Forfarshire by-election, 1894

The Forfarshire by-election, 1894 was a parliamentary by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Forfarshire, Scotland on 17 November 1894. The result was a gain by the Liberal Unionists from the Liberal Party.

Traditionally, Forfarshire had elected Liberals to the Commons, but in 1886 the sitting MP J W Barclay had defected to the Liberal Unionist Party. John Rigby, previously member for Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, England, was chosen by the Liberals as their candidate at the 1892 general election. Although a stranger to Scottish politics, Rigby won the seat in the Liberal interest by a majority of 866 votes. Following his appointment as Attorney General for England and Wales, he was obliged to seek re-election, and was returned unopposed in August 1892.

The seat became vacant when Rigby was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal on 19 October 1894.

The electorate of the constituency was approximately 12,000. The towns of the county were very diverse socially: the burghs of Broughty Ferry, Carnoustie and Monifieth were largely suburbs of the City of Dundee. They contained large numbers of wealthy manufacturers and merchants, as well as working class voters engaged in the fishing, chemical, boot-making and textile industries. Kirriemuir, at the north of the constituency, was regarded as Radical: in the past Chartism had been strong among the weavers of the town. In the east were fishing villages.

...
Wikipedia