Belfast South by-election, 1902

The 1902 Belfast South by-election was held on 18 August 1902 after the death of the Irish Unionist Party MP William Johnston. It was won by the Independent Unionist candidate Thomas Henry Sloan.

The Conservatives considered several candidates, who declined to stand. These included Colonel Robert Hugh Wallace, just returned from the Second Boer War in South Africa, who declined for business reasons; and Sir James Henderson, a previous Lord Mayor of Belfast. The shipbuilder and businessman William James Pirrie (who had also been a Lord Mayor of Belfast) was also informally approached. They eventually picked Charles William Dunbar Buller, a former High Sheriff of Down and son-in-law of a previous MP for Belfast, George Dunbar.

Thomas Henry Sloan was a leading member of the working class Belfast Protestant Association and stood in protest as an independent unionist, after the association´s founder Arthur Trew was imprisoned for inciting an anti-Catholic riot.

Thomas Harrison, who had unsuccessfully contested Belfast North in the 1900 General election was mentioned as a candidate for the "labour interest", but nothing came of this.

Sloan later founded the Independent Orange Order and reached an agreement with the Irish Unionist Party to disassociate himself from the Belfast Protestant Association. Sloan retained the seat in the 1906 General Election.

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