1917 Rossendale by-election

[1] The Unionists being partners in the wartime coalition government of David Lloyd George did not oppose Maden but an organisation called the British Citizen Party indicated they would stand a candidate in the election.

The meeting chose 39 year-old Albert Taylor, the secretary of the Rossendale Union of Boot, Shoe and Slipper Operatives.

[2] Taylor was a conscientious objector but had been exempted from combatant service on condition he agree to undertake other work of national importance.

Maden had stated publicly that he would not raise any such questions, saying that personal opinions on ‘minor matters’ had no place on the hustings and that he stood simply on the platform of supporting the present, or any other government, which worked to bring the then-called Great War to a successful conclusion.

[1] He did hold a public meeting in Bacup on 10 February 1917 but the centre piece of the event was his reading a telegram from H. H. Asquith supporting his candidacy as part of a united front to win the war.