Electing Oswestry's MP, 1901
John Biffen reflects on the by-election campaign that elected one of his predecessors from Shropshire to the House of Commons.
The North Shropshire Conservative Association possess a magnificent leather-bound volume detailing the 1901 Oswestry (West Shropshire) by-election. It contains letters, telegrams, and copious newspaper cuttings. Altogether they provide a fascinating insight into turn-of-the-century British politics.
The Oswestry seat had been created in 1885 and from its inception had remained Conservative with Major Leighton, a Tory squire as its Member until his death in 1901 which occasioned the by-election. It occupied rural north-west Shropshire, but Oswestry town had a strong railway tradition as well as being a major agricultural market. The proximity to Wales meant there was a Liberal Tradition, and in the campaign the Liberal MP for Montgomery, Mr A.C. Humphreys-Owen, took an active part.
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