February 1906 City of London by-election

← 1906 (general)

27 February 1906

Jan. 1910 →

Constituency of City of London

Turnout

63.19% (

5.5%)

	First party	Second party

Candidate	Arthur Balfour	Thomas Gibson Bowles
Party	Conservative	Free Trader
Popular vote	15,474	4,134
Percentage	78.92%	21.08%

A map of parliamentary constituencies within the County of London at the time of the by-election, with City of London highlighted in red.

MP before election

Alban Gibbs
Conservative

Subsequent MP

Arthur Balfour
Conservative

The February 1906 City of London by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 27 February 1906 for the British House of Commons constituency of City of London, which covered the "Square Mile" which was the United Kingdom's traditional financial district.

The seat had become vacant on the resignation of Alban Gibbs, one of the constituency's two Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs). Gibbs had resigned in order to provide a safe seat for Arthur Balfour. He would go on to succeed his father, Hucks Gibbs, as Baron Aldenham the following year.

Balfour had been out of Parliament following his defeat at Manchester East in the 1906 general election. He had been prime minister between 1902 and 1905 and at the time was Leader of the Conservative Party, with Joseph Chamberlain filling in as Leader of the Opposition while Balfour was out of Parliament.

Candidates

65-year old Thomas Gibson Bowles, who had been Unionist Member of Parliament for King's Lynn from 1892 until 1906 stood as a Free Trader candidate. The Free Traders were a group of former Conservatives opposed to Balfour's policy of tariff reform, instead preferring free trade.

Votes

City of London by-election, February 1906
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Arthur Balfour	15,474	78.92	+78.92
	Free Trader	Thomas Gibson Bowles	4,134	21.08	+21.08
Majority			11,340	57.84	N/A
Turnout			31,030	63.19	−5.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

1906 general election: City of London (2 seats)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edward Clarke	16,019	38.13	*N/A*
	Conservative	Alban Gibbs	15,619	37.17	*N/A*
	Liberal	Felix Schuster	5,313	12.65	New
	Liberal	Joseph West Ridgeway	5,064	12.05	New
Majority			10,306	24.5	N/A
Turnout			31,030	68.7	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

References

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

v t e Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour
Premiership	1902–1905
General elections	1906 January 1910 December 1910
Constituencies	Hertford Manchester East City of London
Family	James Maitland Balfour (father) Alice Blanche Balfour (sister) Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick (sister) Eustace Balfour (brother) Francis Maitland Balfour (brother) Gerald Balfour (brother) Frances Balfour (sister-in-law) James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury (grandfather) Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (uncle)
Career	Entente Cordiale Committee of Imperial Defence Balfour Mission Balfour Declaration Washington Naval Treaty Balfour Declaration of 1926
In popular culture	Clara in Blunderland (book, 1902) Lost in Blunderland (book, 1903) Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill (TV, 1974) Edward the Seventh (TV, 1975)
See also	February 1906 City of London by-election Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics Balfouria Earl of Balfour Bob's your uncle The Souls Whittingehame

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Votes

See also

References