1903 Lewisham By-election
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The 1903 Lewisham by-election was a
by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...
held on 15 December 1903 for the
British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...
constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...
of
Lewisham Lewisham ( ) is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in ...
. The by-election was triggered by the death of the serving Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP), John Penn. The Unionist candidate was Major Edward Coates. The
Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...
candidate was James William Cleland. As with the Dulwich by-election held on the same day, the main issue was
tariff reform Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...
and
Joseph Chamberlain Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal Party (UK), Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually was a leading New Imperialism, imperial ...
's proposals for
Imperial Preference Imperial Preference was a system of mutual tariff reduction enacted throughout the British Empire and British Commonwealth following the Ottawa Conference of 1932. As Commonwealth Preference, the proposal was later revived in regard to the member ...
. A factor which made the result of the by election difficult to predict was that the seat had not been contested since 1892 and in that time the population had doubled in size. The additional residents, according to the Times, were mainly "City men, with comparatively small incomes".''The Times'' 3 December 1903 In the event, the result was a comfortable win for the Unionist candidate.


Result


References

* ''The Times'', 16 December 1903


See also

*
List of United Kingdom by-elections The list of by-elections in the United Kingdom is divided chronologically by parliament: Parliament of England * List of English by-elections (1689–1700) * List of English by-elections (1701–1707) Parliament of Great Britain * List of Great ...
* Lewisham constituency {{By-elections to the 27th UK Parliament Lewisham,1903 Lewisham by-election Lewisham,1903 Lewisham by-election December 1903 in the United Kingdom