MPs Elected
From the Hastings News of 16/07/1852
Patrick Robertson and Musgrave Brisco were elected as MPs for Hastings.
Death of Musgrave Brisco, aged 63, the MP who had resigned his seat on April 25 due to ill-health. On 10 May 1854 Frederick North was elected as MP and Baron for the Cinque Port of Hastings to replace Brisco.
Frewen MP
From the Hastings News of 06/02/1856
Mr CH Frewen MP announced he was not standing for East Sussex, but for North Leicestershire.
General election: Hastings MPs Patrick Robertson and Frederick North were returned.
With the general election coming up, "the phenomenon of 1852, when two Conservatives in Hastings worsted two Liberals, is not likely to occur again". In the 1857 election, the winners were Liberal Fred North and Tory Patrick Robertson. In the ...
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Election: Frederick North was returned as MP, plus Lord Harry George Vane was elected.
The first general election had been held under the new Reform Act. Nomination day was November 16, at the hustings on the Central Cricket Ground. The Liberals were on the south side, Conservatives on the north. There was a show ...
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The Conservatives petitioned against the result of the general election, alleging bribery. But their case was later found to be unprovable.
MPs Win Libel Case
From the Hastings News of 23/04/1869
The two Hastings MPs, Frederick North and Thomas Brassey, both Liberals, were found not guilty of corrupt practices to win their seats in the November 1868 general election. Some members of the Tory Party had petitioned the Crown after the ...
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The highly respected and popular Liberal MP Frederick North died on Friday 29 October, aged 69. On November 3 he was buried in Halton churchyard, in a brick vault near the Halton Villa entrance. The News said that the unproved ...
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Liberal Ughtred Kay-Shuttleworth won the parliamentary by-election following Frederick North’s death. He defeated the former Conservative MP Patrick Robertson 1,218 votes to 1,084. This was the last time the old open-voting system was used in Hastings.
Ughtred James Kay-Shuttleworth MP elder son of Sir James, was married in St Leonards to Blanche Marion, youngest daughter of Sir Woodbine Parish, KCH.
Parliament
From the Hastings News of 17/11/1871
Liberal MPs Brassey and Kay-Shuttleworth adressed a crowded Music Hall, Robertson Street, to give an annual account of themselves.
Election Results
From the Hastings News of 06/02/1874
General election day 3 February in Hastings: Brassey 1,721, Kay- Shuttleworth 1,495, Robertson 1,244, Nicholson 945. Mr. Brassey and Kay-Shuttleworth were duly returned.
On Tuesday 23 September, Mrs White, who lived at 1 Banks Building, Caroline Place, opened a parcel addressed to her husband from London and found a dead newly born baby. The parcel was posted from London Bridge at 12 o'clock ...
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"The Municipal Election Petitions - Opening of the Inquiry at the Town Hall - During the past two months, one of the chief topics of conversation in local circles has been the subject of the three petitions presented against three ...
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New Liberal MP
From the Hastings News of 06/07/1883
The Liberals defeated the Tories in one of the most exciting parliamentary elections held in Hastings, on Friday 29 June. Hastings then had two MPs, one being Liberal Sir Thomas Brassey, and the other the Tory Mr CJ Murray. ...
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Cllr John Howell, the town's leading builder and president of the local Liberal Party, was acquitted of perjury at Hastings Police Court. A private investigator, Mr Kendal, from London had alleged that Howell committed perjury when Howell had hired ...
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Two MPs, Not One
From the Hastings News of 12/12/1884
There were efforts by the mayor and Council to keep two Members of Parliament for Hastings.
Patrick Robertson, of Halton House, the former Conservative MP for Hastings, died, aged 77. He had given his name to Robertson Street and Robertson Terrace (where he carried out large-scale development, and to Robertson's Hill (where Halton House stood).
Brassey MP
From the Hastings News of 27/11/1885
Sir Thomas Brassey was re-elected as the Liberal MP for Hastings.
Brassey Becomes Lord
From the Hastings Observer of 19/06/1886
Sir Thomas Brassey resigned as MP for Hastings. The Observer of 3 July reported that the by-election had resulted in Wilson Noble, the Unionist (Conservative), being elected; Brassey was Liberal. The Observer of 14 August said that Brassey was ...
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In the general election, the sitting Unionist [Conservative] MP Mr Wilson Noble beat the Liberal Mr Serjeant Hemphill QC by a majority of 449. Mr Noble was first elected in 1986 when Mr Brassey became a lord. In the run-up ...
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MP or not MP
From the Hastings News of 16/12/1892
The Hastings Conservatives governing body announced on 15 December that Mr Wilson Noble, the Hastings MP, would not seek re-election at the next general election. Mr William Lucas-Shadwell was recommended as the candidate.
The prominent local builder and politician John Howell, of Priory Mount, 7 Holmesdale Gardens, died on Friday 1 December, aged 69. He had always been an active campaigner for the Liberal Party. In the 1859 general election he had been ...
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No Brassey for MP
From the Hastings News of 25/05/1894
The Hon TA Brassey, son of Lord Brassey, declined to stand as Hastings Liberal candidate in the next general election against the sitting Tory MP.
Lucas-Shadwell MP?
From the Hastings News of 01/02/1895
Mr William Lucas-Shadwell was adopted as the parliamentary candidate at the Hastings Conservatives annual meeting on 31 January.
