1911 Keighley by-election

A by-election was held in Keighley constituency in the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1911 to fill a vacancy in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.

Vacancy

The vacancy was caused by the death on 30 September 1911 of Sir John Brigg, who had been the Liberal MP for Keighley since 1895.

Electoral history

General election December 1910: Keighley

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	John Brigg	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

Candidates

• The Liberals chose Stanley Buckmaster to defend a seat the party had held since it was created in 1885. He had been Liberal MP for Cambridge until his defeat in January 1910. He had failed to regain Cambridge in December 1910.
• The Conservative candidate was William Mitchell Acworth who had contested the seat as a Liberal Unionist in 1906 and January 1910, but did not contest the December 1910 elections.
• Although a Socialist had stood here in 1906 and finished third, the Labour party had not contested the seat before. This time they chose to run a Scotsman William Crawford Anderson as their candidate. Anderson had been Chairman of the Independent Labour Party since 1910.

Result

The by-election was held on 27 October. The seat was held for the Liberals by Stanley Buckmaster, who gained 39% of the vote and obtained a majority of 825 over a Conservative and a Labour candidate.

S.O. Buckmaster

Keighley by-election, 1911

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Stanley Buckmaster	4,667	39.0
	Conservative	William Mitchell Acworth	3,842	32.1
	Labour	William Crawford Anderson	3,452	28.9
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

Aftermath

In 1913 Buckmaster was appointed Solicitor General and required to fight another by-election

1913 Keighley by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Stanley Buckmaster	4,730	38.7
	Unionist	Henry Lascelles	3,852	31.5
	Labour	William Bland	3,646	29.8
Majority
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

Anderson was elected MP for Sheffield Attercliffe in 1914. Acworth did not contest another election.

References