Berwickshire by-election, 1916

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The Berwickshire by-election, 1916 was a parliamentary by-election held for the House of Commons constituency of Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders on 18 July 1916.

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

Berwickshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1708 to 1918, when it was amalgamated with neighbouring Haddington(shire) to form a new Berwick and Haddington constituency. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP), using the first-past-the-post voting system.

Scottish Borders Council area of Scotland

The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothian and, to the south-west, south and east, the English counties of Cumbria and Northumberland. The administrative centre of the area is Newtown St Boswells.

Contents

Vacancy

Under the provisions of the Succession to the Crown Act of 1707 and a number of subsequent Acts, MPs appointed to certain ministerial and legal offices were at this time required to seek re-election. [1] The by-election in Berwickshire was caused by the appointment of the sitting Liberal MP, Harold “Jack” Tennant as Secretary for Scotland. [2]

Succession to the Crown Act 1707

The Succession to the Crown Act 1707 is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of Great Britain. It is still partly in force in Great Britain.

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.

Process

The writ for the by-election was moved in Parliament on 10 July [3] and the returning officer, the Sheriff of Berwickshire, fixed 18 July for the nomination of candidates. [4]

Writ of election Official writ calling for an election

A writ of election is a writ issued ordering the holding of an election. In Commonwealth countries writs are the usual mechanism by which general elections are called and are issued by the head of state or their representative. In the United States, it is more commonly used to call a special election for a political office.

A sheriffdom is a judicial district in Scotland, led by a sheriff principal. Since 1 January 1975, there have been six sheriffdoms. Each sheriffdom is divided in to a series of sheriff court districts, each sheriff court is presided over a resident or floating sheriff Sheriffs principal and sheriffs are all members of the judiciary of Scotland.

Candidates

As the other political parties were collaborating in the wartime coalition government of H H Asquith, the Tories were not expected to oppose Tennant [5] and there was not, as yet, any tradition of Labour contesting Berwickshire. [6] In the absence of any other candidate, Tennant was duly returned unopposed on 18 July and, introduced by the Prime Minister and Eugene Wason MP, re-took his seat in the House of Commons on 20 July to cheers as Secretary for Scotland. [7]

The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom which has been described as an alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists and trade unionists. The party's platform emphasises greater state intervention, social justice and strengthening workers' rights.

Eugene Wason Scottish politician

Eugene Wason was a Scottish lawyer and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons in three periods between 1885 and 1918.

The result

Berwickshire by-election, 1916
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Liberal Harold Tennant UnopposedN/AN/A
Liberal hold Swing N/A

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References

  1. ↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results, 1885-1918; Macmillan Press, 1974 pxiv
  2. ↑ The Times, 11 November 1935, p14
  3. ↑ The Times, 11 July 1916, p10
  4. ↑ The Times, 14 July 1916, p5
  5. ↑ The Times, 14 July 1916, p5
  6. ↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results, 1885-1918; Macmillan Press, 1974 p531
  7. ↑ The Times, 21 July 1916, p10

See also

UK by-election records is an annotated list of notable records from UK Parliamentary by-elections. A by-election occurs when a Member of Parliament resigns, dies, or is disqualified or expelled, and an election is held to fill the vacant seat. A constituency is the seat or division that member represented.

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