The High Peak by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 22 July 1909.^[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.

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1909 High Peak by-election

← 1906 22 July 1909 Jan. 1910 →

Candidate Partington Profumo Party Liberal Conservative Popular vote 5,619 5,272 Percentage 51.5% 48.4%

MP before election Oswald Partington Liberal Subsequent MP Oswald Partington Liberal

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Oswald Partington had been Liberal MP for the seat of High Peak since the 1900 general election. On 5 July 1909, he was appointed as a Junior Lord of the Treasury, which meant, in accordance with the times, that he was required to resign his seat and seek re-election to parliament.

The seat had been Liberal since Partington gained it from the Conservatives in 1900. He easily held the seat at the last election, with an increased majority;

The local Liberal Association re-selected 37-year-old Oswald Partington to defend the seat. The Conservatives retained 30-year-old barrister Albert Profumo as their candidate. He had unsuccessfully tried to re-gain the seat from Partington at the last election.^[3]

Polling Day was fixed for 22 July, allowing for a short 17-day campaign.

On 9 July the Liberals retained a by-election in Cleveland, Yorkshire. On 15 July, the Liberals retained a by-election in nearby Mid Derbyshire. On 20 July, the Liberals retained a by-election in Dumfries Burghs.^[2]

The major incident of the campaign was Partington's challenge to fight a reporter of the Sheffield Daily Telegraph. The presses of that paper had been used to print the High Peak Elector, a campaign newspaper published by the Conservatives, which Partington claimed had slighted his wife, Clara.^[4]

The Liberals held the seat and managed a slightly reduced majority;

Partington retained the seat at the following General Election;