1917 Rotherham by-election

The 1917 Rotherham by-election was a parliamentary by-election held for the House of Commons constituency of Rotherham in the West Riding of Yorkshire on 5 February 1917.

Vacancy
The by-election was caused by the elevation to the peerage of the sitting Liberal MP, Joseph ‘Jack’ Pease.

Candidates
The Rotherham Liberals adopted Arthur Richardson as their new candidate. Richardson had been Lib-Lab MP for Nottingham South from 1906 until January 1910. Richardson immediately declared his position as being in favour of the successful prosecution of the war and the defeat of German militarism.

No nominations were received from the other parties, who were apparently content to honour the wartime electoral truce and Richardson was therefore returned unopposed.