- Bodmin by-election, 1906
The Bodmin by-election, 1906 was a
by-election held on24 July 1906 for theBritish House of Commons constituency of Bodmin.The by-election was triggered by the unseating of the town's Liberal
Member of Parliament (MP)Thomas Agar-Robartes , as a result of an election petition alleging illegal payments to potential voters. The success of the petition was controversial, as the presiding Judge, Justice Grantham, himself a former Conservative MP, was already facing criticism for a decision on an election petition in the Great Yarmouth constituency which had been considered unduly favourable to the Conservatives. A censure motion was outstanding in Parliament at the time of the decision, but the Government decided not to proceed with it. Five years later, he was censured in Parliament by the then Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith, as a consequence of some comments to a jury in a case in Liverpool. [J. B. Atlay, ‘Grantham, Sir William (1835–1911)’, rev. Robert Stevens, "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004]The Liberal candidate was Freeman Freeman-Thomas, who had lost his Hastings seat in the recent general election. The Conservative was
George John Sandys . The brother of the unseated member, toured the constituency, urging voters to avenge the result of the petition by voting Liberal. The Conservatives alleged that the Government was planning to make up to 20,000 soldiers unemployed, a claim rejected by the Secretary of War, Richard Haldane. [The Times , 25 July 1906.] The Liberal candidate won with a slightly reduced majority (down from 1,172 to 1,093) on a somewhat smaller turnout than at the general election. [The Times , 26 July 1906] Sandys went on to become Conservative MP for Wells from 1910 to 1918, and his sonDuncan Sandys later became an MP and cabinet minister.Votes
Election box candidate with party link
party = Liberal Party (UK)
candidate = Freeman Freeman-Thomas
votes = 4,969
percentage = 56.2
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Conservative Party (UK)
candidate =George John Sandys
votes = 3,876
percentage = 43.8
change = Election box majority
votes = 1,093
percentage = 12.4
change = Election box turnout
votes = 8,845
percentage =
change = Election box hold with party link
winner = Liberal Party (UK)
swing =See also
*
List of United Kingdom by-elections
* Bodmin constituencyNotes
References
* The Times, July 1906
*Rayment
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