In 1883, Gerard Noel resigned as MP for Rutland. This was only the second time there had been a contest in the constituency since the Reform Act 1832. The London Standard noted, “Foot-and-mouth disease is in the district [and] it is attracting quite as much attention as the election.”
The Tory James Lowther beat the Liberal J W Davenport-Handley by 860 to 194. The Derby Daily Telegraph noted, “The system of registration is said to be extremely defective . . . and the poll [was] decided by non-residents.” Lowther didn’t stand in 1885 and became Viscount Ullswater. In 1927, he recalled that at one meeting the crowd “burned cayenne pepper and drove us out of the hall”.
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