The

Colne Valley The Colne Valley is a steep sided valley on the east flank of the Pennine Hills in the English county of West Yorkshire. It takes its name from the River Colne which rises above the town of Marsden and flows eastward towards Huddersfield. ...

by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 18 July 1907. 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

Sir James Kitson had been Liberal MP for the seat of

since the 1892 general election. He was created

Baron Airedale Baron Airedale, of Gledhow in the West Riding of the County of York, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 17 July 1907 for the Liberal politician Sir James Kitson, 1st Baronet, who had previously represented Col ...

on 17 July 1907 and resigned to take a seat in the House of Lords.

Electoral history

The seat was re-gained from the Liberal Unionists in 1892:

Candidates

The local Liberal Association selected Philip Bright to defend the seat. He was the son of

John Bright John Bright (16 November 1811 – 27 March 1889) was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, one of the greatest orators of his generation and a promoter of free trade policies. A Quaker, Bright is most famous for battling the Corn Laws ...

the famous Free-trader. The Conservatives selected 35-year-old barrister, Granville Charles Hastings Wheler, later 1st (and last) Baronet of Otterden, as their candidate. He had contested Osgoldcross at the last general election. Twenty-six-year-old

Victor Grayson Albert Victor Grayson (born 5 September 1881, disappeared 28 September 1920) was an English socialist politician of the early 20th century. An Independent Labour Party Member of Parliament from 1907 to 1910, Grayson is most notable for his sensat ...

stood as an Independent Labour candidate, having been nominated by the Colne Valley Labour League. This was the local branch of the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

(ILP), but the ILP and Labour Party both decided against backing Grayson's candidacy. Grayson was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and became an apprentice engineer. He joined the

and toured the country giving lectures, becoming a well-known orator despite having a stammer. Polling Day was fixed for 18 July 1907.

Result

Grayson gained the seat: Victor Grayson

Aftermath

Wheler was elected at

Faversham Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British t ...

at the next general election. Grayson was defeated by a new Liberal candidate: Rev Dr Charles Leach MP

References

{{By-elections to the 28th UK Parliament Colne Valley by-election Colne Valley Elections in Kirklees Colne Valley by-election By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in West Yorkshire constituencies 1900s in Yorkshire Colne Valley by-election