Sir George McCrae Liberal Sir James Gibson Liberal The 1909 Edinburgh East by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 16 April 1909.

[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.

He resigned from the House of Commons to take up a position in Scottish government service, accepting the appointment of Vice-President of the Scottish Local Government Board.

They easily held the seat at the last election, with an increased majority; The local Liberal Association selected 60-year-old James Gibson to defend the seat.

This was generally ascribed to the loss of the Roman Catholic vote because of the failure to settle the education question.