1880 Berwick-upon-Tweed by-election

UK parliamentary by-election July 2018 November 2019 In July 1880, a by-election was held in Berwick-upon-Tweed. The election was triggered by a vacancy caused by Henry Strutt, the Liberal MP, succeeding to the peerage. Strutt had won the seat at the 1880 general election but became Baron Belper upon his father's death in June. Conservative candidate David Milne Home beat Liberal candidate and Lord Advocate John McLaren by a very small margin to regain the seat he had lost at the general election. Background Strutt was invited to contest Berwick-upon-Tweed by the Liberal Committee a year before the March 1880 general election.Wickham Michael John 2002 Electoral politics in Berwick-upon-Tweed, 1832-1885 https://etheses.dur.ac.uk/4098/1/4098_1617.pdf M.Phil. Durham University 21 November 2025 Durham E-Theses Online41 Both Strutt and the other Liberal candidate, Dudley Marjoribanks, were elected to the two available seats as part of an unexpected national swing towards the Liberals.299T. A. Jenkins Gladstone, the Whigs and the Leadership of the Liberal Party, 1879-1880 The Historical Journal 1984 27 2 337-360 10.1017/S0018246X00017829 On 30 June 1880, Strutt's father died and Strutt inherited his title,305The Liverpool Parliamentary Vacancy: Probable Date of the Election https://www.newspapers.com/article/liverpool-daily-post-the-liverpool-parli/185416303/ 21 November 2025 Liverpool Daily Post 22 July 1880 5 Newspapers.com and thus his seat in the House of Lords, disqualifying him from his Commons seat. The writ for a by-election was issued on 6 July and the election was held on 19 July. The Conservative candidate David Milne Home had previously been an MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed from 1874 to April 1880.302 The Liberal candidate was John McLaren, the Lord Advocate. McLaren had lost his seat upon seeking re-election after his appointment in April 1880, being defeated by Conservative Mark MacTaggart-Stewart.McLaren, John George William Thomson Omond George William Thomson Omond 2 On the formation of the Gladstone government (April 1880) he was appointed lord advocate, by way of recognition of his services to the party, but was defeated on seeking re-election by Mark John Stewart (afterwards Sir M. J. Mactaggart Stewart). The like ill-fortune pursued him when he stood for Berwick-on-Tweed in July 1880. The Glasgow Herald noted that "[t]here were very fair prospects for the Liberal cause at Berwick" seeing as the two Conservative candidates had come last at the recent general election. However, Home won the contest by two votes, which The Herald attributed to Liberal voters not turning out and better organisation by the Conservatives. Berwick-upon-Tweed by-election, 1880Tuesday Morning, July 20. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-herald-glasgow-ed-tuesday-morning/185417117/ 21 November 2025 The Glasgow Herald 20 July 1880 4 Newspapers.com Conservative Party (UK) Captain David Milne Home 584 50.10 +6.4 Liberal Party (UK) Rt. Hon. John McLaren 582 49.90 -6.4 2 1.20 N/A 1,166 80.8 +0.8 (est) 1,443November 2025 Conservative Party (UK) Liberal Party (UK) +6.4 References Category:History of Berwick-upon-Tweed Category:By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Northumberland constituencies Category:1880 elections in the United Kingdom Category:1880 in England Category:19th century in Northumberland Category:July 1880 in the United Kingdom