1904 Gateshead by-election

UK parliamentary by-election November 2019 1904 Gateshead by-election presidential United Kingdom Gateshead (UK Parliament constituency)#Elections in the 1900s 1900 Gateshead (UK Parliament constituency)#Elections in the 1900s 1906 20 January 1904 Johnson 85px Liberal Party (UK) 8,220 54.0% Morpeth 85px Unionist Party (UK) 7,015 46.0% 250px MP Subsequent MP Sir William Allan Liberal Party (UK) John Johnson Liberal Party (UK) The 1904 Gateshead by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 20 January 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 Sir William Allan had been Liberal MP for the seat of Gateshead since the 1893 Gateshead by-election. He died on the 28 December 1903 at the age of 66.'ALLAN, Sir William', Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014; online edn, April 2014 accessed 5 Jan 2017 Electoral history Gateshead had returned Liberal candidates at every election since the seat was created in 1832. Since 1886 their only challengers had been Liberal Unionists. Allan's third and final election win in 1900 was his widest; thumb|120px|Allan General election January 1900: GatesheadBritish parliamentary election results 1885-1918 by Craig Liberal Party (UK) William Allan 6,657 53.8 +1.8 Liberal Unionist Party John Sherburn 5,711 46.2 -1.8 946 7.6 +3.6 12,368 74.3 -7.7 Liberal Party (UK) +1.8 Candidates thumb|120px|Johnson The local Liberal Association selected 54 year-old John Johnson as their candidate to hold the seat. He was Financial Secretary of the Durham Miners' Association and a member of the Independent Labour Party. Educated at a local village school, he had worked as a miner for 30 years. He had also been elected to Durham County Council.'JOHNSON, John', Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014; online edn, April 2014 accessed 5 Jan 2017The Liberal Year Book, 1906 His candidacy was a recognition that a predominantly mining constituency should have a miners candidate. thumb|120px|Morpeth The local Liberal Unionist Association selected 37 year-old Charles Howard as their candidate. He was the eldest son of the Earl of Carlisle. He was educated at Rugby and Balliol College, Oxford. He joined the British Army, achieved the rank of Captain in the 3rd Border Regiment and served in the Second Boer War. He had contested Chester-le-Street in 1895 and Hexham in 1900.'CARLISLE', Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014; online edn, April 2014 accessed 5 Jan 2017 Campaign Polling Day was fixed for 20 January 1904, just 23 days after the death of Allan. The campaign was therefore very short. Result Despite the fact that this was a January by-election, the voter turn out was well up on the previous election. The Liberals held the seat, slightly increasing their vote share: Gateshead by-election, 1904 Liberal-Labour (UK) John Johnson 8,220 54.0 +0.2 Liberal Unionist Party Charles Howard 7,015 46.0 -0.2 1,205 8.0 +0.4 15,235 84.9 +10.6 Liberal-Labour (UK) +0.2 Aftermath In 1904 Morpeth was elected to the House of Commons for Birmingham South, a seat he held until 1911, when he succeeded his father in the earldom and entered the House of Lords. Johnson was re-elected at the 1906 general election: General election January 1906: Gateshead Liberal-Labour (UK) John Johnson 9,651 65.3 +11.3 Liberal Unionist Party Theodore Angier 5,126 34.7 -11.3 4,525 30.6 +22.6 14,777 79.4 -5.5 Liberal-Labour (UK) +11.3 Johnson's majority had increased in line with the swing to the Liberals across the country. He continued to take the Liberal whip in the Commons until 1909 when he switched to the Labour Party group. References Category:1904 in England Category:1904 elections in the United Kingdom Category:20th century in County Durham Gateshead 1904 Gateshead 1904 Category:January 1904 in the United Kingdom Category:Politics of Gateshead