1912 Hackney South by-election

The Hackney South by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 24 May 1912. 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.

Hackney South in London, 1912

Vacancy

In May 1912, Horatio Bottomley, the controversial Liberal MP for Hackney South, was forced to resign his seat when he was declared bankrupt. Bottomley had been unpopular with a large portion of the party's activists in Hackney, who had run their own candidate against him in December 1910.

Electoral history

General election December 1910: Hackney South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Horatio Bottomley	5,068	59.2
	Conservative	Sydney Charles Nettleton King-Farlow	3,243	31.6
	Independent Liberal	Richard Roberts	1,946	19.0
Majority			1,825	27.6
Turnout			10,257
	Independent hold		Swing

Candidates

The two Liberal factions came together to nominate Hector Morison for the vacancy. Morison was a 62-year-old Scottish member of the London Stock Exchange. He was also a former Member of Parliament, he had sat for Eastbourne from January to December 1910, when he was defeated.

The Unionists selected John Constant Gibson, a 51-year-old Scottish businessman.

Result

The Liberal Party held the seat.

Morison

Hackney South by-election, 1912

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Hector Morison	5,339	52.5	+33.5
	Conservative	John Constant Gibson	4,836	47.5	+15.9
Majority			503	5.0	N/A
Turnout			10,175	70.1
	Liberal hold		Swing

General election 14 December 1918: Hackney South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Horatio Bottomley	11,145	79.7	N/A
	Liberal	Arthur Henri	2,830	20.3	−32.2
Majority			8,315	59.4	N/A
Turnout			13,975
	Independent gain from Liberal		Swing

• Henri was the endorsed candidate of the Coalition Government.

Aftermath

Morison served only one term as a member of the Commons. He chose to retire at the next general election in 1918. Horatio Bottomley, whose bankruptcy had been annulled, regained the Hackney South seat as an independent though he would later be expelled again, leading to the 1922 Hackney South by-election.