January 1883 East Sydney colonial by-election

A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of East Sydney on 11 January 1883 because George Reid was appointed Minister of Public Instruction in the Stuart ministry.[1] Such ministerial by-elections were usually uncontested and six ministers were re-elected unopposed. On this occasion a poll was required in East Sydney and Newtown (Henry Copeland). Copeland was defeated but regained a seat in parliament at the second by-election for East Sydney held on 23 January 1883. The six other ministers, Alexander Stuart (Illawarra), George Dibbs (St Leonards), Henry Cohen (West Maitland), James Farnell (New England), Francis Wright (Redfern) and Joseph Abbott (Gunnedah), were re-elected unopposed.[2]

Albert Elkington had been the mayor of Balmain from February 1881 until February 1882.[3]

Dates
DateEvent
5 January 1883 Stuart ministry appointed.[4]
6 January 1883 Writ of election issued by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.[5]
10 January 1883 Nominations
11 January 1883 Polling day
16 January 1883 Return of writ

Result
1883 East Sydney by-election
Thursday 11 January [6]
Candidate Votes %
George Reid (re-elected) 2,258 74.7
Albert Elkington 729 25.3
Total formal votes 2,887 99.2
Informal votes 24 0.8
Turnout 2,911 36.2

Aftermath

The following year the Committee of Elections and Qualifications held that an error in the drafting of the constitution meant that Reid could not be validly appointed Minister of Public Instruction, and declared his seat vacant.[7] Reid was defeated in the resulting by-election in February 1884.[8]

See also

References
  1. "Sir George Houston Reid (1845–1918)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  2. Green, Antony. "1882 to 1885 by-elections". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  3. "Borough of Balmain". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 60. 13 February 1880. p. 740. Retrieved 10 September 2020 – via Trove.
  4. "Appointment of ministers". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 12. New South Wales, Australia. 5 January 1883. p. 141. Retrieved 10 September 2020 – via Trove.
  5. "Writ of election: East Sydney". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 13. 6 January 1883. p. 144. Retrieved 10 September 2020 – via Trove.
  6. Green, Antony. "First January 1883 East Sydney by-election". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  7. Twomey, Anne (2004). The Constitution of New South Wales. Federation Press. pp. 433–4. ISBN 9781862875166. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  8. Green, Antony. "1884 East Sydney by-election". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
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