1913 Keighley by-election

The 1913 Keighley by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 11 November 1913. The constituency returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

Vacancy

Sir Stanley Buckmaster

The incumbent, Sir Stanley Buckmaster, had been elected for the constituency in the 1911 Keighley by-election. He was required to fight another by-election on his appointment as Solicitor General for England and Wales.

Previous result

1911 Keighley by-election Electorate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Stanley Buckmaster	4,667	39.0
	Conservative	William Mitchell Acworth	3,842	32.1
	Labour	William Crawford Anderson	3,452	28.9
Majority			825	7.1
Turnout			11,961
	Liberal hold		Swing

Candidates

Stanley Buckmaster

Henry Lascelles, Viscount Lascelles - 30-year old heir to the Earl of Harewood, whose peerage he succeeded to in 1929, and future husband of Mary, Princess Royal.

William Bland - local trade unionist member of local Independent Labour Party who was endorsed by the national Labour Party.

Result

The Liberal Party held the seat.

Keighley by-election, 1913 Electorate 14,142

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Stanley Buckmaster	4,730	38.7	−0.3
	Unionist	Henry Lascelles, Viscount Lascelles	3,852	31.5	−0.6
	Labour	William Bland	3,646	29.8	+0.9
Majority			878	7.2	+0.1
Turnout			12,228	86.5
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.2

Aftermath

A General Election was due to take place by the end of 1915. By the summer 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: Electorate 14,400

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal
	Unionist
	Labour

• The Yorkshire branch of the Independent Labour Party were keen to run a candidate.

Another by-election occurred in Keighley in 1915 when Buckmaster accepted a seat in the House of Lords.

References

• Craig, F. W. S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885-1918 (1 ed.). London: Macmillan.
• Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org
• Who's Who: www.ukwhoswho.com
• Debrett's House of Commons 1916