Scottish National Party at the 2015 general election. Both future Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe and future Conservative Party leader and eventual Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher first entered the House of Commons at this election.

2005 United Kingdom general election election of members to the House of Commons in 2005

The 2005 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 5 May 2005, to elect 646 members to the House of Commons. The Labour Party led by Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, with Blair becoming the only Labour leader beside Harold Wilson to form three majority governments. However, its majority now stood at 66 seats compared to the 160-seat majority it had previously held. As of 2019, it remains the last general election victory for the Labour Party.

Wednesbury was a borough constituency in England's Black Country which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1868 until it was abolished for the February 1974 general election.

Ashburton was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament at Westminster, for one Parliament in 1298 and regularly from 1640 until it was abolished for the 1868 general election. It was one of three Devon borough constituencies newly enfranchised in the Long Parliament. It returned two Members of Parliament until the 1832 general election when the number was reduced to one MP.

The Hastings by-election 1908 was a Parliamentary by-election. Hastings returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

1922 Bodmin by-election

The Bodmin by-election, 1922 was a parliamentary by-election for the British House of Commons. The constituency of Bodmin in Cornwall polled on 24 February 1922. The by-election was notable for the opposition Liberal Party gaining a seat from the Coalition supporting Conservative Party.

The Newmarket by-election, 1913 was a parliamentary by-election held on 16 May 1913 to fill a vacancy in the United Kingdom House of Commons for the Eastern or Newmarket Division of Cambridgeshire.

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.

The Barnard Castle by-election, 1903 was a parliamentary by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Barnard Castle, in County Durham, on 24 July 1903.

The Eccles by-election, 1890 was a parliamentary by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Eccles in Lancashire on 22 October 1890.

The Leeds South by-election, 1908 was a parliamentary by-election for the House of Commons constituency of Leeds South in the West Riding of Yorkshire held on 13 February 1908.

The Gorton by-election, 1889 was a parliamentary by-election held on 22 March 1889 for the British House of Commons in the Gorton Division of Lancashire.

The Spalding by-election, 1917 was a parliamentary by-election held for the House of Commons constituency of Spalding in Lincolnshire on 25 October 1917.

Glasgow Tradeston constituency was created in 1885, and elected Liberal Archibald Corbett as their MP from then until he retired from the House of Commons in 1911 to take a seat in the House of Lords as 1st Baron Rowallan. Although Tradeston had consistently voted for Corbett, he did not consistently stand under the same label. In 1885 he stood as a Liberal against a Conservative. In 1886 following a split in the Liberal party he stood as a Liberal Unionist against a Liberal. Thereafter this was the normal contest until 1910. He had re-joined the Liberal party in 1908 but he did not win the official Liberal nomination in January 1910. This time standing as an Independent Liberal he scraped a victory against both Liberal and Conservative candidates. Then at the last general election, standing as the official Liberal candidate he won comfortably.

The West Ham North by-election was a Parliamentary by-election which was held in 1911. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

1914 North West Durham by-election

The North West Durham by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 30 January 1914. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

1912 Crewe by-election

The Crewe by-election was a Parliamentary by-election. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

The Chertsey by-election, 1922 was a parliamentary by-election for the British House of Commons constituency of Chertsey on 24 March 1922.

The Whitby by-election was a Parliamentary by-election. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

The Rugby by-election, 1942 was a parliamentary by-election for the British House of Commons constituency of Rugby on 29 April 1942.

References

  1. ↑ By-Elections in British Politics, 1832-1914
  2. ↑ Craig, FWS, ed. (1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. London: Macmillan Press. ISBN   9781349022984.
  3. ↑ The Times, 20 January 1908

See also

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.