The

Banffshire Banffshire ; sco, Coontie o Banffshire; gd, Siorrachd Bhanbh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. The county town is Banff, although the largest settlement is Buckie to the west. It borders the Moray ...

by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 16 February 1907. 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 of ...

(MP) to the

House of Commons of the United Kingdom 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 me ...

, 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 their ...

voting system.

Vacancy

The

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 ...

was held due to the death of the incumbent

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 ...

MP,

Alexander William Black Alexander William Black (28 February 1859 – 29 December 1906) was a Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician in Scotland. A lawyer and a Writer to the Signet, he was elected at the 1900 United Kingdom general election, 1900 general elect ...

on 29 December 1906. He died from injuries received in the Elliot Junction rail accident, forcing a by-election early in 1907.

Electoral history

Black had been Liberal MP for the seat of Banffshire since the 1900 General Election. The seat had been Liberal since they gained it in 1837. They had easily held the seat at the last election, with an increased majority;

Candidates

The local Liberal Association selected 31-year-old

Walter Waring Walter Waring may refer to: * Walter Waring (1667–1724), Member of Parliament (MP) for Bishop's Castle (UK Parliament constituency), Bishop's Castle 1689–1690 and 1690–1695 * Walter Waring (1726–1780), MP for Bishop's Castle (UK Parliament ...

to defend the seat. Waring was the son of

Charles Waring Charles Waring (1827 – 26 August 1887) was a Liberal Party and Liberal Unionist Party politician. Waring was elected Liberal MP for Poole in 1865 but, when the seat was reduced to one member in 1868, he failed to retain the seat. He stood aga ...

, former Liberal Member of Parliament for

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...

. He was unsuccessful

candidate in

Wigtonshire Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown (, ) is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Wigtownshire was an administrative county used for local government. Since 1975 the area has f ...

in the 1906 general election. The Conservatives chose 39-year-old

William Whitelaw William Stephen Ian Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw, (28 June 1918 – 1 July 1999) was a British Conservative Party politician who served in a wide number of Cabinet positions, most notably as Home Secretary from 1979 to 1983 and as ''de fac ...

as their candidate. Whitelaw was elected at the 1892 general election as the

(MP) for

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, but lost his seat at the 1895 general election and was defeated when he stood again in

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...

. He was a director of the

Highland Railway The Highland Railway (HR) was one of the smaller United Kingdom, British railways before the Railways Act 1921, operating north of Perth railway station, Scotland, Perth railway station in Scotland and serving the farthest north of Britain. Base ...

(HR) since 1898, and

Chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the HR since 1902.

Campaign

Polling Day was fixed for 16 February 1907.

Result

The Liberals held the seat with a slightly reduced majority; The Liberal vote share of 67.3%, though less than in 1906, was higher than any other Liberal vote share since before 1885.

Aftermath

Waring was re-elected at the following general election against a new Conservative opponent; Whitelaw did not stand for parliament again.

References

{{Westminster by-elections in Scotland 1900–1949 Banffshire by-election 1900s elections in Scotland Banffshire by-election Banffshire by-election By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Scottish constituencies