The 1916 Hyde by-election was a Parliamentary by-election. It returned one Member 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. The by-election was held on 30 March 1916.

Vacancy

Francis Neilson had been Liberal MP for the seat of Hyde since the January 1910 general election. He was a

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

and had written the anti-war ''How Diplomats Make War'' in 1915. He resigned from parliament when his pacifist beliefs conflicted with the First World War.

Electoral history

Candidates

The Hyde Liberal Association chose Thomas Owen Jacobsen to defend the seat. Fifty-two-year-old Jacobsen was a locally based businessman who was born in Liverpool, and was the son of a

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

Dane."Resignation of Mr Neilson", ''The Times'', 3 March 1916, p.9 He was a master printer and the senior partner in the stationery company of Jacobsen, Welch and Company, whose paper mills were at Hyde,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

."S. E. Southwark Contest", ''The Times'', 21 November 1921, p.7"News in Brief", ''The Times'', 13 March 1916, p.5 In 1914 the Hyde Unionist Association had selected James Leadbitter Knott as their prospective parliamentary candidate in anticipation of a 1914/15 general election. Knott was a son of James Knott a former Conservative MP for Sunderland. When the election was called Knott was on active service. Due to the wartime party truce, the Unionists chose not to oppose the Liberal candidate and Jacobsen was endorsed by the Asquith led Coalition Government. DP Davies came forward as an Independent candidate. Davies was the nominee of the National Union of Attested Married Men, an organisation opposed to the government's policy on conscription.British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

Result

Jacobsen held the seat for the government;

Aftermath

In 1916 the prospective Unionist candidate, Leadbitter Knott was killed in action. Following boundary changes the Hyde constituency was abolished and merged with Unionist held Stalybridge. The Lloyd George led Coalition Government chose not to endorse Jacobsen but his Unionist opponent, the sitting MP for Stalybridge. This helped ensure Jacobsen's defeat;

References

{{By-elections to the 30th UK Parliament 1916 elections in the United Kingdom 1916 in England Elections in Tameside By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Greater Manchester constituencies By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Cheshire constituencies 20th century in Cheshire March 1916 events