1904 Dublin St Stephen's Green by-election

The 1904 Dublin St Stephen's Green by-election was held on 21 March 1904 following the death of the incumbent Irish Parliamentary Party MP, James Cann on 14 February.

Candidates

The Unionist candidate was Charles Louis Matheson, a lawyer. He was selected by the City of Dublin Unionist Registration Association when the prospective candidate, Norris Goddard, withdrew as he was ineligible to stand. A potential opponent, M. J. F. McCarthy, withdrew from the contest for the nomination.[1]

Matheson would go on to become a serjeant-at-law in 1911 and Recorder of Belfast in 1913.

The Irish Parliamentary Party candidate was Laurence Ambrose Waldron, a stockbroker.[2][3]

Unionist campaign

'[This] by-election ... revealed how deep the divisions in unionist ranks ran, but it was also a harbinger of the future. Senior figures within the Unionist Party were not inclined to contest the seat, especially as the new nationalist-backed ‘independent’ candidate, Laurence Waldron, was a stockbroker and former unionist who would be a moderating influence in the House of Commons. Several leading business figures, including Sir William Goulding, chairman of the Great Southern and Western Railway, and Lord Iveagh, head of the Guinness dynasty, resigned from the Unionist Representative Association in protest at a grass-roots revolt that led to the association supporting the candidacy of Norris Godard, a Crown solicitor. It was a foolish nomination, as Godard could stand only by relinquishing his lucrative government post, which he declined to do. The former Unionist MP for the constituency, James Campbell KC, was available to stand and had the added advantage of being wealthy enough to finance his own campaign, but the Unionist Representative Association would not have him. There followed an unseemly row about the rival candidacies of another lawyer, C. L. Matheson, and Michael McCarthy, a colourful renegade nationalist from Cork who was popular with militant unionists because of his books denouncing the evils of Catholicism. Matheson secured the nomination but, as expected, was defeated by Waldron.'[4]

Result
1904 Dublin St Stephen's Green by-election[5][6][7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Irish Parliamentary Laurence Ambrose Waldron 3,457 55.1 Increase0.7
Irish Unionist Charles Louis Matheson 2,821 44.9 Decrease0.7
Majority 636 10.2 Increase1.4
Turnout 6,278 78.3 Increase6.0
Registered electors 8,018
Irish Parliamentary hold Swing Increase0.7

References
  1. Maguire, Martin (May 1994). "The Organisation and Activism of Dublin's Protestant Working Class, 1883-1935". Irish Historical Studies. 29 (113): 65–87. doi:10.1017/S0021121400018770. JSTOR 30007191. S2CID 160276744. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  2. Murphy, David (2009). "Waldron, Laurence Ambrose". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  3. The Popular Guide to the House of Commons 1906. London: The Pall Mall Press. 1906. p. 72.
  4. Pádraig Yeates, 'A City in Wartime – Dublin 1914–1918: The Easter Rising 1916',
  5. Walker, Brian Mercer (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. p. 164. ISBN 0-901714-12-7.
  6. The Liberal Year Book for 1908. London: The Liberal Publication Department. 1908. pp. 248–249.
  7. The Constitutional Year Book for 1919. London: National Unionist Association. 1919. p. 338.
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