1911 Haddingtonshire by-election

The Haddingtonshire by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 19 April 1911. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

Previous result

General election December 1910: Electorate 8,184

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Richard Haldane	3,845	54.9	-0.6
	Conservative	Benjamin Hall Blyth	3,158	45.1	+0.6
Majority			687	9.8	-1.2
Turnout			7,003	85.6	+0.2
	Liberal hold		Swing	-0.6

Result

By-Election 19 April 1911: Electorate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Deans Hope	3,652	53.4	-1.5
	Conservative	Benjamin Hall Blyth	3,184	46.6	+1.5
Majority			468	6.8	-3.0
Turnout			6,836	83.5	-2.1
	Liberal hold		Swing	-1.5

Aftermath

In 1912, after three unsuccessful attempts, the local Conservative Association replaced Blyth with a new candidate, Mansfield Hunter, who was replaced in 1913 by H. P. Macmillan. A general election was due to take place by the end of 1915. By the autumn of 1914, the following candidates had been selected to contest that election. Due to the outbreak of the First World War, the election never took place as scheduled.

General Election 1914/15: Electorate 8,135

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Deans Hope
	Unionist	Hugh Macmillan

The constituency was merged into the new Berwick & Haddington constituency for the 1918 elections. Tennant had represented the Berwick part. Hope was given the Coalition government coupon.

General election 14 December 1918: Electorate 32,763

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	*John Deans Hope	8,584	53.9
	Labour	Robert W Foulis	4,783	30.0
	Liberal	Harold Tennant	2,557	16.1
Majority			3,801	23.9
Turnout			15,924
	National Liberal win (new seat)

References

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