1900 Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities by-election

The Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities by-election of 1900 was a parliamentary by-election held in Scotland in May 1900 for the House of Commons constituency of Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities.

1900 Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities by-election
26 September – 24 October 1900
 
Candidate Sir John Batty Tuke
Party Conservative
MP before election

Priestley
Conservative

 Subsequent MP

Tuke
Conservative

As a university constituency, the constituency had no geographical basis. Instead, its electorate consisted of the graduates of Edinburgh University and St Andrews University.

Vacancy

The by-election was held to fill the vacancy caused by the death on 11 April 1900 of 70-year-old Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) Sir William Overend Priestley.[1] An eminent obstetrician, Priestley had held the seat since a by-election in May 1896.[2]

Candidates

The Conservative Party selected as its candidate the 65-year-old Sir John Batty Tuke. He was a Yorkshire-born, Edinburgh-educated, pioneering psychiatrist based at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, who had been knighted in 1898.[3]

Nomination day was set as Thursday 3 May,[4] but the seat had last been contested at the 1885 general election.[2] The Conservatives did not expect a contest in the by-election,[3] and speculation that the novelist J. M. Barrie would stand as a Liberal Party candidate ended on 30 April when Barrie sent a telegram declining nomination.[5]

Result

The nomination process was held in the Senate Hall of the University of Edinburgh on 3 May 1900, where the Principal Sir William Muir presided over a gathering of only about 20 people. Tuke was nominated by Professor Thomas Annandale of Edinburgh, and seconded by Professor Scott Lang of the University of St Andrews.[6]

No other candidate was nominated, so Tuke was declared elected.[6][2]

Aftermath

Tuke was re-elected unopposed at general election in September/October 1900. At the 1906 general election, he was re-elected in a two-way contest with John Strachey (journalist), a Free Trader.[2] He stood down at the January 1910 general election.[2]

See also

References
  1. "Obituary: Sir William Priestley". The Times (36114). London, England. 12 April 1900. p. 4. Retrieved 15 January 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  2. Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1989]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 571. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
  3. "Election Intelligence: Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities". The Times (36120). London, England. 19 April 1900. p. 5. Retrieved 15 January 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  4. "Election Intelligence: Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities". The Times (36129). London, England. 30 April 1900. p. 9. Retrieved 15 January 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  5. "Election Intelligence: Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities". The Times (36130). London, England. 1 May 1900. p. 7. Retrieved 15 January 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  6. "Election Intelligence: Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities". The Times (36133). London, England. 4 May 1900. p. 6. Retrieved 15 January 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
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