1906 Bodmin by-election

UK parliamentary by-election November 2019 1906 Bodmin by-election presidential United Kingdom Bodmin (UK Parliament constituency)#Elections in the 1900s 1906 Bodmin (UK Parliament constituency)#Elections in the 1910s Jan. 1910 24 July 1906 Freeman-Thomas 85px Liberal Party (UK) 4,969 56.2% Sandys 85px Liberal Unionist Party (UK) 3,876 43.8% 250px MP Subsequent MP Thomas Agar-Robartes Liberal Party (UK) Freeman-Thomas Liberal Party (UK) The 1906 Bodmin by-election was a by-election held on 24 July 1906 for the British House of Commons constituency of Bodmin in Cornwall. Vacancy The by-election was triggered by the unseating of the town's Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) Thomas Agar-Robartes, as a result of an election petition alleging illegal payments to potential voters. The success of the petition was controversial, as the presiding Judge, Justice Grantham, himself a former Conservative MP, was already facing criticism for a decision on an election petition in the Great Yarmouth constituency which had been considered unduly favourable to the Conservatives. A censure motion was outstanding in Parliament at the time of the decision, but the Government decided not to proceed with it. Five years later, he was censured in Parliament by the then Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith, as a consequence of some comments to a jury in a case in Liverpool.J. B. Atlay, ‘Grantham, Sir William (1835–1911)’, rev. Robert Stevens, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 Candidates The Liberal candidate was Freeman Freeman-Thomas, who had lost his Hastings seat in the recent general election. The Liberal Unionist was George Sandys. Campaign The brother of the unseated member toured the constituency, urging voters to avenge the result of the petition by voting Liberal. The Unionists alleged that the Government was planning to make up to 20,000 soldiers unemployed, a claim rejected by the Secretary of War, Richard Haldane.The Times, 25 July 1906. Result The Liberal candidate won with a slightly reduced majority (down from 1,172 to 1,093) on a somewhat smaller turnout than at the general election.The Times, 26 July 1906 Bodmin by-election, 1906 Liberal Party (UK) Freeman Freeman-Thomas 4,969 56.2 -0.1 Liberal Unionist Party George Sandys 3,876 43.8 +0.1 1,093 12.4 -0.2 8,845 82.4 -3.6 Liberal Party (UK) -0.1 Aftermath Sandys went on to become Conservative MP for Wells from 1910 to 1918, and his son Duncan Sandys later became an MP and cabinet minister. See also Cornwall List of United Kingdom by-elections Bodmin constituency References The Times, July 1906 March 2012 Category:1906 in England Category:1906 elections in the United Kingdom Category:By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Cornish constituencies Category:Bodmin Category:1900s in Cornwall Category:July 1906 in the United Kingdom