Prestwich by-election, January 1918

Last updated

The Prestwich by-election, January 1918 was a by-election held on 31 January 1918 for the British House of Commons constituency of Prestwich in Lancashire.

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

Prestwich was a constituency in the county of Lancashire of the House of Commons for the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, it was represented by one Member of Parliament. The constituency was abolished in 1918.

Lancashire County of England

Lancashire is a ceremonial county in North West England. The administrative centre is Preston. The county has a population of 1,449,300 and an area of 1,189 square miles (3,080 km2). People from Lancashire are known as Lancastrians.

Contents

Vacancy

The election was caused by the elevation to the peerage of the sitting Liberal MP, Sir Frederick Cawley. [1] Cawley had been Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the wartime coalition of David Lloyd George. [2]

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.

Frederick Cawley, 1st Baron Cawley British politician

Frederick Cawley, 1st Baron Cawley PC, JP, known as Sir Frederick Cawley, Bt, between 1906 and 1918, was a British businessman and Liberal Party politician. A wealthy cotton merchant, he represented Prestwich in parliament between 1895 and 1918 and served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster between 1916 and 1918. Created a baronet in 1906, he was ennobled as Baron Cawley in 1918.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster ministerial office in Her Majestys Government

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a ministerial office in the Government of the United Kingdom that includes as part of its duties, the administration of the estates and rents of the Duchy of Lancaster. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is appointed by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister.

Candidates

Government

The Liberals selected the Honourable Oswald Cawley, the youngest son of the sitting member. Cawley was a lieutenant in the Yeomanry serving in Palestine. [3] Cawley’s candidacy was supported by the Unionists in Prestwich as they were part of the wartime coalition.

Oswald Cawley British politician

Oswald Cawley, styled The Honourable from January 1918, was a British soldier and Liberal Party politician.

Palestine (region) geographical region in the Middle East

Palestine is a geographic region in Western Asia usually considered to include Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and in some definitions, some parts of western Jordan.

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. The governing party since 2010, it is the largest in the House of Commons, with 313 Members of Parliament, and also has 249 members of the House of Lords, 18 members of the European Parliament, 31 Members of the Scottish Parliament, 12 members of the Welsh Assembly, eight members of the London Assembly and 8,916 local councillors.

Cooperators

Cawley was opposed by Henry May for the newly formed Central Co-operative Parliamentary Representation Committee of which he was the secretary. May was also secretary of the International Cooperative Alliance. [4] This was the first parliamentary by-election fought by the Co-operative Parliamentary Representation Committee. [5] Although May was expected to gain the support of Labour voters, the Labour Party itself was unable to offer formal assistance because of the wartime electoral truce. [6]

Henry John May was a British co-operative movement activist.

The Co-operative Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom supporting co-operative values and principles. Established in 1917, the Co-operative Party was founded by co-operative societies to campaign politically for the fairer treatment of co-operative enterprise and to elect 'co-operators' to Parliament. The Party’s roots lie in the Parliamentary Committee of the Co-operative Union established in 1881.

The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom that 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.

Issues

For the government the principal issue was the continuing prosecution of the war and it sought the support of the voters for that end. There was a strong danger that Cawley’s election would be seen as inevitable, given his father’s position and former majority and as he was actively serving his country in the field. So the government supporters concentrated on organisation rather than policy to try and counter voter apathy. [7]

May tried to appeal on the food question [8] and by extolling the virtues of cooperation as the purest democratic movement and anticipating the triumph of the working –class once the war was over. [9] May also argued that because Lt Cawley was serving abroad this amounted to a virtual disenfranchisement of the electors of the division. [10]

Result

Cawley held the seat for the Liberals by a large majority. It was estimated that of the approximately 26,000 electors on the register, which was now three years old, only about 16,000 remained eligible to vote. In the end the total poll was just over 10,000. [11] Cawley only held the seat for a few months however as he was killed in action in France in August 1918.


