The seat had become vacant on 13 March 1911 when the sitting Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), 73-year-old Thomas Myles Sandys had resigned from the House of Commons by the procedural device of accepting the office of Steward of the Manor of Northstead, a notional 'office of profit under the crown'. He had held the seat since the 1885 general election, and died on 18 October 1911.
The result was a victory for the Conservative candidate, Bonar Law, who won the seat with 56% of the votes. He did not contest Bootle in 1918, and was instead elected in the Glasgow Central constituency.