The 1910 Shipley by-election was a parliamentary by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Shipley in the West Riding of Yorkshire on 10 March 1910.
Vacancy
The by-election was caused by the appointment of the sitting Liberal MP, Percy Illingworth to the post of Junior Lord of the Treasury,[1] i.e. one of the government whips. Under the Parliamentary rules applying at that time this required him to resign his seat and fight a by-election.
Candidates
Liberals
The Shipley Liberals re-selected Illingworth. He had been returned unopposed in the general election of 1906 and had seen off a Liberal Unionist challenger in the general election held in January 1910 just a few weeks before by a healthy majority of 3775 votes.[2] Shipley Liberals welcomed their member’s appointment to the government and foresaw no reason to doubt he would be re-elected in the forthcoming by-election.[3]
Unionists
It was reported that the Unionists in the Shipley constituency were unprepared to fight another contest so soon after the general election [4] and the Shipley Division Liberal Unionists decided not to oppose Illingworth on the formal grounds that his appointment as a whip should not involve him in a fresh contest.[5]
The result
There being no other candidates putting themselves forward, Illingworth was returned unopposed.[6]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Percy Illingworth | Unopposed | N/A | N/A | |
| Liberal hold | |||||