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Elgin Burghs by election, 1905

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Elgin Burghs by-election, 1905

The Elgin Burghs 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.

Contents

Vacancy

Alexander Asher had been Liberal MP for the seat of Elgin Burghs since the Elgin Burghs by-election, 1881. He died on 5 August 1905, causing a by-election.

Electoral history

The seat had been Liberal since the party was founded in 1859. They easily held the seat at the last election, with a comfortable majority;

Candidates

  • On 17 August the local Liberal Association selected 51-year-old John Ebenezer Sutherland as their candidate to defend the seat. He had not stood for parliament before. He was born in nearby Lossiemouth. He was educated at Aberdeen University. He was a partner in the firm of J & P Sutherland, fish curers of Portsoy.
  • The local Conservative Association selected 52-year-old Patrick Rose-Innes as their candidate to gain the seat. He had not stood for parliament before. He was born in Aberdeenshire and educated at Aberdeen University. He had been a barrister since 1878.

    • Campaign

    Polling Day was fixed for the 8 September 1905, 34 days after the death of the previous MP.

    Result

    There was a large swing of over 11% to the Liberals who comfortably held the seat;

    The result was the biggest victory that the Liberals had ever had in the constituency.

    Aftermath

    Sutherland was re-elected at the following General Election. The result was;

    Rose-Innes was not his opponent and instead contested West Lothian in 1906, the Jarrow by-election, 1907 and Middleton in 1910 without success. Sutherland remained as the MP until his death in 1918.

    References

    Elgin Burghs by-election, 1905 Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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