The Stockton Liberal Association considered a number of possible candidates but decided upon Bertrand Watson,[1] a 38-year-old local man, a solicitor who was a former Mayor of Stockton-on-Tees and member of Durham County Council.
They invited Robert Dennison, a Trade Union official with the British Steel Smelters' Association, to address them with a view to becoming their candidate but in the end decided not to put forward a challenge to the wartime party truce.
[4] The by-election was however contested by banker Edward Backhouse JP of Darlington, a proponent of the Peace by Negotiation Party and a member of the Society of Friends.
The prosecution of the war was the only issue of the day and Backhouse failed to capture the public imagination with many local men away serving in the armed forces.
[7] Watson easily held the seat for the Liberals and the Coalition, the pacifist candidate polling even less well than anticipated.