Joseph Bliss (1853 – 12 December 1939) was a British Liberal Party

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He was elected as

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) for Cockermouth at an unopposed by-election in March 1916, following the resignation of the Liberal MP Sir Wilfrid Lawson. He had previously stood unsuccessfully in the

North Lonsdale The Lonsdale Hundred is an historic hundred of Lancashire, England. Although named after the dale or valley of the River Lune, which runs through the city of Lancaster, for centuries it covered most of the north-western part of Lancashire aro ...

at the general elections in January 1910 and

December 1910 The following events occurred in December 1910: December 1, 1910 (Thursday) * Porfirio Diaz was inaugurated for his eighth term as President of Mexico."Record of Current Events", ''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'' (January 1911), pp ...

, losing narrowly on both occasions.Craig, ''British parliamentary election results 1885–1918'', page 324 In January 1910, Bliss's campaign team asked for a recount after the vote was declared, but were told that the ballot boxes had already been sealed and sent by train to London. He lodged a petition, which claimed that invalid votes for Haddock had been allowed while valid votes for Bliss had been disallowed. The petition was heard in the King's Bench Division of the High Court, before Justice Lawrence and Justice Phillimore. They allowed a recount, in which the Conservative George Haddock's majority was increased to 169 votes (2.0%), and Bliss was required to pay the costs of the hearing. The Cockermouth constituency was abolished at the 1918 general election when Bliss was one of two sitting MPs who contested the new Lonsdale constituency. The Coalition Coupon went to his Conservative opponent

Claude Lowther Colonel Claude William Henry Lowther (1870 – 16 June 1929) was an English Conservative politician. Early life Lowther was the only son of Capt. Francis William Lowther and Louise Beatrice de Fonblanque; Francis William was the illegitimate so ...

, who won the seat. Bliss did not stand for

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

again. Bliss had spent several years living in the Ottoman Empire.

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* 1853 births 1939 deaths Cumbria MPs British expatriates in the Ottoman Empire Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1910–1918 {{England-Liberal-UK-MP-stub