1904 Oswestry by-election

British election 1904 Oswestry by-election 4,157 9.0% 9.0% 86.3% (6.8%) Constituency of Oswestry Liberal Party (UK) Allan Heywood Bright Conservative Party (UK) George Ormsby-Gore Subsequent MP MP 47.8% Conservative Party (UK) parliamentary x160px William Bridgeman 52.2% 4,542 Liberal Party (UK) Lib Allan Heywood Bright 26 July 1904 1906 1906 United Kingdom general election 1901 1901 Oswestry by-election United Kingdom 10,075October 2013 May 2024 The 1904 Oswestry by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 26 July 1904.Craig F.W.S. 1987 Chronology of British Parliamentary By-elections 1833–1987 Chichester Parliamentary Research Services 98 The constituency returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system. Vacancy George Ormsby-Gore had been Conservative MP for the seat of Oswestry since the 1901 Oswestry by-election. On 26 June 1904 he succeeded his father as third Baron Harlech and entered the House of Lords. Electoral history The seat had been Conservative since it was created in 1885. They easily held the seat at the last election, with an increased majority: Oswestry by-election, 1901British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 by Craig Conservative Party (UK) George Ormsby-Gore 4,518 56.8 N/A Liberal Party (UK) Allan Heywood Bright 3,430 43.2 New 1,088 13.6 N/A 7,948 79.5 N/A Conservative Party (UK) N/A Candidates The local Conservative Association selected 39-year-old William Bridgeman as their candidate to defend the seat. He was a prominent Municipal Reform Party member of the London County Council and had no link with the town's area, although his country home, Leigh Manor, Worthen, was then in the same constituency. He was assistant private secretary to Henry Holland, the Colonial Secretary (1889–1892), and then to Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1895 to 1897. In 1897 he became a member of the London School Board, and in 1904 he was elected to the London County Council.Who Was Who, 1929-1940 1947 A and C Black, London 160 The local Liberal Association selected 42-year-old Allan Heywood Bright as their candidate to gain the seat. He had been the Liberal candidate at the previous by-election in 1901. Previously he had contested Exeter in 1899 and 1900.Election Intelligence: Exeter The Times 7 November 1899 10 He had a residence at Weston Rhyn near Oswestry.Election Intelligence The Times 13 May 1901 7 The Times noted that he had "nursed the constituency assiduously of late".June 2022 Campaign Polling Day was fixed for 26 July 1904, 30 days after the previous MP went to the House of Lords. During the campaign, where tariff reform and free trade were topical issues, Winston Churchill, then M.P. for Oldham made eve-of-poll speeches at public meetings organised by the Free Trade Union in Ellesmere and Oswestry in support of Bright. He had crossed the floor of the Commons from the Conservative benches to the Liberals on 31 May, so was reportedly heckled with "turn-coat" taunts.The night 'turncoat' Churchill helped create election shock Shropshire Star 15 November 2021 2Article by Toby Neal, retrospective feature on the 1904 by-election. Result The count was conducted the following morning and the result declared at lunch-time. Crowds filled the Bailey Head in Oswestry – so much so that it was thought advisable to announce the result in private to prevent trouble.Historic Oswestry: episodes from the past of a Welsh border town The Liberals gained the seat from the Conservatives: 1904 Oswestry by-election Liberal Party (UK) Allan Heywood Bright 4,542 52.2 +9.0 Conservative Party (UK) William Bridgeman 4,157 47.8 -9.0 385 4.4 N/A 8,699 86.3 +6.8 Liberal Party (UK) Conservative Party (UK) +8.7 The result was "a great surprise for both Conservatives and Liberals alike". Bright believed that the electorate had rejected the government, and that "the whole of Shropshire politics had been simply a policy of Tory bluff and the people seemed to have got tired of it".Election Intelligence. Shropshire (Oswestry Division) The Times 28 July 1904 9 Neal Toby Ten by-election shocks which made their mark on history https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/politics/2021/12/13/by-election-shocks-which-made-their-mark-on-history/ live 2021-12-15 Shropshire Star en https://web.archive.org/web/20211213065023/https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/politics/2021/12/13/by-election-shocks-which-made-their-mark-on-history/ 13 December 2021 Aftermath The same two candidates met again at the following general election, the result was: General election January 1906 Conservative Party (UK) William Bridgeman 5,011 52.6 +4.8 Liberal Party (UK) Allan Heywood Bright 4,508 47.4 -4.8 503 5.2 N/A 9,519 90.7 +4.4 Conservative Party (UK) Liberal Party (UK) +4.8 See also 2021 North Shropshire by-election References Category:1904 elections in the United Kingdom Category:1904 in England Category:20th century in Shropshire Category:By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Shropshire constituencies Category:Oswestry