Leeds South by-election, 1892
Encyclopedia
The Leeds South by-election, 1892 was a parliamentary by-election
for the House of Commons constituency of Leeds South
in the West Riding of Yorkshire
held on 22 September 1892.
of the sitting Liberal
MP, Sir Lyon Playfair
. Playfair had been MP for Leeds South since its creation for the 1885 general election
. In his letter to his constituency association informing them of his peerage, Playfair said it had been a wholly unexpected honour, a point later repeated in his memoirs and correspondence. Playfair was a distinguished chemist
and expert in sanitation
. He had worked closely with Prince Albert, the Prince Consort on a scheme for filtering sewage to fertilize the royal estate at Osborne House
and later on plans for the Great Exhibition of 1851
. As well as his past association with Price Albert, Playfair was a German speaker with strong Scottish connections so it was, perhaps, not surprising when he was created Baron Playfair of St Andrews and made Lord-in-Waiting
to Queen Victoria.
to defend the seat. Walton was aged 40 and was a successful barrister
on the north-eastern circuit who also had a practice in London. At the 1892 general election
, just a few weeks earlier, he had been the Liberal candidate for Leeds Central
when he lost narrowly to the sitting Conservative
MP G W Balfour
.
met on 24 August 1892 and resolved to contest the by-election. They selected 29 year old Reginald Neville
, also a barrister to fight the seat. Neville had been Playfair’s opponent at the 1892 general election when he had slightly reduced the Liberal majority. He was formally adopted on 6 September.
would enter the fray. A deputation of working men invited James M’Gregor, the general secretary of the National Labourers’ Federation to stand as a Labour candidate. M’Gregor seemed to be willing. He said he would submit the offer to the executive committee of his union and be bound by their decision. It is not known if the union were opposed to M’Gregor’s candidacy but a few days later it was reported that another trade union official, Mr J Solly, the organising secretary of the Railway Labourers’ Union, had accepted an invitation to fight the by-election for Labour. But Solly’s acceptance may have been premature because Leeds Trade Council
were unable to approve him until the Railway Labourers’ Union agreed to contribute a substantial sum towards election expenses.
Neither of these potential candidacies came to anything however as the Leeds Trades Council decided it would be counter-productive to stand a labour candidate and risk splitting the anti-Tory
vote. However as the by-election approached, another union man, John Lincoln Mahon, of the Leeds and District Gasworkers Union declared that he would be standing for labour as he had secured the support of the socialist journalist
and activist Henry Hyde Champion
, regarded as one of the leading spirits behind the formation of the Independent Labour Party
. Champion had promised financial backing for Mahon to contest the by-election. Mahon said he would stand as an Independent
in view of the decision of the local Trades Council not to endorse a candidate standing explicitly in the labour interest.
Mechanics’ Institute
. Almost from the outset the meeting deteriorated into disorder and violence. The culprits were said to be a large contingent of Irishmen who had deliberately occupied the seats at the front of the hall, many of whom were said to be intoxicated with drink. They howled down Mahon’s platform supporters and then rushing the stage they attacked Mahon himself and his party causing injuries requiring doctors to be called. At a more peaceful meeting the next night in Leeds, Mahon accused Lawson Walton of stirring up and inciting the attackers on the assumption they were supporters of the Liberal cause of Home Rule
.
Champion wrote an angry letter to The Times
complaining that Walton had held a meeting on 16 September in which he had done his best to ‘inflame the minds of his partisans against the labour candidate and his supporters’. Champion stopped just short of accusing Walton of commissioning the break-up of the labour meeting and of supplying the Irishmen with drink but pointed out that they came to the meeting with a plentiful supply of election literature from the Liberal committee-rooms. He claimed the Liberals were increasingly worried about the rise of political labour and the threat this represented to Liberal electoral hopes. It was ironic that this charge was levelled at Walton, as he had stood aside as Liberal candidate in Battersea
only the previous year when John Burns
, the trade unionist indicated he proposed to stand in the seat at the 1892 election
as an Independent Labour candidate.
Another Labour meeting on 19 September, addressed by Keir Hardie
pressed the issue of the representation of the working classes and whether this could ever adequately be done by the middle-class capitalists and professional men who dominated Liberal politics. The meeting was full of disturbance. Mr Sweeney of the Leeds Trade Council spoke against Mahon's candidacy and a vote of confidence in Mahon was proposed and lost by a large margin. A further meeting took place later and the proceedings were reported as being ‘uproarious’ with the police called, albeit without a repeat of the violence of the Hunslet meeting.
