North Ayrshire by-election, 1911

The Ayrshire North 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

Andrew Anderson, the Liberal MP since he gained the seat in January 1910 from the Unionists, was appointed Solicitor General for Scotland, a law officer of the Crown. In accordance with the constitutional arrangements of the day, he was obliged to resign as an MP and fight a by-election.

Electoral history

General Election December 1910: Ayrshire North Electorate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Andrew Macbeth Anderson	7,286	51.4
	Conservative	Duncan Frederick Campbell	6,932	48.6
Majority				2.8
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

Candidates

Anderson’s Unionist opponent was again Capt. Duncan Frederick Campbell who had stood here last time. He had contested Mid-Lanark in 1906 and Paisley in January 1910 without success.

There was no Labour candidate, even though they had contested the seat in 1906 and January 1910, finishing a poor third on both occasions.

Campaign

The contest was dominated by the government’s legislation on National Insurance and the uncertainties this legislation would produce for individual electors, particularly small manufacturers and shopkeepers.

Result

By-Election 20 December 1911: Ayrshire North Electorate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Duncan Frederick Campbell	7,318
	Liberal	Andrew Macbeth Anderson KC	7,047
Majority			271
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

Although there was no Labour candidate, Anderson was thought to have lost some support among working-class voters because of his opposition to Labour candidates in other recent elections.^[1] After six years of Liberal government, the electors of North Ayrshire reverted to their more traditional allegiances, perhaps rebelling against the background of the rapid social changes being introduced by H H Asquith’s reforming administration.^[2]

Aftermath

After the election, Anderson agreed to be re-adopted as prospective Liberal candidate for North Ayrshire, expressing a wish to contest the seat again.^[3] A General Election was due to take place by the end of 1915. By the autumn of 1914, the following candidates had been adopted to contest that election. Due to the outbreak of war, the election never took place.

General Election 1914/15: Ayrshire North Electorate 17,385
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Duncan Frederick Campbell
	Liberal	Andrew Macbeth Anderson KC

Campbell was killed in action in 1916.

References

1. The Times, 20 December 1911 p10
2. The Times, 22 December 1911 p7
3. The Times, 23 January 1912 p7