City of Christchurch by-election, 1901

The City of Christchurch by-election of 1901 was a by-election held on 18 July 1901 during the 14th New Zealand Parliament in the urban seat of the City of Christchurch. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of conservative politician Charles Lewis and won by George John Smith.

Lewis was first elected in the 1896 City of Christchurch by-election. As a conservative, he won despite the electorate being mostly liberal supporters due to vote splitting by two candidates with liberal leanings. Lewis was confirmed by the voters in the 1896 and 1899 general elections, but he found the parliamentary work demanding to his health. At the time, sessions regularly extended into the evening or the early morning, sometimes even all night. He missed the last week of the session in 1900 due to exhaustion. When he called a meeting in Christchurch in June 1901 that was poorly attended, he felt unsupported by the constituency and resigned later that week. Christchurch's main newspaper, The Press, argued that people were focussed on the upcoming royal visit instead. His resignation was announced in the newspapers on 12 June 1901.

The by-election was the first election held under the provisions of the Electoral Act Amendment Act, 1900. The parliamentary session of 1901 opened on 1 July. The prime minister, Richard Seddon, moved in the House of Representatives on 3 July that the speaker issue writs for the Christchurch and Patea by-elections. The Christchurch registrar of elections received the writ on 4 July, and that closed the electoral roll.

The first person to confirm his candidacy was Arthur Hughes Turnbull. His father, Richard Turnbull, had represented the Timaru electorate from 1868 to 1890. Turnbull stood as an independent Liberal. One of the people who nominated Turnbull was Thomas Gapes.

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