Both Walton and Neville publicly denounced the violence against Mahon.
. However an objection was made to Mahon’s paper and after long consideration his nomination was rejected as invalid owing to the incorrectness of the name and address of his nominator. As a result the contest was a straight fight between Walton and Neville. Mahon proceeded to issue his written manifesto but he could not contest the election itself. It was later alleged however that Mahon engineered the rejection of his nomination paper. It was said, admittedly by his opponents, that there had been ample time between the pointing out of the defect and the deadline for nomination to get a qualified supporter to sign the paper and so make it legal.
did greatly reduce the Liberal majority in the Luton or Southern Division of Bedfordshire
on 29 September and the Conservatives gained Cirencester
in October 1892 but the Liberals gained four seats from the Tories in the early months of 1893 and it was not until the middle of that year that Conservative gains began to come more regularly, prefiguring their election win in 1895
.
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
for the House of Commons constituency of Leeds South
Leeds South (UK Parliament constituency)
Leeds South was a parliamentary constituency in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election...
in the West Riding of Yorkshire
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of the three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county, County of York, West Riding , was based closely on the historic boundaries...
held on 22 September 1892.
Vacancy
The by-election was caused by the elevation to the peeragePeerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
of the sitting Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
MP, Sir Lyon Playfair
Lyon Playfair, 1st Baron Playfair
Lyon Playfair, 1st Baron Playfair GCB, PC, FRS was a Scottish scientist and Liberal politician.-Background and education:...
. Playfair had been MP for Leeds South since its creation for the 1885 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1885
-Seats summary:-See also:*List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1885*Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885–1918*Representation of the People Act 1884*Redistribution of Seats Act 1885-References:...
. In his letter to his constituency association informing them of his peerage, Playfair said it had been a wholly unexpected honour, a point later repeated in his memoirs and correspondence. Playfair was a distinguished chemist
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
and expert in sanitation
Sanitation
Sanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes. Hazards can be either physical, microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease. Wastes that can cause health problems are human and animal feces, solid wastes, domestic...
. He had worked closely with Prince Albert, the Prince Consort on a scheme for filtering sewage to fertilize the royal estate at Osborne House
Osborne House
Osborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK. The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat....
and later on plans for the Great Exhibition of 1851
The Great Exhibition
The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations or The Great Exhibition, sometimes referred to as the Crystal Palace Exhibition in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held, was an international exhibition that took place in Hyde Park, London, from 1 May to 15 October...
. As well as his past association with Price Albert, Playfair was a German speaker with strong Scottish connections so it was, perhaps, not surprising when he was created Baron Playfair of St Andrews and made Lord-in-Waiting
Lord-in-Waiting
Most Lords in Waiting are Government whips in the House of Lords who are members of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. As members of the Royal Household their duties are nominal, though they are occasionally required to meet visiting political and state leaders on visits...
to Queen Victoria.
Liberals
The South Leeds Liberals held a selection meeting on 26 August 1892 and, having considered a number of possible candidates, they decided to invite John Lawson WaltonJohn Lawson Walton
Sir John Lawson Walton KC was a British barrister and Liberal politician.-Family and education:John Lawson Walton was the son of the Reverend John Walton MA, a Wesleyan missionary in Ceylon who later preached at Grahamstown in South Africa and who became President of the Wesleyan Conference for...
to defend the seat. Walton was aged 40 and was a successful barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
on the north-eastern circuit who also had a practice in London. At the 1892 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1892
The 1892 United Kingdom general election was held from 4 July to 26 July 1892. It saw the Conservatives, led by Lord Salisbury, win the greatest number of seats, but not enough for an overall majority as William Ewart Gladstone's Liberals won many more seats than in the 1886 general election...
, just a few weeks earlier, he had been the Liberal candidate for Leeds Central
Leeds Central (UK Parliament constituency)
Leeds Central is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...
when he lost narrowly to the sitting Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
MP G W Balfour
Gerald Balfour, 2nd Earl of Balfour
Gerald William Balfour, 2nd Earl of Balfour PC , known as Gerald Balfour until 1930, was a British nobleman and Conservative politician.-Background and education:...
