1912 Bow and Bromley by-election

UK parliamentary by-election April 2022 1912 Bow and Bromley by-election parliamentary United Kingdom Constituency of Bow and Bromley no December 1910 United Kingdom general election Dec. 1910 26 November 1912 Reginald Blair Con Conservative Party (UK) 4,042 55.1% 10.7% George Lansbury x160px Independent Labour 3,291 44.9% 10.7% MP Subsequent MP George Lansbury Labour Party (UK) Reginald Blair Conservative Party (UK) BowandBromley1885.png A map of parliamentary constituencies within the County of London at the time of the by-election, with Bow and Bromley highlighted in #ff0000 red. 1918 United Kingdom general election 1918 The 1912 Bow and Bromley by-election was a by-election held on 26 November 1912 for the British House of Commons constituency of Bow and Bromley. It was triggered when the Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP), George Lansbury, accepted the post of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds as a technical measure enabling him to leave Parliament. Background Bow and Bromley was a marginal constituency. It had been held by the Liberal Party from 1906 until 1910 and by the Conservative Party from 1895 until 1906 and during 1910. At the general election of December 1910, Lansbury had gained the seat for Labour with a majority of 11.1%. General election December 1910: Bow and Bromley Labour Party (UK) George Lansbury 4,315 55.6 +22.1 Liberal Unionist Party Leo Amery 3,452 44.4 +2.5 863 11.2 N/A 7,767 Labour Party (UK) Conservative Party (UK) +9.8 Lansbury had become a strong supporter of women's suffrage. Unusually among male politicians of the time, he supported the actions of militant suffragettes such as the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU).John Shepherd, A Life on the Left : George Lansbury (1859—1940) : a Case Study in Recent Labour Biography https://web.archive.org/web/20080706185222/http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/lab/87/shepherd.html 2008-07-06 While support for women's suffrage was official Labour policy, Lansbury felt that this support was lukewarm, and so in October 1912 he travelled to Boulogne-sur-Mer with Emmeline Pankhurst, where he met WSPU leader Christabel Pankhurst.George Dangerfield, The Strange Death of Liberal England Campaign Lansbury decided to resign his seat and contest the resulting by-election on a platform of "Votes for Women". He was unable to gain official Labour Party support, and instead ran as the "Women's Suffrage and Socialist" candidate.John Shepherd, George Lansbury: At the Heart of Old Labour He was supported by his Constituency Labour Party (CLP), including J. H. Banks and Edgar Lansbury, by some prominent Labour figures including Keir Hardie and Philip Snowden, by Liberal Party MP Josiah Wedgwood and by journalist H. N. Brailsford. Millicent Fawcett, leader of the WSPU's rival the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies also campaigned for Lansbury. The WSPU were very active in supporting Lansbury in the by-election, but some tensions arose between them and the CLP. The WSPU were adamant that their campaign would not be controlled by a male-led organisation, while the local activists regarded them as outsiders. This in particular created problems on polling day, when WSPU cars were not made available to carry people to vote. Sylvia Pankhurst's branch of the WSPU was on the same road as Lansbury's campaign headquarters. She supported his campaign, but was critical of him for standing prematurely, against counsel from the labour movement, and for prioritising women's suffrage above all other issues.Mary Davis, Sylvia Pankhurst: A Life in Radical Politics Lansbury's manifesto did include other measures, including opposition to the National Insurance Bill and an explanation of his differences with the Labour leadership. The campaign was widely covered by the official Labour newspaper the Daily Citizen and strongly supported by Lansbury's own recently launched paper the Daily Herald. The Liberal Party's leadership opposed the militant activities of the WSPU by imprisoning its members. When some suffragettes went on hunger strike, it authorised force feeding. Lansbury strongly disagreed with this, and in Parliament in the summer of 1912, he told H. H. Asquith, the Liberal Prime Minister "You will go down in history as the man who tortured innocent women. You ought to be driven from public life."Roger Fulford, Votes for Women (p. 274) Despite this, the Liberals did not stand a candidate in the by-election. The Labour Party also declined to stand an official candidate, so Lansbury's only opponent was Reginald Blair of the Conservative Party. Blair was supported by the Primrose League and the National League for Opposing Woman Suffrage and campaigned under slogans including "Women Do Not Want Votes". Result Blair took the seat from Lansbury with a majority of over 700 votes. Bow and Bromley by-election, 1912The New Hazell Annual and Almanack (1917) Conservative Party (UK) Reginald Blair 4,042 55.1 +10.7 Independent Labour George Lansbury 3,291 44.9 –10.7 751 10.2 N/A 7,333 Conservative Party (UK) Labour Party (UK) +10.7 Lansbury believed that his resignation had permanently alienated some of his constituents, and subsequently declared "Never Resign!" Aftermath The Bow & Bromley Independent Labour Party disintegrated.Socialists, Liberals and Labour. The Struggle for London, 1885–1914 by Paul Thomson. (London, 1967), pp. 229–30). Reginald Blair entered parliament to speak and vote on a number of issues, including voting against granting the vote to women in 1917. He held the seat until 1922, when Lansbury retook it. Lansbury meanwhile promoted socialism in the Daily Herald and led the Poplar Rates Rebellion of 1921. The WSPU moved away from Lansbury and became increasingly anti-socialist, while this was a decisive point in Sylvia Pankhurst's split from her family towards communism. The following year, her section of the WSPU became the East London Federation of Suffragettes. References External links Newsreel footage of the election (British Film Institute) See also 1940 Bow and Bromley by-election UK by-election records Bow and Bromley,1912 Bow and Bromley by-election Bow and Bromley by-election Bow and Bromley by-election Bow and Bromley,1912