[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.

In 1914 Charles Masterman the Liberal MP for Bethnal Green South West was appointed to the Cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

The by-election posed a very real threat to Masterman's political future, with party controversy increased by the government's efforts at the time to introduce Home Rule into Ireland, and by the resulting possibility of civil war breaking out there.

[6] The militant Women's Social and Political Union and the John Bull League campaigned locally against Masterman.

Attempts were made to blacken Masterman's character by the Northcliffe press, and by Bottomley in his organ John Bull.