1917 Rotherham by-election


The Rotherham by-election, 1917 was a parliamentary by-election held for the House of Commons constituency of Rotherham in the West Riding of Yorkshire on 5 February 1917.

Vacancy

The by-election was caused by the elevation to the peerage of the sitting Liberal MP, Joseph ‘Jack’ Pease.

Candidates

The Rotherham Liberals adopted Arthur Richardson as their new candidate. Richardson had been Lib-Lab MP for Nottingham South from 1906 until January 1910. Richardson immediately declared his position as being in favour of the successful prosecution of the war and the defeat of German militarism.
No nominations were received from the other parties, who were apparently content to honour the wartime electoral truce and Richardson was therefore returned unopposed.

The result