The 1889 Dundee by-election was a parliamentary by-election held in September 1889 to elect one of the members for the British House of Commons constituency of Dundee, following the death of Joseph Firth.
[3] Shortly after Firth's death speculation started has to who would contest the vacant seat, with the Glasgow Herald reporting ex-Bailie Robertson was expected to be offered the Liberal nomination, with Mr Dalglish and Mr W. L. Boase thought to be possible Unionist candidates.
[5] The Glasgow Herald considered Leng to be a 'strong candidate', but thought that the Dundee Unionists had a chance of defeating him if they selected 'candidate of great local weight'.
[4] Ultimately there was no contest and Leng was returned without opposition, the first time the Dundee seat had not been contested since Sir John Ogilvy was returned unopposed at the 1865 general election, when Dundee was still a one-member seat.
[6] The Glasgow Herald described him as a strong supporter of Gladstone and considered Dundee 'fortunate' to have him as an MP.