February 1865 West Sydney colonial by-election

A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of West Sydney on 18 February 1865 because John Darvall had been appointed Attorney General,[1] and John Robertson had been appointed Secretary for Lands in the fourth Cowper ministry.[2] Such ministerial by-elections were usually uncontested however on this occasion a poll was required in East Sydney (Charles Cowper), The Glebe (Thomas Smart) and West Sydney. Each minister was comfortably re-elected. Only The Paterson (William Arnold) was uncontested.[3]

Daniel Dalgleish was a former member for West Sydney who was defeated at the election on 24 November 1864. He was then an unsuccessful candidate at the elections for The Glebe (29 November 1864), Goldfields South (10 January 1865), and The Glebe (17 February 1865). This was the final occasion on which he stood for parliament.[4]

Dates

Date	Event
3 February 1865	Fourth Cowper ministry appointed.[5]
8 February 1865	Writ of election issued by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.[6]
16 February 1865	Nominations
18 February 1865	Polling day
22 February 1865	Return of writ

Result

1865 West Sydney by-election
Saturday 18 February [7]

Candidate		Votes	%
John Robertson (re-elected 1)		1,113	40.2
John Darvall (re-elected 2)		1,033	37.4
Daniel Dalgleish		620	22.4
Total formal votes		2,766	100.0
Informal votes		0	0.0
Turnout		1,383	18.7 [lower-alpha 1]

See also

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

Notes

1. Antony Green's estimate is based on based on each person voting for two candidates.[7] If the 620 people who voted for Dalgleish had plumped for him, as claimed at the declaration of the poll,[8] the turnout would have been around 1,733, 23%.

References

1. "Sir John Bayley Darvall MA, QC (1809-1883)". Former Members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
2. "Sir John Robertson (1816–1891)". Former Members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
3. Green, Antony. "1865 to 1869 by-elections". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
4. Green, Antony. "Index to Candidates: Croal to Darby". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
5. "Appointment of ministers". New South Wales Government Gazette (24). New South Wales, Australia. 3 February 1865. p. 323. Retrieved 7 September 2020 – via Trove.
6. "Writs of election: West Sydney". New South Wales Government Gazette (26). 8 February 1865. p. 346. Retrieved 7 September 2020 – via Trove.
7. Green, Antony. "February 1865 West Sydney by-election". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
8. "West Sydney election: declaration of the poll". The Empire. 20 February 1865. p. 5. Retrieved 7 September 2020 – via Trove.