1910 Shipley by-election

The 1910 Shipley by-election was a parliamentary by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Shipley in the West Riding of Yorkshire on 10 March 1910.

Vacancy

The by-election was caused by the appointment of the sitting Liberal MP, Percy Illingworth to the post of Junior Lord of the Treasury,^[1] i.e. one of the government whips. Under the Parliamentary rules applying at that time this required him to resign his seat and fight a by-election.

Candidates

Liberals

The Shipley Liberals re-selected Illingworth. He had been returned unopposed in the general election of 1906 and had seen off a Liberal Unionist challenger in the general election held in January 1910 just a few weeks before by a healthy majority of 3775 votes.^[2] Shipley Liberals welcomed their member’s appointment to the government and foresaw no reason to doubt he would be re-elected in the forthcoming by-election.^[3]

Unionists

It was reported that the Unionists in the Shipley constituency were unprepared to fight another contest so soon after the general election ^[4] and the Shipley Division Liberal Unionists decided not to oppose Illingworth on the formal grounds that his appointment as a whip should not involve him in a fresh contest.^[5]

The result

There being no other candidates putting themselves forward, Illingworth was returned unopposed.^[6]

Shipley by-election, 1910

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Percy Illingworth	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Liberal hold