Talk:1916 Berwick-upon-Tweed by-election

Latest comment: 10 years ago by JASpencer in topic Party labels

Party labels edit

The exact description of the candidates is disputable. Craig in British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 describes Blake as Liberal and Turnbull as Independent. Debretts House of Commons & Judicial Bench of 1918 describes Blake as Coalition Liberald and Turnbull as Independent. The Times 18-8-16 describes Blake as Coalition and Turnbull as Independent. These sources undermine the Kalgoorlie Miner's description of Turnbull as an Independent Liberal. At the time of the by-election, Herbert Asquith led a coalition government. At this point in history few differentiated between Liberals who supported the government compared with those who didn't so I would argue the prefix 'Coalition' is not warranted. I think the most accurate description based on what we know is Blake - Liberal and Turnbull - Independent, which is what Craig says and generally I take Craig to be the authority on matters such as this.Graemp (talk) 13:39, 1 February 2014 (UTC)Reply

Independent Liberal is more descriptive as to why Turnbull stood than Independent, although to be fair there's nothing apart from that description. JASpencer (talk) 12:50, 1 February 2014 (UTC)Reply
Agreed, I have often added a suffix to Independent where only mentioned in some sources however I think in this case it could lead to confusion in some people thinking that Blake was a Lloyd George Liberal and Turnbull an Asquith Liberal.Graemp (talk) 13:39, 1 February 2014 (UTC)Reply
OK, that makes sense. I'll add a hyperlink in the text and be done with it. JASpencer (talk) 14:09, 1 February 2014 (UTC)Reply