Cockermouth by-election, 1906

The Cockermouth by-election, 1906 was a by-election held on 3 August 1906 for the British House of Commons constituency of Cockermouth.

Vacancy

The by-election was triggered by the death of the town's Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) Sir Wilfrid Lawson.

Electoral history

At the last General Election in January, the result was;

General Election 1906 Cockermouth^[1] Electorate 11,700

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Sir Wilfrid Lawson	5,349	52.8	+4.1
	Conservative	Sir John Scurrah Randles	4,786	47.2	-4.1
Majority			563	5.6	8.2
Turnout				86.6	+10.0
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+4.1

Candidates

Freddie Guest

The Liberal candidate chosen to defend the seat was Captain Frederick Guest. Thirty-one-year-old Guest was a former Conservative who had followed his cousin Winston Churchill, for whom he worked as private secretary, into the Liberal Party in 1904 in support of the policy of Free trade. At the previous General Election in January, he was Liberal candidate for Kingswinford where he came second.

The Conservative candidate was Sir John Randles, who had held the seat from 1900 until losing narrowly in the general election in January. Thirty-one-year-old Randles was an industrialist in the coal and steel business.

Robert Smillie

There was also a third candidate, Robert Smillie of the Independent Labour Party. Forty-nine-year-old Smillie, in 1893 was a founding member of the Independent Labour Party. He had been President of the Scottish Miners' Federation since 1894. He had stood unsuccessfully for parliament on a number of occasions since 1894. At the previous General Election in January, he was Labour candidate for Paisley when he came third.

Campaign

Randles during the campaign

Result

Turnout was only slightly down since the general election, when only two candidates had run, and although the Conservative vote fell slightly, the Liberals lost much more, probably due to the intervention of Smillie. The result was a gain for the Conservatives.^[2]

Cockermouth by-election, 1906^[3] Electorate 11,700

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Sir John Scurrah Randles	4,593	46.2	-1.0
	Liberal	Frederick Edward Guest	3,903	39.3	-13.5
	Ind. Labour Party	Robert Smillie	1,436	14.5	n/a
Majority			690	6.9	12.5
Turnout			9,932	84.9	-1.7
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+6.2

Aftermath

Randles held the seat at the following General Election;

General Election January 1910 Cockermouth^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Sir John Scurrah Randles	4,579	45.2	-1.0
	Liberal	Sir Wilfrid Lawson	3,638	35.9	-3.4
	Labour	James Percy Whitehead	1,909	18.9	+4.4
Majority			941	9.3	+2.4
Turnout				89.4	+4.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.2

Sir John Randles lost the seat again in the December 1910 election, this time to Sir Wilfred Lawson, son of the former MP. Frederick Guest was eventually returned as a Member of Parliament for East Dorset in the January 1910 general election.

See also

• List of United Kingdom by-elections
• Cockermouth constituency

References

1. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
2. The Times, 6 August 1906
3. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
4. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

• The Times, July/August 1906
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs