1907 Halifax by-election

The Halifax by-election, 1907 was a parliamentary by-election held for the House of Commons constituency of Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire on 6 March 1907.

Vacancy

Under the provisions of the Succession to the Crown Act of 1707 and a number of subsequent Acts, MPs appointed to certain ministerial and legal offices were at this time required to seek re-election.[1] The by-election in Halifax was caused by the appointment of the sitting Liberal MP, John Henry Whitley as a Junior Lord of the Treasury, the formal title given to the government’s junior whips in Parliament.[2]

Candidates

Whitley, who had held the seat since 1900 fought the seat again in the Liberal interest. Halifax was a constituency at that time returning two members and there was recent history of both Liberal Unionist and Labour Party MPs being elected there. However the Unionist members met on 2 March to consider whether or not to run a candidate and decided to do so only if Labour contested the election. Later that day Labour announced they would not oppose Whitley [3] and there being no other nominations, Whitley was therefore returned unopposed on 6 March 1907.[4]

The result
Halifax by-election, 1907
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal John Henry Whitley Unopposed N/A N/A
Liberal hold Swing N/A
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See also

References
  1. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results, 1885-1918; Macmillan Press, 1974 pxiv
  2. The Times, 1 March 1907 p11
  3. The Times, 4 March 1907 p9
  4. F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results, 1885-1918; Macmillan Press, 1974 p116
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