The 1913

Linlithgowshire West Lothian, also known as Linlithgowshire (its official name until 1925), is a counties of Scotland, historic county in the east central Lowlands of Scotland. until 1925. It is bounded geographically by the River Avon, Falkirk, Avon to the wes ...

by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 7 November 1913. The constituency returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the

House of Commons of the United Kingdom 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 ...

, elected by the

first past the post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

voting system.

Vacancy

Alexander Ure had been

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

Member of Parliament for

since 1895. In 1913 he was raised to the bench as Lord Strathclyde and appointed Lord Justice General.

Previous result

Candidates

*Forty-year-old former Fabian, John Pratt was selected to defend the seat in the Liberal interest. He was Warden of Glasgow University Settlement, 1902–12 and was a Member of Glasgow Town Council, 1906. However, initially, the West Lothian Liberal Association had sought Robert Brown, the

Provost Provost may refer to: Officials Ecclesiastic * Provost (religion), a high-ranking church official * Prince-provost, a high-ranking church official Government * Provost (civil), an officer of local government, including the equivalent ...

Dalkeith Dalkeith ( ; , ) is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River Esk. It was granted a burgh of barony in 1401 and a burgh of regality in 1541. The settlement of Dalkeith grew southwestwards from its 12th-century castle (now Dalkeith Pala ...

as their candidate. He was Secretary of the Midlothian miners and one of the few miners leaders in Scotland who were sympathetic to the Liberals. The Liberal Party had previously sought after Brown as their candidate for the

1912 Midlothian by-election The 1912 Midlothian (UK Parliament constituency), Midlothian by-election was a UK Parliamentary by-elections, Parliamentary by-election held on 10 September 1912. The constituency returned one Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parl ...

where he eventually stood as a Labour Party candidate, finishing bottom of the poll. Brown once more turned down the Liberal offer and the Liberals chose Pratt. *Edinburgh educated 41-year-old James Kidd was re-selected by the Unionists, having fought the seat at the last election. *The Labour Party agreed not to put forward a candidate, to avoid splitting the anti-Unionist vote. However, the

British Socialist Party The British Socialist Party (BSP) was a Marxist political organisation established in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Great Britain in 1911. Following a protracted period of political faction, factional struggle, in 1916 the party's ...

, which criticised the Liberal/Labour electoral pact, considered putting forward Robert Small, the Secretary of the West Lothian shale miners. Local branches of the Independent Labour Party also considered running a candidate

Campaign

Some 2,000 Irish electors lived in the constituency and they were expected to heavily support the Liberal candidate. Local branches of the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberal Party (UK), Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse work ...

asked local electors to vote for the Unionist Party candidate.John MacLean's Scottish Notes, Justice 8 November 1913, page 6

Result

The Liberals held the seat with a reduced majority.

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. *Scottish Liberal Party: John Pratt *Unionist Party: James Kidd For the 1918 elections, Pratt moved to contest Glasgow Cathcart.

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 {{Westminster by-elections in Scotland 1900–1949 1913 in Scotland 1910s elections in Scotland 1913 elections in the United Kingdom Politics of West Lothian By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Scottish constituencies History of West Lothian November 1913 in the United Kingdom