Chesterfield by-election, 1913

The Chesterfield by-election, 1913 was a by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Chesterfield in Derbyshire on 20 August 1913.

The seat became vacant following the death of the constituency's Member of Parliament, James Haslam on 31 July 1913. Haslam had been the MP here since 1906. He was the Secretary of the Derbyshire Miners' Association who acted as his sponsor. He had been first elected to the seat as a Liberal or Lib-Lab candidate and once in parliament, took the Liberal whip. Following a decision of the Miners Federation of Great Britain to affiliate to the Labour Party, all miners sponsored MPs were requested to take the Labour whip and contest the following election as a Labour Party candidate. Haslam complied with this request and at both the January and December 1910 General Elections was re-elected as a Labour Party candidate without facing a Liberal opponent.

Kenyon was a long-standing official of the Derbyshire Miners' Federation. When James Haslam announced in 1912 that he would not be standing again the Miners decided to nominate Kenyon to succeed him. Haslam died on 30 July 1913 creating a vacancy and a by-election. Although the Liberals had not opposed Haslam in 1906 or in either of the two general elections of 1910 they decided they would contest the next election and had earlier adopted Alderman George Eastwood, the President of Chesterfield Division Liberal Association. The Unionists adopted Edward Christie of Hendon and the Derbyshire Miners selected Barnet Kenyon, then treasurer of their Association and one of its most popular officials to be the Labour candidate. Kenyon's politics however can best be described as Lib-Lab and when Alderman Eastwood declined the Liberal nomination having been taken ill Kenyon soon agreed to be adopted officially by the Liberals too. This decision soon proved problematic for the Miners Federation and for the Labour and Liberal parties. The position was to be referred to the Miners' Federation of Great Britain and the Derbyshire Miners' Association. This apparent return to outright Lib-Labbery was resented by the socialists who appealed to Labour headquarters to intervene. The outcome was expected to be that if the position could not be resolved, Labour would seek to adopt a new candidate to oppose Kenyon.

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