Local History

by Roderick Martin, Tavistock Local History Society

When General Elections

were Exciting

From time to time there appears for sale on the internet a canvassing card from the 1906 Parliamentary election stating ‘Your Vote and Interest are respectfully requested for Mr. John Spear’. It shows John Spear, a local yeoman farmer, seated on his horse in front of his house Venn, near Lamerton. At the time he was the Member of Parliament for the Tavistock Division and seeking re-election. The electorate were clearly not overly impressed because at this election he was unseated. Even worse news, his card today struggles to sell for more than a few pounds, and the last one on eBay went unsold.

political figure on the ascendancy, who was already well known on account of his Boer War heroism. In the Tavistock Town Hall he made a memorable speech attacking the hereditary system and power of the House of Lords which included the lines ‘While I was crusading in this part of the world, I thought I would look in upon you in Tavistock, and see how the tournament was progressing here, and, perhaps, break a spear’. Clearly, old puns are the best ones. His speech put renewed heart into the local Liberals’ campaign and at the general election two days later Hugh Luttrell retained the seat beating John Spear by 227 votes. However, a few months later in December 1910 fortunes were reversed and John Spear won the seat back beating Hugh Luttrell by 390 votes.

In the early twentieth century Tavistock was a constituency in its own right and often a marginal one. Parliamentary elections were usually close-run and exciting, drawing great public interest. John Spear, a Liberal Unionist, and Hugh Luttrell, a Liberal, were the dominant figures but the local electorate gave them both a roller coaster ride. John Spear was born in 1848 at Milton Abbot and came from a farming family who were Liberal supporters. In 1886, along with many others, he broke from the party over the question of Irish Home Rule

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becoming a Liberal Unionist. This was a party closely allied to the Conservatives. His great rival, Hugh Luttrell, was born in 1857 and served in the army before becoming the Liberal candidate in 1888, winning the seat in 1890 but standing down at the 1900 general election on account of ill-health. In 1899 John Spear became the new Liberal Unionist candidate and in the January 1900 general election won the seat by the slender majority of only 15 votes beating the Hon. John Wallop, the Liberal candidate. However, Hugh

Luttrell recovered his health and returned to the political fray.

Liberal candidate in the 1906 general election he won back the seat for the Liberals, beating John Spear by 1,209 votes.

In 1910 there were two general elections in one year as the result of controversy over Lloyd George’s budget and the future of the House of Lords. In the first of these general elections the Liberals brought into town one of their ‘big guns’ to support Hugh Luttrell. His name was

Churchill, then President of the Board of Trade, a

Winston Standing as the

The local Liberal Unionists were obviously delighted with this last victory and on the 25th January 1911 a celebratory procession was held to mark John Spear’s return to Parliament. It started from his home

Lamerton, proceeded down the Launceston Road, along Ford Street, and up the Plymouth Road towards Bedford Square. John Spear sat in an open coach pulled by six white horses followed by 390 mounted Unionist supporters, each carrying a wooden spear, to represent the size of his majority. The procession included the Brentor band which played lively tunes as they marched. Large crowds watched and local photographer, Sydney C.

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