.
Conservatives
The ConservativesConservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
met on 24 August 1892 and resolved to contest the by-election. They selected 29 year old Reginald Neville
Sir Reginald Neville, 1st Baronet
Sir Reginald James Neville Neville, 1st Baronet , born Reginald Neville White, was a British barrister and Conservative and Unionist member of parliament...
, also a barrister to fight the seat. Neville had been Playfair’s opponent at the 1892 general election when he had slightly reduced the Liberal majority. He was formally adopted on 6 September.
Labour
It was expected that a candidate representing labourLabour movement
The term labour movement or labor movement is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign in their own interest for better treatment from their employers and governments, in particular through the implementation of specific laws governing labour...
would enter the fray. A deputation of working men invited James M’Gregor, the general secretary of the National Labourers’ Federation to stand as a Labour candidate. M’Gregor seemed to be willing. He said he would submit the offer to the executive committee of his union and be bound by their decision. It is not known if the union were opposed to M’Gregor’s candidacy but a few days later it was reported that another trade union official, Mr J Solly, the organising secretary of the Railway Labourers’ Union, had accepted an invitation to fight the by-election for Labour. But Solly’s acceptance may have been premature because Leeds Trade Council
Labour council
A labour council, trades council or industrial council is an association of labour unions or union branches in a given area. Most commonly, they represent unions in a given geographical area, whether at the district, city, region, or provincial or state level...
were unable to approve him until the Railway Labourers’ Union agreed to contribute a substantial sum towards election expenses.
Neither of these potential candidacies came to anything however as the Leeds Trades Council decided it would be counter-productive to stand a labour candidate and risk splitting the anti-Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
vote. However as the by-election approached, another union man, John Lincoln Mahon, of the Leeds and District Gasworkers Union declared that he would be standing for labour as he had secured the support of the socialist journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and activist Henry Hyde Champion
Henry Hyde Champion
Henry Hyde Champion was a socialist journalist and activist, regarded as one of the leading spirits behind the formation of the Independent Labour Party...
, regarded as one of the leading spirits behind the formation of the Independent Labour Party
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...
. Champion had promised financial backing for Mahon to contest the by-election. Mahon said he would stand as an Independent
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
in view of the decision of the local Trades Council not to endorse a candidate standing explicitly in the labour interest.
The campaign
The principal excitement of the campaign was the animosity between the Liberal and Labour camps. On 17 September, Mahon held an election meeting at the HunsletHunslet
Hunslet is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is south east of the city centre and has an industrial past.Hunslet had many engineering companies based in the district, such as John Fowler & Co...
Mechanics’ Institute
Mechanics' Institutes
Historically, Mechanics' Institutes were educational establishments formed to provide adult education, particularly in technical subjects, to working men...
. Almost from the outset the meeting deteriorated into disorder and violence. The culprits were said to be a large contingent of Irishmen who had deliberately occupied the seats at the front of the hall, many of whom were said to be intoxicated with drink. They howled down Mahon’s platform supporters and then rushing the stage they attacked Mahon himself and his party causing injuries requiring doctors to be called. At a more peaceful meeting the next night in Leeds, Mahon accused Lawson Walton of stirring up and inciting the attackers on the assumption they were supporters of the Liberal cause of Home Rule
Irish Home Rule Movement
The Irish Home Rule Movement articulated a longstanding Irish desire for the repeal of the Act of Union of 1800 by a demand for self-government within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The movement drew upon a legacy of patriotic thought that dated back at least to the late 17th...
.
Champion wrote an angry letter to The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
complaining that Walton had held a meeting on 16 September in which he had done his best to ‘inflame the minds of his partisans against the labour candidate and his supporters’. Champion stopped just short of accusing Walton of commissioning the break-up of the labour meeting and of supplying the Irishmen with drink but pointed out that they came to the meeting with a plentiful supply of election literature from the Liberal committee-rooms. He claimed the Liberals were increasingly worried about the rise of political labour and the threat this represented to Liberal electoral hopes. It was ironic that this charge was levelled at Walton, as he had stood aside as Liberal candidate in Battersea
Battersea (UK Parliament constituency)
Battersea is a parliamentary constituency located in Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, to which it elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post voting system.- Boundaries :The...
only the previous year when John Burns
John Burns
John Elliot Burns was an English trade unionist and politician of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly associated with London politics. He was a socialist and then a Liberal Member of Parliament and Minister. He was anti-alcohol and a keen sportsman...
