High Peak by-election, 1909

The High Peak by-election was a Parliamentary by-election. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

Vacancy

Oswald Partington had been Liberal MP for the seat of High Peak since the 1900 General Election. On 5 July 1909, he was appointed as a Junior Lord of the Treasury, which meant, in accordance with the times, that he was required to resign his seat and seek re-election to parliament.

Electoral history

The seat had been Liberal since Partington gained it from the Conservatives in 1900. He easily held the seat at the last election, with an increased majority;

O. Partington

Candidates

The local Liberal Association re-selected 37-year-old Oswald Partington to defend the seat. The Conservatives retained 30-year-old barrister Albert Profumo as their candidate. He had unsuccessfully tried to re-gain the seat from Partington at the last election.^[2]

Campaign

The Manager of the local Kinder Print Works shown with car depicting a Conservative 'Vote Profumo' poster

Polling Day was fixed for 22 July, allowing for a short 17-day campaign.

On 9 July the Liberals retained a by-election in Cleveland, Yorkshire. On 15 July, the Liberals retained a by-election in nearby Mid Derbyshire. On 20 July, the Liberals retained a by-election in Dumfries Burghs.^[3]

The major incident of the campaign was Partington's challenge to fight a reporter of the Sheffield Daily Telegraph. The presses of that paper had been used to print the High Peak Elector, a campaign newspaper published by the Conservatives, which Partington claimed had slighted his wife, Clara.^[4]

Result

The Liberals held the seat and managed a slightly increased majority;

Aftermath

Partington retained the seat at the following General Election;

References