1903 Dulwich by-election

The 1903 Dulwich by-election was a by-election held on 15 December 1903 for the British House of Commons constituency of Dulwich in South London.

Vacancy

The by-election was triggered by the death of the serving Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP), Sir John Blundell Maple.

Candidates

The Unionist (Conservative) candidate was Dr Frederick Rutherfoord Harris, who had previously been elected MP for Monmouth Boroughs in the 1900 general election but was disqualified the next year as a result of an election petition alleging irregularities.
The Liberal Party candidate was Charles Masterman.

Campaign

The main issue in the by-election, as with the Lewisham by-election held on the same day, was tariff reform. Harris was a supporter of Joseph Chamberlain's proposals for Imperial Preference and was supported by the Tariff Reform League. Masterman was a supporter of the Liberal party policy of Free trade. Harris's involvement in the Jameson Raid affair was raised by his opponents.

Result

Dulwich by-election, 1903^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Frederick Rutherfoord Harris	5,819	57.0
	Liberal	Charles Masterman	4,382	43.0
Majority			1,437	14.0
Turnout			10,201
	Conservative hold		Swing

References

^ The Constitutional Year Book, 1904, published by Conservative Central Office, page 158 (182 in web page)

The Times, 16 December 1903
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

[Year_Book-1] The Constitutional Year Book, 1904, published by Conservative Central Office, page 158 (182 in web page)

[1]

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1900	December: Dover Preston Guildford Wellington Woodbridge West Derbyshire Blackpool North Monaghan
1901	February: Stretford March: Maidstone May: Monmouth Boroughs Mid Cork Oswestry Saffron Walden June: Stratford-on-Avon July: Wokingham August: Andover September: North East Lanarkshire November: Galway
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1903	January: Newmarket Liverpool West Derby February: South Antrim East Perthshire Dublin University March: Galway Woolwich Rye North Fermanagh Chertsey April: Camborne May: Preston South Kildare July: Barnard Castle August: Argyllshire September: St Andrews Burghs Rochester October: North Leitrim South Meath Belfast West Warwick and Leamington Westhoughton Fareham Londonderry November: Chorley December: Dulwich Lewisham Ludlow
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1905	January: Stalybridge Mile End North Dorset February: North Kildare Liverpool Everton March: Appleby Buteshire April: Brighton June: Whitby Chichester Cork North Donegal Finsbury East July: Kingswinford West Down Carlisle September: Elgin Burghs Belfast North October: Barkston Ash Hampstead November: Normanton December: New Forest
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Vacancy

Candidates

Campaign

Result

See also

References