In 1916, having decided to retire from politics, Colonel George Harland Bowden MP changed his mind at the adoption meeting of his agreed successor, Edward Cavendish, the Marquess of Hartington, alleging that the chair of the committee, Dr Josiah Court, had made remarks about his command of the Royal Fusiliers. Court had been the losing Conservative candidate in the five previous general elections, the earliest of which was in 1895.
In 1918, Harland Bowden stood as an Independent Unionist, splitting the vote, allowing the Liberal Joseph Stanley Holmes to win, with Hartington at the bottom
of the poll.
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