The 1897 Liverpool Exchange by-election was a by-election held in England on 10 November 1897 for the House of Commons constituency of Liverpool Exchange.
The Liberal unionist candidate, Charles McArthur held the seat with a very small majority over his Liberal opponent.
Vacancy
The seat had become vacant in October 1897 when the Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament (MP), John Bigham, had been appointed as a judge of the Queen's Bench division of the High Court. He had held the seat since the 1895 general election, having contested it unsuccessfully in 1892.
Candidates
Immediately after Bigham's appointment was announced, The Times newspaper reported on Saturday 16 October that the Liberal Unionist candidate was likely to be Charles McArthur, an average adjuster from Liverpool and former chairman of the city's chamber of commerce. Business people in Liverpool welcomed the prospect of McArthur's candidacy, but while the Liberals met that weekend to consider their options, they postponed a decision.
On Monday 18th, the McArthur accepted a formal invitation to be the Unionist candidate, and he accepted the nomination. Some local Unionists felt that this constituency should be represented by a ship-owner, but others noted McArthur was as much involved in shipping as the owners. He told the selection meeting that his main priority would be to protect the commercial and shipping interests of Liverpool, and that he objected to the River Mersey being "made a cesspool for Manchester" through the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal.
The Liberals interviewed H. Wade Deacon, who had been the Liberal candidate in Widnes at the previous general election, but he refused for personal reasons. They were still without a candidate by the evening of Tuesday 19th, when local ship-owners met to discuss the election. The businessmen were aggrieved at the Unionist government's treatment of shipping and at the unsympathetic reception received by a recent delegation to the President of the Board of Trade, Charles Ritchie. They agreed that it was important to have an MP who supported the ship-owners.
The Times leader-writers observed on 20 October that if the Liberals fielded a prominent ship-owner, McArthur would have a hard fight on his hands. The following day the Liberals selected Russell Rea, the managing director of ship-owning company R. & J. H. Rea. However, in the early 1880s Liverpool-born Rea had relocated his head office to Leadenhall Street in London, and lived in Hackney. His main line of business was in shipping coal for the South Wales coalfields, and despite his shipping interests, The Times reported a claim that Rea was not a member of the Liverpool Steamship-Owners Association.
On the 19th, the local branch of the Irish National League pledged itself to support "any candidate who is thoroughy sound on the Home Rule question".
On the 24th, the Speaker of the House of Commons William Gully gave notice in the London Gazette that by accepting appointment as a judge, Bigham had vacated his seat. The Speaker therefore intended to issue the writ of election in 6 days time. The writ was received on 2 November, and nominations were set for 5 November, with polling on the 10th.
The constituency
The Exchange division included the central business district of Liverpool, which had long been Conservative-leaning, but the constituency had been held by the Liberals for most of existence. Since 1885, it had always been a marginal seat, in which the largest majority had been the 4.4% lead won by Bigham in 1895.
St Anne's and Vauxhall wards contained some of the worst slums in Liverpool, with about 2,000 Irishmen who were all expected to vote Liberal because of that party's support for Irish Home Rule. However, their numbers had been reduced since the general election by the demolition of many condemned buildings, which had removed over 150 Liberal-supporting voters from the electoral register.
Both sides took care to try to trace voters who had moved home since the register was compiled. This was easier for the Unionists, whose merchant supporters were easily identified. However, the working-class Liberal-supporters moved more often, sometimes trying to evade location by creditors or school inspectors. The Liberals found an effective solution by distributing printed lists of untraced voters, asking for information on their current addresses.