, the trade unionist indicated he proposed to stand in the seat at the 1892 election
United Kingdom general election, 1892
The 1892 United Kingdom general election was held from 4 July to 26 July 1892. It saw the Conservatives, led by Lord Salisbury, win the greatest number of seats, but not enough for an overall majority as William Ewart Gladstone's Liberals won many more seats than in the 1886 general election...
as an Independent Labour candidate.
Another Labour meeting on 19 September, addressed by Keir Hardie
Keir Hardie
James Keir Hardie, Sr. , was a Scottish socialist and labour leader, and was the first Independent Labour Member of Parliament elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
pressed the issue of the representation of the working classes and whether this could ever adequately be done by the middle-class capitalists and professional men who dominated Liberal politics. The meeting was full of disturbance. Mr Sweeney of the Leeds Trade Council spoke against Mahon's candidacy and a vote of confidence in Mahon was proposed and lost by a large margin. A further meeting took place later and the proceedings were reported as being ‘uproarious’ with the police called, albeit without a repeat of the violence of the Hunslet meeting.
Both Walton and Neville publicly denounced the violence against Mahon.
Nominations
Nominations were put in at Leeds Town Hall on 20 September. Those of Walton and Neville were accepted by the MayorMayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
. However an objection was made to Mahon’s paper and after long consideration his nomination was rejected as invalid owing to the incorrectness of the name and address of his nominator. As a result the contest was a straight fight between Walton and Neville. Mahon proceeded to issue his written manifesto but he could not contest the election itself. It was later alleged however that Mahon engineered the rejection of his nomination paper. It was said, admittedly by his opponents, that there had been ample time between the pointing out of the defect and the deadline for nomination to get a qualified supporter to sign the paper and so make it legal.
The result
The failure of Mahon to get himself on the ballot paper, real or manufactured, solved the problem for the traditional working class voters of South Leeds of deciding which non-Conservative candidate to support. This was perhaps just as well as the Liberal majority over the Conservative fell for the third successive election and a vote split between Liberal and Labour parties might have been enough to deliver the seat to Neville. The continued decline may have had to do with Walton’s being new to the constituency compared to the previous, well-known incumbent and Neville’s name being known from the general election a couple of months before. It is difficult from the results of by-elections in the early part of the 1892-95 Parliament to see a swing in public opinion away from the minority Liberal government of W E Gladstone and towards the Unionist parties. The Liberal UnionistsLiberal Unionist Party
The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington and Joseph Chamberlain, the party formed a political alliance with the Conservative Party in opposition to Irish Home Rule...
did greatly reduce the Liberal majority in the Luton or Southern Division of Bedfordshire
Luton (UK Parliament constituency)
Luton was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Luton in Bedfordshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system....
on 29 September and the Conservatives gained Cirencester
Cirencester (UK Parliament constituency)
Cirencester was a parliamentary constituency in Gloucestershire. From 1571 until 1885, it was a parliamentary borough, which returned two Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until 1868, and one member between 1868 and 1885...
in October 1892 but the Liberals gained four seats from the Tories in the early months of 1893 and it was not until the middle of that year that Conservative gains began to come more regularly, prefiguring their election win in 1895
United Kingdom general election, 1895
The United Kingdom general election of 1895 was held from 13 July - 7 August 1895. It was won by the Conservatives led by Lord Salisbury who formed an alliance with the Liberal Unionist Party and had a large majority over the Liberals, led by Lord Rosebery...
.
The votes
See also
- Leeds South by-election, 1908Leeds South by-election, 1908The Leeds South by-election, 1908 was a parliamentary by-election for the House of Commons constituency of Leeds South in the West Riding of Yorkshire held on 13 February 1908.-Vacancy:...
- List of United Kingdom by-elections
- United Kingdom by-election recordsUnited Kingdom by-election recordsUK by-election records is an annotated list of notable records from UK Parliamentary by-elections. A by-election occurs when a Member of Parliament resigns, dies, or is disqualified or expelled, and an election is held to fill the vacant seat...