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The1909 Bermondsey by-election was aby-election held on 28 October 1909 for theBritish House of Commonsconstituency ofBermondsey in South East London. It returned oneMember of Parliament (MP) to theHouse of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by thefirst past the post voting system. Two suffragettes who tried to disrupt the men's election damaged the presiding officer and the ballots.
The by-election was called following the death ofGeorge Cooper, who had gained the seat as part of theLiberal Party victory in the1906 general election.
The seat had been Liberal since they gained it at the last General Election in 1906;
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | George Cooper | 4,775 | 61.3 | +13.2 | |
| Conservative | Henry Cust | 3,016 | 38.7 | −13.2 | |
| Majority | 1,759 | 22.6 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 7,791 | 73.4 | +4.4 | ||
| Liberalgain fromConservative | Swing | +13.2 | |||
The Labour party intervened in the contest having not stood in 1906. They selected 36-year-oldAlfred Salter who had recently joined theIndependent Labour Party. Back in 1906, Salter had been elected in succession to Cooper as theProgressive member for Bermondsey on theLondon County Council. On 8 October, Salter was officially announced as the party's candidate, just one day after the death of Cooper.[1]The local Liberal Association selected 51-year-old journalistSpencer Leigh Hughes to defend the seat. He was not previously connected to the area and had unsuccessfully stood as Liberal candidate in the1907 Jarrow by-election. Hughes was adopted unanimously as the candidate for the by-election.[2] The local Liberals might have chosenHarold Glanville, a Bermondsey man who represented neighbouringRotherhithe on theLondon County Council. With a General election pending, the Conservatives had already selected their candidate,Assheton Pownall. However, he was out of the country at the time and unable to campaign. Forced to find someone else at short notice, they settled on a local man, 64-year-old Cllr.John Dumphreys as their candidate. He had worked as a leather dresser, in an industry which was quite significant locally. In 1907 he became Mayor of Bermondsey. He was a supporter of Tariff Reform.[3]
Polling Day was fixed for the 28 October, just 21 days after the death of Cooper.There was a significant speech made byChancellor of the Exchequer,David Lloyd George, atLimehouse on 30 July 1909 in which he outlined the proposals in thePeople's Budget. Since then, there had been no by-election in which to gauge public reaction to these proposals. The proposals therefore became central to the campaign. The Conservatives campaigned against the radicalism of the Liberals and their idea of massive state intervention in welfare. Hughes and the local Liberals embraced thisNew Liberal approach. Dumphreys was critical of the Liberal government's failure to act on the recommendation of the Poor Law Commission, which had been initiated by the previous Conservative government. In particular, he pressed for wholesale reform of the workhouse system, for better treatment of the deserving poor, and removal of the taint of pauper from children. "For every child a chance" was his philosophy.[4]The Liberal campaign faced particular difficulties because their candidate was an outsider while both the Conservative and Labour candidates were local.[5]
On polling day,Alice Chapin andAlison Neilans from theWomen's Freedom League poured corrosive liquids over ballot boxes in protest at thePrime Minister's refusal to meet with suffrage campaigners.[6] A presiding officer, George Thornley, had his eye damaged. He testified at Chapin's trial that this was an accidental consequence of the attempt to damage ballots.[7] The count was delayed while ballot papers were carefully examined, 83 ballot papers were damaged but legible but two ballot papers became indecipherable.[8]
Dumphreys gained the seat for theConservatives and Unionists, though with less than half the votes;
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | John Dumphreys | 4,278 | 47.5 | +8.8 | |
| Liberal | Spencer Leigh Hughes | 3,291 | 36.6 | −24.7 | |
| Labour | Alfred Salter | 1,435 | 15.9 | New | |
| Majority | 987 | 10.9 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 9,004 | 73.6 | +0.2 | ||
| Conservativegain fromLiberal | Swing | +16.8 | |||
Dumphreys would lose the seat to the Liberals eleven weeks later in the general election, but not to Hughes who was to be elected as Liberal MP forStockport, but this time to a Bermondsey man. After finishing bottom of the poll in the by-election, the Labour party withdrew from the contest;
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Harold Glanville | 5,477 | 54.9 | +18.3 | |
| Conservative | John Dumphreys | 4,508 | 45.1 | −2.4 | |
| Majority | 969 | 9.8 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 9,985 | 82.4 | +8.8 | ||
| Liberalgain fromConservative | Swing | +10.4 | |||
Salter later became MP forWest Bermondsey in 1922.The twosuffragette protestersAlice Chapin andAlison Neilans, were sentenced to three months each inHolloway Prison.[10]
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