The 1899 Edinburgh South by-election was a parliamentary

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

held for the House of Commons constituency of Edinburgh South in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

on 19 June 1899.

Vacancy

The by-election was caused by the death of the sitting Liberal Unionist MP, Robert Cox on 2 June 1899. Cox had held the seat since the 1895 general election when he had narrowly defeated the sitting

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Herbert Paul Herbert Woodfield Paul (1853–1935) was an English writer and Liberal MP. Life He was the eldest son of George Woodfield Paul, Vicar of Finedon, and Jessie Philippa Mackworth.''Who Was Who, 1929-40'' He was educated at Eton College and Corpus ...

Candidates

Unionists

The Unionist Association of South Edinburgh held an executive meeting on 7 June to consider their choice of candidate. They provisionally decided to recommend the adoption of Major General Andrew Wauchope but they agreed not to take any formal steps in the selection until after the funeral of Mr Cox. At the time of the by-election Wauchope was aged 52 and had been an officer in the Black Watch since 1865, having been promoted to

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

in November 1898 . Politically a staunch

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

, he had previously contested the Midlothian or Edinburghshire constituency at the 1892 general election coming within 690 votes of unseating Mr Gladstone.

Liberals

The Liberals chose 39-year-old Arthur Dewar, a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

and member of the

Scotch whisky Scotch whisky (; sco, Scots whisky/whiskie, whusk(e)y; often simply called whisky or Scotch) is malt whisky or grain whisky (or a blend of the two), made in Scotland. All Scotch whisky was originally made from malted barley. Commercial distil ...

family

John Dewar & Sons Dewar's () is a brand of blended Scotch whisky owned by Bacardi, which claims the brand's "White Label" to be the top-selling blended Scotch in the US. Dewar's is also the world's most awarded blended Scotch whisky with more than 1,000 medals ea ...

The Campaign

It was clearly the intention of the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

to get this by-election over and done with quickly as the writ for the election was issued in Parliament on 9 June, just one week after Cox's death and election day was set for 19 June, giving the candidates less than two weeks campaigning time. Dewar had opened the new premises of the South Morningside Liberal Club on 10 June and had taken the opportunity to make a short address. He appears to have accused Wauchope of being a Tory, presumably a reference to the fact that the Unionist mantle had passed from the Liberal Unionists to the Conservatives in Edinburgh South, perhaps judging that this would drive some former Liberal Unionist voters back to the Liberal fold, perhaps also appealing for working-class votes in recalling Wauchope's stance in 1892 when he refused to support the Eight Hours Bill proposing the restriction of the working day for miners. Wauchope spoke on the same day, in the evening, at the Edinburgh Literary Institute. He responded by saying there was no disgrace in being a Tory. On social issues, he added that much had been done for the working man by the Tories and if returned as MP he would work as hard for the working man as anyone calling himself a Liberal. Dewar renewed this attack on the state of the Unionist coalition later in the campaign, again alluding publicly to Wauchope's devout Toryism, and arguing that Liberal Unionism was now dead in the constituency. Nonetheless, Wauchope did receive a letter of recommendation from Joseph Chamberlain, the leading Liberal Unionist and at that time Colonial Secretary urging all Liberal Unionists in the constituency to vote for him. Dewar, it was reported, devoted most of his limited campaigning time to meeting workmen. Apart from social questions he also spoke in favour of the taxation of ground values and for the idea of

Home Rule Home rule is government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governance wit ...

All Round, moves towards

devolution Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories h ...

or elements of

self-governance __NOTOC__ Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...

to all parts of the United Kingdom, although he was known to support Gladstone on his policy on all out

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 ...

. Dewar also spoke in favour of the disestablishment of the Anglican Church. Wauchope was now focusing on foreign policy and the efforts of the government to promote peace. He also received the support of various

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

church groups who were concerned about the religious implications of Home Rule in Ireland and aspects of Britain's relationship with the Vatican.

The result

Dewar gained the seat for the Liberals with a majority of 831 votes. A separate by-election in the neighbouring seat of Edinburgh East which took place a few days later also resulted in a lower share of the vote for the Liberal Unionists. Despite this apparent trend however Dewar lost the seat to a Liberal Unionist rival, albeit narrowly, at the general election of 1900 when there was also a modest revival in the Liberal Unionist vote in Edinburgh East. He then won it back in

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

, holding it in January 1910 before resigning from Parliament later that year upon appointment as a judge. The result of the by-election was not therefore a reliable pointer to the outcome of the next general election, as no doubt Edinburgh Liberals hoped – although the political situation would be transformed by the time of the 1900

Khaki election In Westminster systems of government, a khaki election is any national election which is heavily influenced by wartime or postwar sentiment. In the British general election of 1900, the Conservative Party government of Lord Salisbury was returne ...

as a result of the country's involvement in the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

and the depiction of many Liberal candidates as pro-Boer and unpatriotic. As to Major-general Wauchope, he did not get the chance to stand for Parliament again as he was killed in action on 11 December 1899 during an engagement at

Magersfontein The MagersfonteinMisspelt "Maaghersfontein" in some British texts ( ) battlefield is a site of the Battle of Magersfontein (11 December 1899), part of the Second Boer War in South Africa. The battlefield is located at south of Kimberley, South Af ...

in the Boer War and was buried at

Modder River The Modder River is a river in South Africa. It is a tributary of the Riet River that forms part of the border between the Northern Cape and the Free State provinces. The river's banks were the scenes of heavy fighting in the beginning of the S ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

.The Times, 16 December 1899 p7

The votes

References

{{Westminster by-elections in Scotland 1868–1899 South, 1899 1899 in Scotland 1890s elections in Scotland 1899 elections in the United Kingdom 1890s in Edinburgh