The

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is als ...

by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 25 September 1908. The constituency returned two Members of Parliament (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 voting system.

Vacancy

Thomas Cairns had been Liberal MP for the seat of

since the 1906 general election. He died on 3 September 1908.

Electoral history

The seat had been Liberal since they gained it in 1906;

Candidates

The local Liberal Association selected 46-year-old Edward Shortt to defend the seat. The son of a Newcastle upon Tyne Church of England vicar, he was called to the

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

at the Middle Temple in 1890 and practised on the North Eastern Circuit. He had served as Recorder (part-time judge) of

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

since 1907.Who's Who The Conservatives retained 58-year-old George Renwick as their candidate. Renwick was elected to Parliament in 1900 as Conservative member for

, serving from 1900 until his defeat in 1906. Renwick was born in Newcastle upon Tyne. He joined shipowners Pyman, Bell & Co as a clerk and then co-founded his own business, Fisher, Renwick & Co. He had particularly large interests in drydocks, including the world's first ever floating repair docks, the Tyne Pontoons at Wallsend, which he sold to

Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Swan Hunter, formerly known as Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, is a shipbuilding design, engineering, and management company, based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England. At its apex, the company represented the combined forces of three powe ...

Ltd in 1903. Una Dugdale Duval speaking in Newcastle election in 1908

The Newcastle Independent Labour Party selected J. J. Stephenson as a candidate. This was in conflict with the electoral alliance that had existed between the Liberal and Labour parties. However, the Labour Party National Executive persuaded the Labour candidate to withdraw. The

Social Democratic Federation The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury, James Con ...

, with the support of some local Independent Labour Party branches, then nominated their own candidate, 53-year-old Bradford man, Edward Hartley.A Liberal Chronicle: Journals and Papers of J.A. Pease Hartley had fought

Bradford East Bradford East is a United Kingdom constituencies, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament since 2015 United Kingdom general election, 2015 b ...

at the last general election, finishing third. Before that he had fought

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Hudder ...

at the 1895 general election and then the

1902 Dewsbury by-election The 1902 Dewsbury by-election was a by-election held in England on 28 January 1902 for the House of Commons constituency of Dewsbury in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Vacancy The by-election was caused by the resignation of the sitting Liberal Mem ...

Campaign

Polling day was fixed for the 25 September 1908, just 22 days after the death of the previous MP. The constituency included at least 2,000 Irish voters, mainly Roman Catholics, who could normally be relied upon to vote Liberal. However, the Liberals banned the carrying of the Host in the Eucharistic Congress Procession in London earlier in the month, which was expected to cost them votes in Newcastle. The SDF candidate antagonised the ILP and the local suffragists by refusing to pledge himself to oppose any future franchise reform restricted to manhood suffrage.

Result

The Conservatives gained the seat;

Aftermath

Shortt re-gained the seat from Renwick at the following general election. Hartley returned to Bradford where he was again defeated at Bradford East;

References

{{By-elections to the 28th UK Parliament Newcastle-upon-Tyne by-election Newcastle-upon-Tyne by-election Newcastle-upon-Tyne by-election 20th century in Newcastle upon Tyne Elections in Newcastle upon Tyne By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Northumberland constituencies