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The Barkston Ash by-election, 1905 was a parliamentary by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Barkston Ash, then in the West Riding of Yorkshire, on 13 October 1905.
The by-election was caused by the death, on 18 September 1905, of the sitting Conservative MP Sir Robert Gunter. Gunter had been seriously ill with neuritis and phlebitis since June 1905 and had been unconscious for several days before his death.
Barkston Ash was a safe Tory seat. It had been represented by Gunter since it was created in 1885. Gunter had been unopposed at the 1900 general election and also in 1895. The last contest had come in 1892, with Gunter winning easily;
Because of ill health, Gunter had told his local party in 1903, that he would be standing down as MP. They had then selected 35 year old George Lane-Fox, an Eton and Oxford educated barrister and a member of the West Riding County Council to be their candidate.
The Liberals had already selected 32 year old Joseph Ormond Andrews, a barrister from Leeds to fight the next general election. They adopted Andrews as their by-election candidate.