A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of East Maitland on 11 August 1863 because John Darvall QC had been appointed Attorney General in the third Cowper ministry.
[2] Darvall was challenged by his friend Henry Parkes who denounced the appointment as an unprincipled alliance.
[5] Further Parkes' failure in business had ruined his creditors and caused his best friend, James Wilshire, to die of a broken heart.
[5] Parkes responded with similar personal attacks, recounting Darvall's opposition to Cowper and accusing Darvall of accepting the position as Attorney General because he had aspirations of being appointed Chief Justice to replace Sir Alfred Stephen.
[5] Following the declaration of the poll, Parkes said that his election expenses did not exceed £28 and that Darvall "had gone with his friends to solicit votes with the electoral roll in the right hand and the grog bottle in the left".