Prestwich by-election, January 1918
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Liberal Oswald Cawley 8,520
Co-operative Party Henry May 2,832
Majority5,688
Liberal hold Swing

Related Research Articles

1918 United Kingdom general election

The 1918 United Kingdom general election was called immediately after the Armistice with Germany which ended the First World War, and was held on Saturday, 14 December 1918. The governing coalition, under Prime Minister David Lloyd George, sent letters of endorsement to candidates who supported the coalition government. These were nicknamed "Coalition Coupons", and led to the election being known as the "coupon election". The result was a massive landslide in favour of the coalition, comprising primarily the Conservatives and Coalition Liberals, with massive losses for Liberals who were not endorsed. Nearly all the Liberal MPs without coupons were defeated, although party leader H. H. Asquith managed to return to Parliament in a by-election.

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.

The Prestwich by-election, 1918 was a parliamentary by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Prestwich on 24 October 1918. The seat had become vacant upon the death in action near Merville of the sitting Liberal MP, the Hon. Captain Oswald Cawley.

The Middleton and Prestwich by-election, 1920 was a by-election held on 22 November 1920 for the British House of Commons constituency of Middleton and Prestwich in Lancashire.

Ryland Adkins British politician

Sir William Ryland Dent Adkins was an English barrister, judge and Liberal politician.

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 Pontefract by-election, 1919 was a parliamentary by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Pontefract in Yorkshire on 6 September 1919.

The Rossendale by-election, 1917 was a parliamentary by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Rossendale on 13 February 1917.

The Bedford by-election, 1921 was a parliamentary by-election held for the House of Commons constituency of Bedford on 23 April 1921.

The Cardiganshire by-election, 1921 was a parliamentary by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Cardiganshire on 18 February 1921. The election was important for the bitterness of the contest between the Coalition and Independent factions within the Liberal Party and the deepening of this division within the party as a factor in the long term decline of Liberalism in Wales.

The Wansbeck by-election, 1918 was a parliamentary by-election held for the House of Commons constituency of Wansbeck in Northumberland on 28 May 1918.

The Bosworth by-election, 1927 was a parliamentary by-election for the House of Commons constituency of Bosworth in Leicestershire on 31 May 1927.

The St Albans by-election of 1919 was a parliamentary by-election held in England in December 1919 for the House of Commons constituency of St Albans in Hertfordshire.

The Chesterton by-election, 1916 was a parliamentary by-election held for the House of Commons constituency of the Chesterton or Western Division of Cambridgeshire on 20 January 1916.

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.

The North East Derbyshire 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. About a third of the electorate were directly involved in the mining industry. This was the penultimate by-election to take place before the outbreak of the First World War. It demonstrated the weakness of support for the Labour party in 1914 when opposed by a Liberal party candidate.

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.

The South Monmouthshire by-election, 1917 was a by-election held on Thursday 12 July 1917 for the British House of Commons constituency of the Southern Division of Monmouthshire in South Wales.

The Edinburgh South by-election, 1917 was a parliamentary by-election held for the House of Commons constituency of Edinburgh South in Scotland on 12 May 1917.

The Inverness-shire by-election, 1917 was a parliamentary by-election held for the House of Commons constituency of Inverness-shire in the Scottish Highlands on 2 January 1917.

References

  1. ↑ The Times, 27 February 1918 p10
  2. ↑ Who was Who, OUP 2007
  3. ↑ The Times, 10 January 1918 p10
  4. ↑ The Times, 23 January 1918 p3
  5. ↑ G D H Cole, A History of the Labour Party from 1914; Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1948 p63
  6. ↑ Peter Barberis, John McHugh & Mike Tyldesley, Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations; Continuum International, 2002 p276
  7. ↑ The Times, 29 January 1918 p3
  8. ↑ The Times, 29 January 1918 p3
  9. ↑ The Times, 30 January 1918 p3
  10. ↑ The Times, 29 January 1918 p3
  11. ↑ The Times, 2 February 1918 p6

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.