1904 Oswestry by-election

The Oswestry by-election was a Parliamentary by-election. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

Vacancy

George Ormsby-Gore had been Conservative MP for the seat of Oswestry since the 1901 Oswestry by-election. On 26 June 1904 he succeeded his father as third Baron Harlech and entered the House of Lords.

Electoral history

The seat had been Conservative since it was created in 1885. They easily held the seat at the last election, with an increased majority:

Oswestry by-election, 1901[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative George Ormsby-Gore 4,518 56.5 n/a
Liberal Allan Heywood Bright 3,430 42.9 n/a
Turnout 7,990 79.9 n/a
Majority 1,088 13.6 n/a
Conservative hold Swing n/a

Candidates

The local Conservative Association selected 39-year-old William Bridgeman as their candidate to defend the seat. He was a prominent Municipal Reform Party member of the London County Council and had no link with the town's area, although his country home, Leigh Manor, Worthen, was then in the same constituency. He was assistant private secretary to Henry Holland, the Colonial Secretary (1889–1892), and then to Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1895 to 1897. In 1897 he became a member of the London School Board, and in 1904 he was elected to the London County Council.[2]

The local Liberal Association selected 42-year-old Allan Heywood Bright as their candidate to gain the seat. He had been the Liberal candidate at the previous election in 1901. Previously he had contested Exeter in 1899 and 1900.[2] He had a residence at Weston Rhyn near Oswestry.[3]The Times noted that he had "nursed the constituency assidiously of late".

Campaign

Polling Day was fixed for 26 July 1904, 30 days after the previous MP went to the House of Lords.

Result

The count was conducted the following morning and the result declared at lunch-time. Crowds filled the Bailey Head – so much so that it was thought advisable to announce the result in private to prevent trouble.[4] The Liberals gained the seat from the Conservatives:

1904 Oswestry by-election[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Allan Heywood Bright 4,542 52.2 +8.7
Conservative William Bridgeman 4,157 47.8 -8.7
Turnout 8,699 86.3 +6.4
Majority 385 4.4 17.4
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing +8.7

The result was "a great surprise for both Conservatives and Liberals alike". Bright believed that the electorate had rejected the government, and that "the whole of Shropshire politics had been simply a policy of Tory bluff and the people seemed to have got tired of it".[5]

Aftermath

The same two candidates met again at the following General Election, the result was:

General election January 1906[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative William Bridgeman 5,011 52.6 +4.8
Liberal Allan Heywood Bright 4,508 47.4 -4.8
Turnout 9,519 90.7 +4.4
Majority 503 5.2 9.6
Conservative gain from Liberal Swing +4.8
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References
  1. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 by Craig
  2. Who Was Who
  3. "Election Intelligence". The Times. 13 May 1901. p. 7.
  4. Historic Oswestry: episodes from the past of a Welsh border town
  5. "Election Intelligence. Shropshire (Oswestry Division)". The Times. 28 July 1904. p. 9.
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