1903 Liverpool West Derby by-election

The by-election in West Derby was caused by the death in December 1902 of Conservative MP, Samuel Wasse Higginbottom. He had won the seat unopposed in the previous election in 1900.

Several names were mentioned as possible candidates for the Conservative Party, among them the ship-owner Sir Alfred Lewis Jones, the former Lord Mayor of Liverpool Alderman Charles Petrie, and the incumbent Lord Mayor Watson Rutherford.[1] Rutherford was a native of Liverpool, head of an important legal firm in the city, had been a member of the City Council since 1895, and Lord Mayor of Liverpool since November 1902. He was unanimously elected as the candidate by the local conservative council on 5 January,[2] and accepted the nomination the following day, when he also resigned as Lord Mayor.[3]

The Liberal Party approached several people as potential candidates, including Hon. Richard Frederick Molyneux who declined. It was also reported that Rev. Dr. Aked of the Pembroke Baptist Chapel, an outspoken opponent of the recently ended Second Boer War was approached as an independent liberal candidate.[3] They eventually chose as candidate the president of their local West Derby Division, Richard Durning Holt.