Chorley by-election, 1913

The Chorley by-election was a Parliamentary by-election. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system. Although it was a safe Unionist seat which was held, the reduction in the Unionist majority was notable.

The Conservative MP since 1895 was Lord Balcarres. Upon the death of his father on 31 January 1913, he inherited the title of the Earl of Crawford and a seat in the House of Lords. This meant that he had to resign his seat in the House of Commons.

The Conservative candidate had won every election here since the seat was created in 1885. Balcarres's victory margin at the last election was comfortable.

Nomination closed on 14 February confirming a two-way contest.

The Unionist candidate Sir Henry Hibbert was a leading proponent of full Tariff Reform who had done much to define the policy in the 1880s. However, the Unionist national leadership had decided by 1913 to shelve the policy with respect to food duties. This placed Hibbert in conflict with his own party leadership as he continued to argue his position during the campaign.

There was a large number of Roman Catholics among the electorate, thought to number up to 4,000. However, not many were Irish, so may not have been so automatically disposed to support for the Liberals Third Irish Home Rule Bill currently being passed by the House of Commons. The Unionists attempted to retain their support through their defence of the denominational schools system. The Liberals were considering introducing an education bill to enable the establishment of non-denominational schools.

About 2,300 trade union members were among the electorate. There was not a strong tradition of trade union support for the Liberals in this part of Lancashire. Liberal MP Clement Edwards a barrister with a history of working for the trade union movement, was leading a Liberal campaign to win over Lancashire trade unionism. He worked with a local trade union defence committee to get posters displayed that criticised the Unionist Party opposition to the Trade Unions (No.2) Bill.

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