The 1860 Londonderry City by-election was held on 2 April following the 13 March 1860 death of the incumbent, the Liberal Party's Sir Robert Ferguson.
The Liberal Party's Presbyterian support had also been adversely affected by their defeat to the Tories in Londonderry County in 1857, which led many to withdraw from politics.
Londonderry City, a one-seat borough constituency, had been represented in the House of Commons of the British Parliament by Sir Robert Ferguson, 2nd Baronet since the 1830 United Kingdom general election.
However the majority of constituents were Protestants (around 37% Presbyterians and 22% Episcopalians) and, with a weakening of Liberal support in the city following Ferguson's death, from 1860 the Conservative Party entered a period of dominance.
[14] Skipton had hoped to attract support from across all groups in the city, but because of strong denominational ties in the constituency only received a handful of votes.