1887 North Antrim by-election
The 1887 North Antrim by-election was a parliamentary by-election held for the United Kingdom House of Commons constituency of North Antrim on 11 February 1887. The sitting member, Edward Macnaghten of the Conservatives, had been elevated to the House of Lords as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.
In the ensuing by-election three candidates were nominated: Charles Lewis of the Conservative Party (UK) was elected, with 3,858 votes; S C McElroy, a Gladstone Liberal, received 2,526; and W. A. Traill (Independent Unionist) received 424.[1]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Irish Conservative | Charles Lewis | 3,858 | 56.7 | −13.2 | |
Liberal | Samuel Craig McElroy | 2,526 | 37.1 | +7.0 | |
Ind. Unionist | William Atcheson Traill | 424 | 6.2 | New | |
Majority | 1,332 | 19.6 | −20.1 | ||
Turnout | 6,808 | 71.6 | +0.8 | ||
Registered electors | 9,505 | ||||
Irish Conservative hold | Swing | -10.1 |
McElroy was a leading tenants' rights campaigner.[3] A Presbyterian minister from Portrush, who wrote to Lord Hartington, leader of the Liberal Unionists, seeking advice on whom to vote for, was urged to support the Conservative:
- "it is probable that my opinions agree more closely with those of Mr McElroy than those of Mr Lewis. But the question of the Union, especially in an Irish constituency, I took to be of supreme importance, and it would be a severe blow to the Unionist cause if on account of any minor issue whatever the opinion of such a constituency as North Antrim upon Mr Gladstone's Irish policy should appear to be doubtful."[4]
The Nationalists in the constituency, who supported McElroy, had hoped for his election through a split of the Unionist vote between Lewis and Traill, but as The Times observed, the voters "have not been tempted from the path of loyalty by the lure held out to them by the enemies of their landlords".[1] Lewis sat for the constituency until the 1892 general election, but did not seek re-election.
External links
- A Vision Of Britain Through Time
References
- ^ a b The Times, 14 February 1887.
- ^ The Constitutional Year Book, 1904, published by Conservative Central Office, page 187 (211 in web page)
- ^ D. George Boyce, "In the Front Rank of the Nation: Gladstone and the Unionists of Ireland, 1868-1893" in Gladstone Centenary Essays, ed. David Bebbington and Roger Swift (Liverpool University Press, 2000) page 195.
- ^ The Times, 10 February 1887
- v
- t
- e
- August: Birmingham East
- Brighton
- Bristol West
- Croydon
- Hampstead
- Lewisham
- Liverpool Walton
- Manchester East
- Marylebone East
- Paddington South
- Plymouth
- Sheffield Ecclesall
- Strand
- Bute
- Ealing
- Enfield
- Horncastle
- Isle of Wight
- St George
- Tiverton
- Wigtownshire
- Cambridge University
- West Down
- Dublin University
- Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities
- Melton
- Newton
- North Northamptonshire
- Blackpool
- Burton
- Leith Burghs
- King's Lynn
- November: Brighton
- December: Brentford
- January: Liverpool Exchange
- February: Dartford
- South Donegal
- North Longford
- South Sligo
- St George's, Hanover Square
- North Antrim
- Burnley
- March: Ilkeston
- April: Taunton
- May: North East Cork
- St Austell
- July: Spalding
- Dublin University
- Paddington North
- Coventry
- St Ives
- Basingstoke
- Brixton
- Hornsey
- City of London
- Forest of Dean
- August: Cambridge University
- Glasgow Bridgeton
- Northwich
- County Carlow
- Ramsey
- September: South Kerry
- November: Cambridge University
- December: Dulwich
- January: Winchester
- February: Dublin University
- Liverpool Walton
- Dundee
- Southwark West
- Edinburgh West
- Bristol West
- Doncaster
- Hampstead
- Deptford
- March: Chichester
- Merthyr Tydfil
- Melton
- Gower
- April: Limerick
- Mid Lanarkshire
- May: Dublin St Stephen's Green
- Southampton
- June: Ayr Burghs
- Isle of Thanet
- South Longford
- July: South Sligo
- August: Liverpool West Derby
- October: Merthyr Tydfil
- November: Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities
- Dewsbury
- Holborn
- December: Maidstone
- Colchester
- Stockton-on-Tees
- January: Govan
- February: East Perthshire
- Burnley
- March: Barnsley
- Kennington
- Gorton
- Enfield
- April: Birmingham Central
- Rochester
- June: South East Cork
- July: West Fife
- Dover
- West Carmarthenshire
- Marylebone East
- August: Belfast North
- September: Dundee
- Sleaford
- October: Peterborough
- Elginshire and Nairnshire
- Buckingham
- Brighton
- February: Partick
- Mid Glamorgan
- West Waterford
- March: St Pancras North
- Stamford
- Stoke-upon-Trent
- Ayr Burghs
- East Down
- West Cavan
- April Windsor
- Caernarvon Boroughs
- May: Bristol East
- East Galway
- Mid Tipperary
- West Donegal
- June: North Donegal
- July: Barrow-in-Furness
- Mid Durham
- August: East Carmarthenshire
- October: Eccles
- November: Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities
- December: Bassetlaw
- North Kilkenny
- January: The Hartlepools
- February: Northampton
- March: North Wexford
- Aston Manor
- April: North Sligo
- City of London
- Woodstock
- Whitehaven
- May: Stowmarket
- South Dorset
- Harborough
- Strand
- Buckingham
- June: Paisley
- West Derbyshire
- City of London
- July: County Carlow
- Wisbech
- August: Walsall
- Lewisham
- October: Manchester North East
- Bute
- Cambridge University
- Strand
- North Kilkenny
- November: Cork City
- South Molton
- Leeds North
- East Dorset
- December: Chichester
- Mid Armagh
- Waterford City
- January: Rossendale
- February: Liverpool Everton
- March: Chertsey
- South Derbyshire
- Belfast East
- North Wexford
- Kirkcaldy Burghs
- East Worcestershire
- April: Luton
- Chelmsford
- May: Hackney North
- Lists of UK by-elections
- 1801–1806
- 1806–1818
- 1818–1832
- 1832–1847
- 1847–1857
- 1857–1868
- 1868–1885
- 1885–1900
- 1900–1918
- 1918–1931
- 1931–1950
- 1950–1979
- 1979–2010
- 2010–present
- Northern Ireland
- Hereditary peers