Lucas-Shadwell MP
From the Hastings News of 19/07/1895
In the general election on 15 July, Tory William Lucas-Shadwell defeated Liberal Cecil Ince by a majority of 342. He replaced the Tory William Noble who had first won in the 1886 bye-election and again in the 1892 general election. ...
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Cecil Ince resigned as the Liberal Party candidate in parliamentary elections for Hastings. His Roman Catholicism was seen as losing necessary crucial support from influential electors.
Liberal Candidate
From the Hastings News of 21/01/1898
Captain St John Mildmay had been chosen as the Liberal parliamentary candidate. He made his first public appearance at the Public Hall in Robertson Street on 18 January.
Electioneering
From the Hastings News of 28/09/1900
There had been meetings around the town that week to further the Conservative candidature of Edward Boyle QC in the forthcoming general election. They took place at Silverhill Assembly Room and Christ Church Parish Room on 24 September, and Ore ...
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In the general election, the Liberal, Freeman Freeman-Thomas won, with 3,399 votes against Conservative Edward Boyle’s 3,191, a majority of 209. “Vote for Freeman-Thomas, and Lord Brassey will finish the Harbour” was one of the many cries heard in the ...
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Freeman Freeman-Thomas MP showed appreciation to those recently engaged in rebuilding his home at Ratton, Eastbourne. It stood on the same grounds as his original house, which was destroyed by fire five years ago.
William Lucas Shadwell, Hastings MP 1895-1900, quitted Fairlight Hall and left for Italy in poor health. The Hall was then let to Philip Mael, shipowner, of Cardiff and London.
Tory Stands Down
From the Hastings Mail of 29/03/1902
Conservative Edward Boyle declined taking part in a second fight for the Hastings Parliamentary seat.
The Liberals celebrated a great Rye victory. Crowds collected around the Liberal Club in Wellington Square, and there was a triumphal procession in Hastings.
The millionaire Irish businessman Mr Harvey Du Cros was chosen as the prospective Conservative candidate for Hastings in the next election. The decision was made at a meeting of the Central Governing Body on Monday evening 4th at Mr LF ...
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Hastings ex-MP George Waldegrave-Leslie died at his residence Leslie House, Leslie, Fife, on 8 July. Born 1825, MP for 1864-8, when he retired and left Hastings. He was the youngest son of the 8th Earl Waldegrave who married the widow ...
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The Hon TA Brassey, son and heir of Lord Brassey, who had switched from the Liberals to the Tories some time ago, stood down as the prospective candidate for Rye on July 29. He had declined “to become a mere ...
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In the Chancery Division of the High Court on August 2 Mr Freeman-Thomas MP had a complicated case. It concerned the Ratton Estate, Willingdon, of which he was a life tenant, and other property. “The estate was being developed for ...
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General Election Looms
From the Hastings Observer of From the Hastings Mail of 13/01/1906
The general election taking place on Monday 15 January dominated the two main newspapers, the Mail and Observer. The Mail canvassed very strongly for the sitting Liberal MP Freeman-Thomas, calling on the working men of Hastings to support the Liberal ...
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Du Cros Becomes MP
From the Hastings Observer of From the Hastings Mail of 20/01/1906
Tory candidate Harvey Du Cros was elected as Hastings Member of Parliament in a record poll in the general election on Monday 15 January. He had 4,348 votes, the sitting Liberal MP Mr Freeman Freeman-Thomas 3,935, a majority of ...
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There were three demonstrations on Monday 22 January. The Tories had a large parade of carriages, traps, motors, two stage coaches and various other vehicles, starting at noon from Warrior Square, going to Bulverhythe, then the Fishmarket and back to ...
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The National Democratic League meetings held on Sunday 8th at 11 am on the West Hill near the Lift, and at 6.45 at the Fishmarket were addressed by Councillor JE Dobson, of Camberwell, the general secretary of the National Democratic ...
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In the Parliamentary by-election on Tuesday 3 March, Arthur Du Cros succeeded his father as Hastings MP. He had a heavy majority of 1,018 due to the reduced Liberal poll. The vote was: Du Cros, Conservative, 4,495; Robert Vernon Harcourt, ...
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Robert Vernon Harcourt was welcomed by the Liberals at the Royal Concert Hall, Warrior Gardens, the 3rd. It was a great reception, as they learnt the lessons of his defeat in the by-election.
The Socialists fielded their first-ever candidate in a Hastings municipal or parliamentary election. This was the St Clements and Halton ward by-election on Thursday 4 March, following the death of the Conservative councillor, Richard Idenden. The Conservative candidate, Mr AG ...
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For the forthcoming general election, Arthur du Cros, the sitting Tory MP, had been adopted as the Tory candidate and Robert Tweedy-Smith was by the Liberals. The election was to be on 15 January.
A letter in the Mail from Alf Cobb denied any rumour that the local organised socialists supported the candidature of Liberal Tweedy-Smith in the coming election. The position of the Social Democratic Party was made clear in the manifesto it ...
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There was somewhat meagre attendance at a meeting held under the joint auspices of the Church Socialist League and the Independent Labour Party in the Market Hall, George Street on Wednesday 12th, chaired by Mr MB Reckitt. The Rev NE ...
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The general election polling day of Saturday 15th resulted in a Tory victory: Arthur du Cros 4,634; Liberal Ronald Tweedy-Smith 3,833. The majority was 801, a reduction of 217 from the by-election of 2008. There was no Labour or SDP ...
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