The 1907 New South Wales state election involved 90 electoral districts returning one member each. The election was conducted on the basis of a simple majority or first-past-the-post voting system.
In this election, 7 members did not stand for re-election, in 11 electorates the winning candidate received less than 50% of the votes, while 5 were uncontested.
There were 23 seats that elected a member from a different party, while a further 5 seats where the member retained the seat but changed from the Progressive Party to the Liberal Reform Party, continuing the demise of the Progressive Party, from a high of 42 seats at the 1901 election.[1] Four months before the election the party had negotiated a coalition agreement with the Liberal Reform Party however this was rejected by a vote of parliamentary members.[2] The party leader Thomas Waddell (Belubula) resigned and joined the Liberal Reform Party,[3] and was followed by John McFarlane (The Clarence), Brinsley Hall (The Hawkesbury), John Gillies (Maitland) and John Perry (b 1845) (The Richmond). Of the remaining 10 former Progressive Party members, a further 5 lost their seats. For a comprehensive list, see .
Paddy Crick, Progressive Party, had won the seat at the 1904 election, however he was expelled from the Parliament in 1906. John Withington won the seat for the Liberal Reform Party at the 1907 by-election.[4]
SItting member John Perry
This was the third and final contest for St Leonards between Edward Clark and Thomas Creswell. Clark, as the selected Liberal Reform candidate defeated Cresswell at the 1901 election.[6] Creswell then defeated Clark to be selected as the Liberal Reform candidate in 1904,[7] before comfortably beating him at the election.[8] Cresswell however lost Liberal preselection for the seat in 1907 to John Carter,[9] with Clark defeating both Cresswell and Carter to regain the seat.
John Norton (Independent) had won the seat at the 1904 election, however he challenged William Holman to face a by-election and was soundly defeated at the Surry Hills by-election in July 1906, finishing fourth behind Albert Bruntnell (Liberal Reform). At the 1907 general election Bruntnell chose to contest Alexandria but the seat was retained for Liberal Reform by Sir James Graham.