The Hanley by-election, 1912 was a by-election

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

 held for the British House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 constituency

United Kingdom constituencies

In the United Kingdom , each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one or more members to a parliament or assembly.Within the United Kingdom there are now five bodies with members elected by constituencies:...

 of Hanley

Hanley (UK Parliament constituency)

Hanley was a borough constituency in Staffordshire which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom between 1885 and 1950. Elections were held using the first past the post voting system.- History :...

on 13 July 1912.

Vacancy

The seat had become vacant on 28 June 1912 when the sitting Labour

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP), 60-year-old Enoch Edwards

Enoch Edwards

Enoch Edwards was a British trade unionist and politician.Edwards was born at Talk-o'-the Hill and became a coal miner as a child. He was elected to Staffordshire County Council before becoming President of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain in 1904, and then MP for Hanley in 1906.- External...

 died. Edwards had represented the constituency since gaining it from the Unionists at the 1906 General Election as a Liberal candidate. In 1909, Edwards crossed from Liberal to Labour in accordance with the wishes of his trade union. Even though he contested both the 1910 General Elections as a Labour candidate, he was still supported by the Liberal Party

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

.

Candidates

The Conservative candidate was G H Rittner and the Labour candidate was Samuel Finney

Samuel Finney

Samuel Finney Labour Party politician United Kingdom.He was elected as Member of Parliament for North West Staffordshire at a by-election in 1916, following the death of Labour MP Albert Stanley....

. Unlike Enoch Edwards

Enoch Edwards

Enoch Edwards was a British trade unionist and politician.Edwards was born at Talk-o'-the Hill and became a coal miner as a child. He was elected to Staffordshire County Council before becoming President of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain in 1904, and then MP for Hanley in 1906.- External...

, Finney had no sympathies with the Liberal party, so the local Liberal Association considered fielding a candidate. A neighbouring Liberal MP, Josiah Wedgewood encouraged his friend, Robert Leonard Outhwaite to stand as a Liberal Party

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 candidate. Liberal Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George

David Lloyd George

David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...

 was looking towards a Liberal Land Campaign to gain support for a reform of land taxation to introduce a 'Single Tax'. Like Josiah Wedgewood, Outhwaite was a strong supporter of the 'Single Tax'. The local Liberal Association therefore adopted Outhwaite as candidate to campaign on a 'Single Tax' platform.

The Campaign

The Liberal campaign received a boost when John Redmond

John Redmond

John Edward Redmond was an Irish nationalist politician, barrister, MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party from 1900 to 1918...

, the Leader of the nationalist Irish Parliamentary Party

Irish Parliamentary Party

The Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons at...

, sent a letter of support to Outhwaite due to his support for the Liberal Government's Irish Home Rule Bill.

Result

The result was a boost for Lloyd George's land reform campaign and shortly afterwards, Herbert Asquith agreed to commit the Liberal government to a reform of land taxation. It also demonstrated that the Liberal party could be successful against the Labour party by pursuing a radical agenda.