1904 Reading by-election

The Reading by-election was a Parliamentary by-election. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

1904 Reading by-election

6 August 1904

Candidate Isaacs Keyser Party Liberal Conservative Popular vote 4,770 4,540 Percentage 51.2 48.8

MP before election George Palmer Liberal Subsequent MP Rufus Isaacs Liberal

Vacancy

George Palmer had been Liberal MP for the seat of Reading since the 1898 Reading by-election. He resigned from Parliament in 1904, due to advancing deafness.[1]

Electoral history

Since the Reading constituency was created in 1885 it had been closely contested between Liberal and Conservative; The Conservatives winning in 1885, 1886 and 1895 and the Liberals in 1892, 1898 and 1900. The Liberal victor on each occasion was Palmer, who was a very well known biscuit manufacturer in the town.[2] At the last election he had won narrowly;

General Election 1900: Reading [3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George William Palmer	4,592	51.3	-1.1
	Conservative	Charles Edward Keyser	4,353	48.7	+4.2
Majority			239	2.6	-5.3
Turnout			8,945	88.1	-3.6
	Liberal hold		Swing	-2.6

Candidates

Isaacs (Lib)

• The local Liberal Association selected 44 year-old Rufus Isaacs as their candidate to hold the seat. Isaacs was a London barrister who had been made a QC in 1898. He was standing as a candidate for the first time.[4] In such a marginal seat, the Liberals were taking a risk by choosing an outsider to replace a well-known local man.

Keyser (Con)

• The local Conservative Association selected 57 year-old stockbroker Charles Keyser as their candidate. He was contesting Reading for the third time, having lost to Palmer in 1898 and 1900.[5]
• There was some expectation of a socialist candidate making it a three-way contest, as had been the case in the 1898 by-election.

Campaign

Polling day was fixed for the 6 August 1904.

Result

The Liberals held the seat with an almost identical result to the previous election;

Reading by-election, 1904 [6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rufus Daniel Isaacs	4,770	51.2	-0.1
	Conservative	Charles Edward Keyser	4,540	48.8	+0.1
Majority			230	2.4	-0.2
Turnout			9,310	83.5	-4.6
	Liberal hold		Swing	-0.1

Aftermath

Keyser did not stand for parliament again. At the following General Election, Isaacs was re-elected;

General Election 1906: Reading [7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rufus Daniel Isaacs	5,407	53.4	+2.2
	Conservative	George Horace Johnstone	4,710	46.6	-2.2
Majority			697	6.8	+4.4
Turnout			10,117	91.6	+8.1
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.2

References

1. "Election intelligence". The Times (36781). London. 30 May 1902. p. 10.
2. ‘PALMER, Rt Hon. George William’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 ; online edn, April 2014 accessed 5 January 2017
3. British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
4. ‘READING’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 ; online edn, April 2014 accessed 5 January 2017
5. ‘KEYSER, Charles Edward’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 ; online edn, April 2014 accessed 5 January 2017
6. British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig
7. British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918, FWS Craig