1910 Shipley by-election

The Shipley by-election, 1910 was a parliamentary by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Shipley in the West Riding of Yorkshire on 10 March 1910.

Vacancy

The by-election was caused by the appointment of the sitting Liberal MP, Percy Illingworth to the post of Junior Lord of the Treasury,[1] i.e. one of the government whips. Under the Parliamentary rules applying at that time this required him to resign his seat and fight a by-election.

Candidates

Liberals

The Shipley Liberals re-selected Illingworth. He had been him returned unopposed in the general election of 1906 and had seen off a Liberal Unionist challenger in the general election held in January 1910 just a few weeks before by a healthy majority of 3775 votes.[2] Shipley Liberals welcomed their member’s appointment to the government and foresaw no reason to doubt he would be re-elected in the forthcoming by-election.[3]

Unionists

It was reported that the Unionists in the Shipley constituency were unprepared to fight another contest so soon after the general election [4] and the Shipley Division Liberal Unionists decided not to oppose Illingworth on the formal grounds that his appointment as a whip should not involve him in a fresh contest.[5]

The result

There being no other candidates putting themselves forward, Illingworth was returned unopposed.[6]

Shipley by-election, 1910
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Percy Illingworth Unopposed N/A N/A
Liberal hold Swing N/A

References
  1. The Times ,1 March 1910 p12
  2. The Times House of Commons 1910; Politico’s Publishing 2004 p87
  3. The Times, 1 March 1910 p12
  4. The Times, 3 March 1910 p12
  5. The Times, 4 March 1910 p7
  6. The Times, 11 March 1910 p8

See also
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