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1904 Reading by-election

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1904 Reading by-election

← 1900 6 August 1904 1906 →
 
Candidate Isaacs Keyser
Party Liberal Conservative
Popular vote 4,770 4,540
Percentage 51.2% 48.8%

MP before election

George Palmer
Liberal

Subsequent MP

Rufus Isaacs
Liberal

The 1904 Reading by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 6 August 1904.[1] The constituency returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

Vacancy

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George Palmer had been Liberal MP for the seat of Reading since the 1898 Reading by-election. He resigned from Parliament in 1904, due to advancing deafness.[2]

Electoral history

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Since the Reading constituency was created in 1885 it had been closely contested between Liberal and Conservative; The Conservatives winning in 1885, 1886 and 1895 and the Liberals in 1892, 1898 and 1900. The Liberal victor on each occasion was Palmer, who was a very well known biscuit manufacturer in the town.[3] At the last election he had won narrowly;

General Election 1900: Reading [4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal George William Palmer 4,592 51.3 −1.1
Conservative Charles Edward Keyser 4,353 48.7 +4.2
Majority 239 2.6 −5.3
Turnout 8,945 88.1 −3.6
Liberal hold Swing -2.6

Candidates

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Isaacs (Lib)
  • The local Liberal Association selected 44 year-old Rufus Isaacs as their candidate to hold the seat. Isaacs was a London barrister who had been made a QC in 1898. He was standing as a candidate for the first time.[5] In such a marginal seat, the Liberals were taking a risk by choosing an outsider to replace a well-known local man.
Keyser (Con)
  • The local Conservative Association selected 57 year-old stockbroker Charles Keyser as their candidate. He was contesting Reading for the third time, having lost to Palmer in 1898 and 1900.[6]
  • There was some expectation of a socialist candidate making it a three-way contest, as had been the case in the 1898 by-election.

Campaign

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Polling day was fixed for the 6 August 1904.

Result

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The Liberals held the seat with an almost identical result to the previous election;

Reading by-election, 1904 [7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Rufus Daniel Isaacs 4,770 51.2 −0.1
Conservative Charles Edward Keyser 4,540 48.8 +0.1
Majority 230 2.4 −0.2
Turnout 9,310 83.5 −4.6
Liberal hold Swing -0.1

Aftermath

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Keyser did not stand for parliament again. At the following General Election, Isaacs was re-elected;

General Election 1906: Reading [8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Rufus Daniel Isaacs 5,407 53.4 +2.2
Conservative George Horace Johnstone 4,710 46.6 −2.2
Majority 697 6.8 +4.4
Turnout 10,117 91.6 +8.1
Liberal hold Swing +2.2

References

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  1. ^ Craig, F.W.S. (1987). Chronology of British Parliamentary By-elections 1833–1987. Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 98.
  2. ^ "Election intelligence". The Times. No. 36781. London. 30 May 1902. p. 10.
  3. ^ ‘PALMER, Rt Hon. George William’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014; online edn, April 2014 accessed 5 January 2017
  4. ^ British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
  5. ^ ‘READING’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014; online edn, April 2014 accessed 5 January 2017
  6. ^ ‘KEYSER, Charles Edward’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014; online edn, April 2014 accessed 5 January 2017
  7. ^ British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
  8. ^ British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig