page_title: 1897 Walthamstow by-election
section_title: Candidates
hierarchical_section_title: 1897 Walthamstow by-election / Candidates
caption_attribution_description: English: Image of Arnold Frank Hills (1857-1927), featured in his weekly newspaper The Vegetarian
context_page_description: The Walthamstow by-election, 1897 was a parliamentary by-election held in England on 3 February 1897 for the House of Commons constituency of Walthamstow. The area was then a division of Essex, and is now part of Greater London.
  The election was won by the Liberal-Labour candidate, after the seat had been held by the Conservative Party for 11 years.
context_section_description: Byrne's appointment was reported in The Times newspaper on 15 January, and on the same day the paper reported that the Scotch whisky magnate Thomas Dewar had "kept himself in touch with the constituency" and might put his name forward as a possible Conservative candidate.
  The Walthamstow Central Liberal and Radical Association were initially undecided as to whether to contest the election, but were reported to be considering Arthur Pollen, who had been their candidate at the last general election, in 1895.
  On Monday 18 January, each of the parties held a meeting to consider their approach to the election.
  As expected, the Conservatives selected the 33-year-old Dewar, who had built his family business John Dewar & Sons into a global brand.
  The Liberals had not chosen  a candidate, but it was reported to be almost certain that they would contest the election.
  With the writ not expected until 22 January, the Liberals were holding nightly consultations on a choice of candidate and Dewar said that he wanted a contested election.
  Rumours circulated that the Liberals would ask the conservationist Edward Buxton, who had held the seat from 1885 to 1886, to stand again.
  Meanwhile, Arnold Hills, chairman of the Thames Ironworks shipbuilding company at Leamouth, announced that he would stand as a Unionist and temperance candidate in opposition to Dewar.
  Hills was a sportsman, philanthropist, and promoter of vegetarianism as well as a successful businessman. On 22 January he said that would definitely stand unless the Liberals fielded a candidate, in which case he would withdraw to avoid splitting the Conservative vote and risk handing the seat to the opposition.
  The High Sheriff of Essex announced on the 22nd that nominations would be taken on Thursday 28 January, and that polling would take place on 3 February. The next day, 23 January, the Executive of the Liberal Three Hundred met and selected  Sam Woods as their candidate.
  Woods was a coal miner from St Helens in Lancashire, and a prominent trade unionist who had been President of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain since its foundation in 1891. He had been elected in 1892 as the MP for the Ince division of Lancashire, but lost his seat in 1895.The Times newspaper reported that Woods was the best possible candidate for the Liberals, because he would have the support of the labour as well as all factions of the Liberals.
  Hills then stopped his election agent from setting up committee rooms for the campaign, which was taken as a sign that he would indeed stand aside.
  The selection of Woods was confirmed at a general meeting of the Liberal Three Hundred on 25 January,
  and Hill's withdrawal was formally announced the following day.
caption: Arnold Hills, who planned to stand as a temperance candidate
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