The 1889 Dundee by-election was a parliamentary by-election held in September 1889 to elect one of the members for the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger State (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, following the death of Joseph Firth.

Background

In February 1888 the voters of Dundee had gone to the polls to elect a replacement for Charles Carmichael Lacaita, one of the two members elected for Dundee in the 1886 general election, who had resigned from Parliament due to his disapproval of Gladstone's Home Rule policy. The winner of this contest was the Liberal

Joseph Bottomley Firth Joseph Firth Bottomley Firth (1842 - 3 September 1889) was an English barrister and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1880 and 1889. Early life Firth was born as Bottomley in Dobroyd, Yorkshire, the son of ...

. However Firth died in September 1889.

Election

Shortly after Firth's death speculation started has to who would contest the vacant seat, with the '' Glasgow Herald'' reporting ex-Bailie Robertson was expected to be offered the Liberal nomination, with Mr Dalglish and Mr W. L. Boase thought to be possible Unionist candidates. John Burns was also speculated upon as a possible Socialist candidate. Four local Liberals, including John Leng, reportedly declined nomination as a candidate, but Leng eventually agreed to stand. John Leng had come to Dundee in 1851 to edit and manage ''The Dundee Advertiser'', which he turned into a daily newspaper. He also founded ''

The People's Journal ''The People's Journal'', first published in 1858, was a Dundee-based Scottish periodical, originally produced by John Leng & Co., a local publishing company that for a time enjoyed the Scottish artist, political cartoonist, postcard illustrat ...

'', ''

The Evening Telegraph ''Evening Telegraph'' is a common newspaper name, and may refer to: * ''Evening Telegraph'' (Dundee), Scotland * ''Evening Telegraph'' (Dublin), Ireland, published 1871–1924. * ''Coventry Evening Telegraph'', England, now the ''Coventry Telegr ...

'' and ''

The People's Friend ''The People's Friend'' is a British weekly magazine founded by John Leng on 13 January 1869 as an offshoot of ''The People's Journal'' and currently published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. Its tagline is "The famous story magazine". It was ori ...

''. ''The Glasgow Herald'' considered Leng to be a 'strong candidate', but thought that the Dundee Unionists had a chance of defeating him if they selected 'candidate of great local weight'. Ultimately there was no contest and Leng was returned without opposition, the first time the Dundee seat had not been contested since Sir John Ogilvy was returned unopposed at the 1865 general election, when Dundee was still a one-member seat. Leng was a supporter of

Irish Home Rule The Irish Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for Devolution, self-government (or "home rule") for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1 ...

and also supported Home Rule for Scotland, chairing a meeting of the

Scottish Home Rule Association Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

on the evening of his election. '' The Glasgow Herald'' described him as a strong supporter of Gladstone and considered Dundee 'fortunate' to have him as an MP.

Result

References

1889 elections in the United Kingdom By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Dundee constituencies 1880s in Dundee 1889 in Scotland 1880s elections in Scotland September 1889 events Unopposed by-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Scottish constituencies {{UK-election-stub