1911 Middleton by-election

Ryland Adkins had been Liberal MP for Middleton since 1906 when he gained the seat from the Conservatives.

Upon his appointment as Recorder of Nottingham on 17 July 1911,[1] Adkins was obliged by the electoral law of the day to resign his seat and re-contest it at a by-election.

The by-election was fought mainly on the issue of National Insurance which Hewins took up vigorously, if by some accounts rather cynically.

In the course of the campaign Lloyd George had to send Adkins a letter for public consumption refuting in detail Hewins’ claims.

Adkins held on, although Hewins reduced his majority again, this time to 411 votes.