The Bethnal Green South West by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 19 February 1914. 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

In 1914

Charles Masterman Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman Privy Council of the United Kingdom, PC (24 October 1873 – 17 November 1927) was a British radical Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician, intellectual and man of letters. He worked closely with such ...

the Liberal MP for Bethnal Green South West was appointed to the Cabinet as

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a ministerial office in the Government of the United Kingdom. The position is the second highest ranking minister in the Cabinet Office, immediately after the Prime Minister, and senior to the Minist ...

. However under the law at the time, any MP nominated as minister was legally required to recontest their seat in a by-election.

Electoral history

Candidates

* Charles Masterman had represented this seat since the previous by-election when he had held the seat in a three-cornered contest. Forty-one-year-old Masterman was undertaking his sixth election as a Liberal candidate and his fourth election in as many years. * Sir Mathew Wilson was chosen to be the new Unionist challenger. Thirty-nine-year-old Sir Mathew Wilson had not stood for parliament before. He was a soldier who fought 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 ...

. * Thirty-eight-year-old Australian-born Socialist John Scurr again stood. He had made a habit of contesting by-elections in the hope that he could attract sufficient Liberal votes to let the Unionist win. Since the 1911 by-election he had stood at the

1913 Chesterfield by-election The 1913 Chesterfield by-election was a by-election held for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, British House of Commons United Kingdom constituencies, constituency of Chesterfield (UK Parliament constituency), Chesterfield in Derbyshire o ...

where he finished a poor third. He was the nomination of the Bethnal Green Trades and Labour Council. * The

British Socialist Party The British Socialist Party (BSP) was a Marxist political organisation established in Great Britain in 1911. Following a protracted period of factional struggle, in 1916 the party's anti-war forces gained decisive control of the party and saw t ...

also considered running a candidate.Western Times, Devon, 16 Feb 1914

Campaign

The by-election posed a very real threat to Masterman's political future, with party controversy increased by the government's efforts at the time to introduce

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 ...

into Ireland, and by the resulting possibility of civil war breaking out there.Charles Masterman (1873-1927), politician and journalist by Eric Hopkins 1999 The militant

Women's Social and Political Union The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and ...

and the John Bull League campaigned locally against Masterman. The John Bull League was a front organisation for

Horatio Bottomley Horatio William Bottomley (23 March 1860 – 26 May 1933) was an English financier, journalist, editor, newspaper proprietor, swindler, and Member of Parliament. He is best known for his editorship of the popular magazine ''John Bull (maga ...

the right-wing owner of the John Bull magazine. Attempts were made to blacken Masterman's character by the Northcliffe press, and by Bottomley in his organ John Bull. The militant suffragettes opposed Masterman despite the fact that he was a supporter of women's suffrage, and had voted in support of the 1908 Women's Enfranchisement Bill.

Result

At the request of the candidates, this was the first occasion which the hours of poll were extended for a Parliamentary election by opening at 7am instead of 8am. The result was declared after a re-count, at first the Unionist majority was found to be 22 votes, after the re-count the majority was increased to 24 votes.Nottingham Evening Post, 20 Feb 1914

Aftermath

A General Election was due to take place by the end of 1915. By the summer of 1914, the following candidates had been adopted to contest that election. Due to the outbreak of war, the election never took place. *Unionist: Mathew Wilson *Liberal: *Socialist: John Scurr * Wilson was the endorsed candidate of the Coalition Government.

References

* Who's Who: www.ukwhoswho.com {{By-elections to the 30th UK Parliament Bethnal Green South West by-election Bethnal Green South West by-election Bethnal Green South West by-election Bethnal Green South West,1914 Bethnal Green South West,1914 Ministerial by-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom Bethnal Green