[1] The constituency returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.
The issue of Tariff reform was one that was currently dividing the Conservative Party, who had seen many of their Free Trade supporters leave to join the Liberals.
Leading Liberal Unionist, Joseph Chamberlain had managed to persuade Conservative prime minister, Arthur Balfour and the party as a whole to support the introduction of trade tariffs on imports.
A seat or two does not make a world of difference just now, and we could half wish that the New Forest electors had shown the grace to welcome the new Prime Minister by returning his supporter, Sir Henry Hobart.
Prime Minister Campbell-Bannerman then dissolved parliament and called a General Election, at which Compton was defeated by Hobart: