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The 1907 Halifax by-election was a parliamentary by-election held for the House of Commons constituency of Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire on 6 March 1907.

Vacancy

Under the provisions of the Succession to the Crown Act 1707 and a number of subsequent Acts, MPs appointed to certain ministerial and legal offices were at this time required to seek re-election.^[1] The by-election in Halifax was caused by the appointment of the sitting Liberal MP, John Henry Whitley as a Junior Lord of the Treasury, the formal title given to the government’s junior whips in Parliament.^[2]

Candidates

Whitley, who had held the seat since 1900 fought the seat again in the Liberal interest. Halifax was a constituency at that time returning two members and there was recent history of both Liberal Unionist and Labour Party MPs being elected there. However the Unionist members met on 2 March to consider whether or not to run a candidate and decided to do so only if Labour contested the election. Later that day Labour announced they would not oppose Whitley ^[3] and there being no other nominations, Whitley was therefore returned unopposed on 6 March 1907.^[4]

The result

Halifax by-election, 1907
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Henry Whitley	Unopposed	*N/A*	*N/A*
	Liberal hold

References

^ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results, 1885-1918; Macmillan Press, 1974 pxiv
^ The Times, 1 March 1907 p11
^ The Times, 4 March 1907 p9
^ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results, 1885-1918; Macmillan Press, 1974 p116