Hackney South by-election, 1912

Hackney South in the Metropolitan area, showing boundaries used from 1885 to 1918.

The Hackney South by-election was a Parliamentary by-election. 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 voting system.

Vacancy

In May 1912, Horatio Bottomley, the controversial Liberal MP for Hackney South, was forced to his resign his seat when he was declared bankrupt. Bottomley had been unpopular with a large portion of the party's activists in Hackney, who had run their own candidate against him in December 1910.

Electoral history

General Election December 1910: Hackney South[1] Electorate 14,123
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Horatio William Bottomley	5,068	59.2
	Conservative	Sydney Charles Nettleton King-Farlow	3,243	31.6
	Liberal	Richard Henry Roberts	1,946	19.0
Majority				27.6
Turnout
	Independent hold		Swing

Candidates

The two Liberal factions came together to nominate Hector Morison for the vacancy.^[2] Morison was a 62-year-old Scottish member of the London Stock Exchange. He was also a former Member of Parliament, he had sat for Eastbourne from January to December 1910, when he was defeated.^[3]

The Unionists selected John Constant Gibson, a 51-year-old Scottish businessman.^[4]

Result

By-Election 24 May 1912: Hackney South[5] Electorate14,510
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Hector Morison	5,339	52.5
	Conservative	John Constant Gibson	4,836	47.5
Majority			503	5.0
Turnout				70.1
	Liberal gain from Independent		Swing

Aftermath

Morison served only one term as a member of the Commons. He chose to retire at the next general election in 1918. Horatio Bottomley, whose bankruptcy had been annulled, regained the Hackney South seat as an independent;

General Election 14 December 1918: Hackney South[6] Electorate 25,212
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Horatio William Bottomley	11,145	79.7	n/a
	Liberal	Arthur Henri	2,830	20.3
Majority			8,315	59.4
Turnout
	Independent gain from Liberal		Swing

• Henri was the endorsed candidate of the Coalition Government.

References

1. Craig, F. W. S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885-1918
2. "Resignation Of Mr. Bottomley. A By-Election In Hackney". The Times. 17 May 1912. p. 7.
3. Who's Who
4. Who's Who
5. Craig, F. W. S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885-1918
6. Craig, F. W. S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885-1918