The

Barkston Ash Barkston Ash is a small village and civil parish close to Selby in North Yorkshire, England. It was formerly known as Barkston in the West Riding of Yorkshire. History The village dates back to at least 1090, when it was spelled Barcestone. No ...

by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 13 October 1905. The constituency returned one

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

voting system.

Vacancy

The by-election was caused by the death, on 18 September 1905, of the sitting

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

MP Sir

Robert Gunter Sir Robert Gunter, 1st Baronet (2 November 1831 – 17 September 1905) was a British Army officer, property developer and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commo ...

. Gunter had been seriously ill with

neuritis Neuritis () is inflammation of a nerve or the general inflammation of the peripheral nervous system. Inflammation, and frequently concomitant demyelination, cause impaired transmission of neural signals and leads to aberrant nerve function. Neuri ...

and

phlebitis Phlebitis (or Venitis) is inflammation of a vein, usually in the legs. It most commonly occurs in superficial veins. Phlebitis often occurs in conjunction with thrombosis and is then called thrombophlebitis or superficial thrombophlebitis. Unlike ...

since June 1905 and had been unconscious for several days before his death.The Times, 19 September 1905 p4

Electoral history

Barkston Ash was a safe

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. The ...

seat. It had been represented by Gunter since it was created in 1885. Gunter had been unopposed at the 1900 general election and also in

1895 Events January–March * January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank, and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. * January 12 – The National Trust for Places of Histor ...

. The last contest had come in 1892, with Gunter winning easily;

Candidates

Conservatives

Because of ill health, Gunter had told his local party in 1903, that he would be standing down as MP. They had then selected 35 year old George Lane-Fox, an

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

and

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

educated barrister and a member of the West Riding County Council to be their candidate.

Liberals

The Liberals had already selected 32 year old

Joseph Andrews ''The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and of his Friend Mr. Abraham Adams'', was the first full-length novel by the English author Henry Fielding to be published and among the early novels in the English language. Appearing in 1742 ...

, a barrister from

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

to fight the next general election.The Times, 12 April 1905 p5 They adopted Andrews as their by-election candidate.

Other

There was speculation that an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate, Henry Liversidge, would also stand. Earlier in 1905 he announced an intention to contest the next election as a Lib-Lab candidate, but on the platform of

tariff reform The Tariff Reform League (TRL) was a protectionist British pressure group formed in 1903 to protest against what they considered to be unfair foreign imports and to advocate Imperial Preference to protect British industry from foreign competitio ...

. It was subsequently reported that no

Tariff Reform League The Tariff Reform League (TRL) was a protectionist British pressure group formed in 1903 to protest against what they considered to be unfair foreign imports and to advocate Imperial Preference to protect British industry from foreign competition ...

or other candidate would be standing specifically on that issue.

Campaign

The political tide seemed to be flowing against the Tory government of

Arthur Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (, ; 25 July 184819 March 1930), also known as Lord Balfour, was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As foreign secretary in the ...

. In 1903 they had lost five seats in by-elections, in 1904 another seven and six seats had been gained by the Liberals in by-elections so far in 1905.

Tariff Reform

Although no tariff candidate entered the field, the issue of protectionism was one of the great issues of the day. Whereas the question of

Irish Home Rule The Irish Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for 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 1870 to the e ...

had dominated political debate in earlier elections, the ‘dumping’ of foreign goods on British markets and the struggle between tariff reformers and

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econ ...

rs was now seen as a prime election battleground.The Times, 3 October 1905 p7 The Free Trade Union, founded in 1903 to safeguard the free import of food and raw materials and oppose the policy of protection as a barrier to good relations within the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

had acquired a reputation for intelligent and effective electioneering on behalf of Liberal candidates and had moved some key organisers into the Barkston Ash constituency to offer support to Andrews and to campaign and produce literature and posters for him. The Liberals played the Free Trade card for all it was worth.

Agricultural labour

There was a strong mining community in the south of the constituency which traditionally supported the Liberals and a substantial suburban house-holder vote spreading out from Leeds, which together with the farmers and landowners could usually be relied upon to vote Conservative. This meant the agricultural labourers held the key to the result.The Times, 4 October 1905 p11 Both candidates courted the votes of the rural worker, Andrews emphasising the value of Free Trade in keeping

food prices Food prices refer to the average price level for food across countries, regions and on a global scale. Food prices have an impact on producers and consumers of food. Price levels depend on the food production process, including food marketing ...

cheap whereas Lane-Fox appealed to the traditional conservatism of rural people.

Religion

Both candidates also, despite denials were keen to attract votes from the sizeable

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

minority in the area. The Liberals denounced the Education Act 1902 and hoped for Catholic voters to be sympathetic to Irish Home Rule in support of their co-religionists in Ireland although as the campaign wore on they became vulnerable to attack on the administration of the Education Act by the Liberal controlled West Riding County Council. The Tories looked to the well-established local Catholic community to remain true to their family traditions and support the Conservative establishment.

Foreign affairs

Government policy abroad gave the Liberals little to campaign on. There was a distinct strain of English patriotism in the Yorkshire character and the area had provided strong support over the fighting of 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 ...

. The only area left to exploit was the introduction of Chinese labour into

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

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface, ...

operations and the allegation that so-called

coolie A coolie (also spelled koelie, kuli, khuli, khulie, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a term for a low-wage labourer, typically of South Asian or East Asian descent. The word ''coolie'' was first popularized in the 16th century by European traders acros ...

s were being forced to work under conditions no better than those of slaves.

Result

The result of the by-election was announced the following day in front of the

Selby Selby is a market town and civil parish in the Selby District of North Yorkshire, England, south of York on the River Ouse, with a population at the 2011 census of 14,731. The town was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until ...

Museum.Monitor and New Era 20 October 1905 The Liberals gained Barkston Ash from the Conservatives by a majority of 228 votes. Irish Nationalist MP

T. P. O'Connor Thomas Power O'Connor (5 October 1848 – 18 November 1929), known as T. P. O'Connor and occasionally as Tay Pay (mimicking his own pronunciation of the initials ''T. P.''), was an Irish nationalist politician and journalist who served as a ...

called the election "a victory for Ireland" because "of the firmness with which (voters) refused to Abandon Ireland" and "have buried the infamous attempt to weaken Ireland by a Redistribution Bill." It was another indication of how the electorate across the country, even in such a traditional Tory constituency, had grown tired of the Conservative government which had been in office for ten years. It was this swing of the pendulum, rather than the specific policy issues or personalities of the candidates, which was responsible for the Liberal victory – although the question of tariff reform was clearly an influential element in the result and the campaigning efforts of the Free Trade Union played their part in stimulating the electorate and getting them to the polls in greater numbers than their opponents.The Times, 13 October 1905 p8

Aftermath

Despite the 1906 Liberal landslide Lane-Fox was returned to parliament three months later and the constituency remained in Tory hands thereafter. As the Commons were not sitting at the time of the by-election, Andrews was one of the few people in history to be elected to parliament but never to take their seat.