The Glasgow Tradeston by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 6 July 1911. It 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 The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

, 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. The constituency was created in 1885 and elected Liberal Archibald Corbett as their MP from then until he retired from the House of Commons in 1911 to take a seat in the House of Lords as 1st Baron Rowallan. Although Tradeston had consistently voted for Corbett, he did not consistently stand under the same label. In 1885 he stood as a Liberal against a Conservative. In 1886 following a split in the Liberal party he stood as a Liberal Unionist against a Liberal. Thereafter this was the normal contest until 1910. He had re-joined the Liberal party in 1908 but he did not win the official Liberal nomination in January 1910. This time standing as an Independent Liberal he scraped a victory against both Liberal and Conservative candidates. Then at the last general election, standing as the official Liberal candidate he won comfortably. The local Liberal association finally settled on

J. D. White James Dundas White (10 July 1866 – 30 April 1951), known as J. D. White, was a Scottish Liberal Party politician. He was Member of Parliament (MP) from 1906 to 1918, with a short break in 1911. Background White was the nephew of Lord Overtoun. ...

to defend the seat. He had been Liberal MP for

Dunbartonshire Dunbartonshire ( gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann) or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders P ...

before standing down at the last election. They had considered

James Hogge James Myles Hogge (19 April 1873 – 27 October 1928) was a British social researcher and Liberal politician. Hogge was educated at the Edinburgh Normal School, Moray House School of Education, and the University of Edinburgh, where he was pr ...

and Junior Minister

Charles Masterman Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman PC (24 October 1873 – 17 November 1927) was a British radical Liberal Party politician, intellectual and man of letters. He worked closely with such Liberal leaders as David Lloyd George and Winston Church ...

, and settled on Masterman before he withdrew to contest the

1911 Bethnal Green South West by-election The Bethnal Green South West by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 29 July 1911. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting ...

.Liberal Nationalisms: Empire, State, and Civil Society in Scotland and Quebec By James Kennedy The new Unionist candidate was Conservative John Henry Watts, who had opposed James Keir Hardie at

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...

at the general election. The turnout was substantially down in the general election, meaning that while White won the seat for the Liberals with a massive swing of 17.6%, he received fewer votes than Corbett had. Due to the outbreak of war, the subsequent general election did not take place until 1918. The Unionist Henderson was the endorsed candidate of the Coalition Government and won comfortably. After losing Glasgow Tradeston, White briefly joined the Labour party and stood as a Labour candidate on two occasions.

Detailed election results

References

{{Westminster by-elections in Scotland 1900–1949 1911 elections in the United Kingdom 1911 in Scotland 1910s elections in Scotland

Tradeston Tradeston () is a small district in the Scottish city of Glasgow adjacent to the city centre on the south bank of the River Clyde. Geography Tradeston is bounded by the River Clyde to the north, the Glasgow to Paisley railway line to the so ...

1910s in Glasgow July 1911 events