1913 Reading by-election

UK parliamentary by-election October 2013 December 2023 June 2025 The 1913 Reading by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 8 November 1913.Craig F.W.S. 1987 Chronology of British Parliamentary By-elections 1833–1987 Chichester Parliamentary Research Services 108 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 Sir Rufus Isaacs was appointed Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales created Baron Reading and given a seat in the House of Lords. He had been Liberal MP for Reading since 1903. Electoral history Isaacs had won the last four parliamentary elections in Reading, but at the last General Election he only just managed to hold off the Conservative challenge; thumb|120px|Sir Rufus Isaacs General election December 1910 Electorate 11,016 Liberal Party (UK) Rufus Isaacs 5,094 50.5 -0.5 Conservative Party (UK) Leslie Orme Wilson 4,995 49.5 +0.5 99 1.0 -1.0 10,089 91.6 -2.1 Liberal Party (UK) -0.5 This made Reading one of the most marginal seats in the country. Candidates The local Liberal Association were unable to find a local candidate, and after some difficulties, settled on the wealthy and radical outsider George Peabody Gooch to defend the seat. He was elected at the 1906 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bath, but lost the seat at the January 1910 general election.Craig F. W. S. F. W. S. Craig British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 1974 2nd 1989 Parliamentary Research Services Chichester 0-900178-27-2 66 He stood again in Bath at the December 1910 general election, but did not regain the seat, Gooch's candidacy provoked the threat of an anti-vaccinationist candidate from within the local party.Daily Chronicle, 23 October 1913 The local Unionists re-selected Leslie Orme Wilson. In January 1910, at the General Election, he unsuccessfully stood as the Conservative candidate for Poplar. In December 1910, he was Unionist candidate for Reading, but was defeated by the sitting Liberal candidate, Sir Isaac Rufus, the Attorney-General.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58162472 ELECTION NOTES. The Register Adelaide 10 December 1910 5 March 2011 13 National Library of Australiahttp://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10084929 PERSONAL. The Mercury Hobart, Tas. 10 December 1910 5 March 2011 5 National Library of Australia A third candidate entered the contest in the figure of J. G. Butler, who was a member of the British Socialist Party. Butler was from London and in March 1913 he had contested the 1913 London County Council election at Stepney, where he had polled poorly. He secured the backing of the Reading Trades Council and the Reading branch of the Independent Labour Party.Justice, 25 October 1913 Background If the Unionists were to hope to win a majority at the next General Election expected to take place in 1914/15, they would need to win Reading as it was statistically No17 on their target list. The intervention of a Socialist candidate at the by-election, thus gave them a good opportunity to gain the seat and establish their candidate as the incumbent. Campaign In the last week of the campaign, following on from an announcement made by Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, of a new rural land policy, the Liberal campaign circulated a leaflet proclaiming Vote for Gooch and the new Liberal land policy – the wage raising policy for Reading. It argued that higher agricultural wages would lead to higher wages in towns. It also argued that a revival in the rural economy would stop labourers migrating to towns and causing unemployment and that a more prosperous countryside would buy more of Reading's products.The Times, 4–7 November 1913 Result Reading by-election, 8th November 1913 Electorate 11,088 Unionist Party (UK) Leslie Orme Wilson 5,144 50.3 +0.8 Liberal Party (UK) George Peabody Gooch 4,013 39.3 -11.2 British Socialist Party Joseph George Butler 1,063 10.4 New 1,131 11.0 N/A 10,220 92.2 +0.6 Unionist Party (UK) Liberal Party (UK) +6.0 Although the Unionists gained the seat, the fact that the Unionist share of the vote only increased by 0.8% indicated that they would struggle to hold the seat at a General Election when no Socialist would be standing. Aftermath A General Election was due to take place by the end of 1915. By the summer of 1914, the following candidates had been adopted to contest that election. Due to the outbreak of war, the election never took place. General Election 1914/15: Reading Electorate 11,016 Unionist Party (UK) Leslie Orme Wilson Liberal Party (UK) Henry Norman SpaldingWho's Who General election 14 December 1918: Reading Electorate Unionist Party (UK) Leslie Orme Wilson 15,204 53.9 +4.4 Labour Party (UK) Thomas Charles Morris 8,410 29.8 New Liberal Party (UK) Frederick Thoresby 3,143 11.1 -39.4 NSP Lorenzo Quelch 1,462 5.2 New 6,794 24.1 N/A 28,219 62.2 -29.4 Unionist Party (UK) Liberal Party (UK) +21.9 Wilson was the endorsed candidate of the Coalition Government. References Craig, F. W. S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (1 ed.). London: Macmillan. Who's Who: www.ukwhoswho.com Debrett's House of Commons 1916 Category:1913 elections in the United Kingdom Category:1913 in England Category:November 1913 in the United Kingdom Category:1910s in Berkshire Category:By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Berkshire constituencies Category:Politics of Reading, Berkshire