1918 Newcastle-upon-Tyne by-election

The 1918 Newcastle-upon-Tyne by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 13 May 1918 for the House of Commons constituency of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the historic county of Northumberland.

Vacancy

The by-election was caused by the appointment of the sitting Liberal MP Edward Shortt, as Chief Secretary for Ireland. He succeeded Henry Duke who resigned the post in response to the announcement by Prime Minister David Lloyd George on 9 April of Irish conscription.^[1] Shortt had come to Lloyd George's attention when he made a success of chairing a select committee set up to review the difficult subject of the general administration of the Military Service Acts.^[2] Under the Parliamentary rules of the day applicable to the appointment of ministers, Shortt had to resign and fight a by-election.

Candidates

As the sitting member, Shortt was selected to fight the by-election for the Liberals. As participants in the wartime coalition the Conservatives agreed not to contest the by-election, although they did so deploring the fact that Shortt had recently voted not to apply the Military Service Acts to Ireland.^[3]

The result

No other candidate came forward to contest the election and Shortt was returned unopposed.^[4]

The votes

Newcastle-upon-Tyne by-election, 1918
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Edward Shortt	Unopposed	*N/A*	*N/A*
	Liberal hold

References

^ John Sankey (revised by HC G Matthew), Henry Edward Duke,first Baron Merrivale in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online, OUP 2004-10
^ E I Carlyle (revised by Marc Brodie), Edward Shortt in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online, OUP 2004-10
^ The Times, 11 May 1918 p3
^ The Times, 14 May 1918 p3