1905 Chichester by-election explained

Election Name:1905 Chichester by-election
Type:presidential
Country:United Kingdom
Previous Election:Chichester (UK Parliament constituency)#Elections in the 1900s
Previous Year:1900
Next Election:Chichester (UK Parliament constituency)#Elections in the 1900s
Next Year:1906
Election Date:2 June 1905
Candidate1:Talbot
Party1:Conservative Party (UK)
Popular Vote1:4,174
Percentage1:52.6%
Candidate2:Allen
Party2:Liberal Party (UK)
Popular Vote2:3,762
Percentage2:47.4%
MP
Posttitle:Subsequent MP
Before Election:Lord Edmund Talbot
Before Party:Conservative Party (UK)
After Election:Lord Edmund Talbot
After Party:Conservative Party (UK)

The 1905 Chichester by-election was a Parliamentary by-election. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system. It was held on 2 June 1905 after the incumbent Conservative MP Lord Edmund Talbot was appointed as Lord Commissioner of the Treasury and he was obliged to stand again in a ministerial by-election. It was retained by Talbot.

Vacancy

Lord Edmund Talbot had been Conservative MP for the seat of Chichester since the 1894 Chichester by-election. He was appointed as Lord Commissioner of the Treasury and he was obliged to stand again in a ministerial by-election.

Electoral history

The seat had been Conservative since creation in 1868. Lord Edmund Talbot held the seat at the last election, unopposed:Talbot had always been returned unopposed. The last contest in the constituency came in 1892, when the Conservative out-polled the Liberal by nearly two to one.

Candidates

The local Conservative Association re-selected 50 year-old Lord Edmund Talbot as their candidate to defend the seat. The local Liberal Association selected 33 year-old John Ernest Allen as their candidate to challenge for the seat. Allen was a Barrister-at-law, who had been educated at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities where he gained a Master of Arts.[1]

Campaign

Polling Day was fixed for the 2 June 1905, the day after the 1905 Whitby by-election. On the eve of poll, the Liberals gained Whitby from the Conservatives.

Result

The Conservatives held the seat with their lowest majority since 1885:

Aftermath

At the following General Election, Talbot again held the seat, the result was:

Notes and References

  1. ‘ALLEN, John Ernest’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 ; online edn, April 2014 accessed 10 Jan 2017