[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 incumbent, Sir Stanley Buckmaster of the Liberal Party, had been elected for the constituency in the 1911 Keighley by-election.

He was required to fight another by-election on his appointment as Solicitor General for England and Wales.

The Yorkshire branch of the Independent Labour Party were keen to run a candidate.

Another by-election occurred in Keighley in 1915 when Buckmaster accepted a seat in the House of Lords.