page_title: 1905 Carlisle by-election
section_title: Campaign
hierarchical_section_title: 1905 Carlisle by-election / Campaign
caption_attribution_description: English: Richard Bell, Liberal Party MP for Derby and General Secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, taken in or before 1908
context_page_description: The Carlisle 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.
context_section_description: Polling Day was fixed for 14 July 1905. The small Carlisle branch of the Social Democratic Federation chose to play no part in the election and gave no advise to electors. Richard Bell, the General Secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants sent a message urging working men not to support the Conservative candidate, stating that a vote for him would be against all labour members and the interests of labour. The constituency included about 700 Irish and Roman Catholic voters, so the issue of Irish Home Rule played a part. Chance, the Liberal candidate, did not fully support party policy of granting home rule to Ireland. As a result, the Irish Parliamentary Party chose not to give him their support and advised the Irish electors in Carlisle to remain neutral. The North of England Temperance League announced that as no candidate supported banning the sale of alcohol, they could not recommend either to the Carlisle electors.
caption: Bell
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