1861 East Sydney colonial by-election

A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of East Sydney on 29 May 1861 because Henry Parkes had resigned having accepted a government commission with a salary of £1,000 to travel to England to lecture on immigration with William Bede Dalley.[1]

Dates

Date	Event
13 May 1861	Henry Parkes resigned.[2]
14 May 1861	Writ of election issued by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.[3]
27 May 1861	Nominations
29 May 1861	Polling day
1 June 1861	Return of writ

Result

1861 East Sydney by-election
Wednesday 29 May [4]

Candidate		Votes	%
William Forster (elected)		1,273	48.7
James Neale		1,179	45.1
Charles Fowler		77	3.0
Thomas Duigan		56	2.1
James Martin		25	1.0
Thomas Argent		2	0.1
Total formal votes		2,612	100.0
Informal votes		0	0.0
Turnout		2,612	35.5

See also

• Electoral results for the district of East Sydney
• List of New South Wales state by-elections

References

1. Martin, A W. "Parkes, Sir Henry (1815–96)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Melbourne University Press. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 29 January 2019 – via National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
2. "Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896)". Former Members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
3. "Writs of election: East Sydney". New South Wales Government Gazette (112). 15 May 1861. p. 1058. Retrieved 6 September 2020 – via Trove.
4. Green, Antony. "1861 East Sydney by-election". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 6 September 2020.