Thomas Wilford Liberal Charles Wilson Liberal The Wellington Suburbs by-election of 1897 was a by-election held on 23 April 1897 during the 13th New Zealand Parliament in the urban lower North Island electorate of Wellington Suburbs.

Thomas Wilford won the Wellington Suburbs seat in the 1896 election for the Liberal Party.

Academic Charles Wilson contested the seat in the interests of the Liberal Government and Arthur Atkinson stood on behalf of the opposition.

Wilson was successful in retaining the electorate for the Liberals, with a slightly reduced majority.

[3] Two years later, Wilson was appointed as the first chief librarian of the Parliamentary library.