The 1911 South Somerset by-election was the second Parliamentary by-election for that constituency of 1885 to 1918. The seat was one of seven

county seats A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

which had four other, urban members until 1918.

Vacancy

Sir Edward Strachey the Liberal MP since 1892, was raised to the peerage as Baron Strachie, of

Sutton Court Sutton Court is an English house remodelled by Thomas Henry Wyatt in the 1850s from a manor house built in the 15th and 16th centuries around a 14th-century fortified pele tower and surrounding buildings. The house has been designated as Grad ...

in the County of Somerset and accepted ennoblement at start of November 1911 to join the House of Lords. This is in connection with the

Parliament Act 1911 The Parliament Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo. 5 c. 13) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is constitutionally important and partly governs the relationship between the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two Houses of Parlia ...

, where many Liberal peers were created to overcome their relative deficit, a party having had renewed landslide political support of the people in the elected chamber.

Electoral history

Candidates

Henry Harvey Vivian Henry Harvey Vivian (20 April 1868 – 30 May 1930) was an English trade unionist, and Liberal Party politician and campaigner for industrial democracy and co-partnership, especially noted for his work in co-partnership housing. Biography Vivian ...

, born in West Devon, was given the task of defending a seat that had been Liberal since it was created in 1885. He had been Liberal MP for

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

until his defeat at the December 1910 general election. The Conservative candidate was

Aubrey Herbert Colonel The Honourable Aubrey Nigel Henry Molyneux Herbert (3 April 1880 – 26 September 1923), of Pixton Park in Somerset and of Teversal, in Nottinghamshire, was a British soldier, diplomat, traveller, and intelligence officer associat ...

who had stood here unsuccessfully in both 1910 general elections. He was second son of the 4th

Earl of Carnarvon Earl of Carnarvon is a title that has been created three times in British history. The current holder is George Herbert, 8th Earl of Carnarvon. The town and county in Wales to which the title refers are historically spelled ''Caernarfon,'' havi ...

, whose family owned a small part of the district, including

Pixton Park Pixton Park is a country house in the parish of Dulverton, Somerset, England. It is associated with at least three historically significant families, successively by descent: Acland, amongst the largest landowners in the Westcountry; Herbert, ...

West Somerset West Somerset was a local government district in the English county of Somerset. The council covered a largely rural area, with a population of 34,900 in an area of ; it was the least populous non- unitary district in England. According to f ...

, one of his permanent main homes. A soldier, diplomat, traveller, and intelligence officer, he was later associated with the Albanian independence movement. He was twice offered that nation's throne. He died in 1923, aged 43.

Campaign

The campaign seems to have fought mostly on the issue of the National Insurance Act. On 13 November, in a portent of things to come, the Unionists won a Liberal seat in a by-election at

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

. Herbert entered polling day in a mood of great optimism The Times, 21 November 1911 p10

Result

Aftermath

A General Election was due to take place by the end of 1915. By the autumn of 1914, the following candidates had been adopted to contest that election. Due to the outbreak of war, the election never took place. *Unionist:

*Liberal:

For the 1918 elections, the seat grew eastwards, reflecting urban population rise elsewhere since 1885, to become "

Yeovil Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somer ...

" *endorsed by the Coalition Government.

References

{{By-elections to the 30th UK Parliament By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Somerset constituencies 1911 in England 1911 elections in the United Kingdom 20th century in Somerset