1909 Brighton state by-election

1909 Brighton state by-election

← 1908 8 October 1909 1911 →
Electoral district of Brighton in the Victorian Legislative Assembly
First party Second party Third party   IND ALP Candidate Oswald Snowball John Hamilton Daniel McNamara Party Liberal Independent Liberal Labor Popular vote 3,362 1,170 439 Percentage 60.3% 31.8 7.9
MP before election Thomas Bent Liberal Elected MP Oswald Snowball Liberal

The 1909 Brighton state by-election was held on 8 October 1909 to elect the next member for Brighton in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, following the death of incumbent MP and former premier Thomas Bent.

Bent, who served as premier from February 1904 until January 1909, died on 17 September 1909 at his home in Bay Street, Brighton. He had been unopposed at the previous election in 1908.^[1]

Prior to the election, the United Liberal Party (which Bent had led in 1908) had merged with the Liberal Party.^[2] This led to the ULP splitting and the Liberal Party forming.^[2]

The by-election was won by Liberal candidate Oswald Snowball. Other candidates were Independent Liberal John Hamilton and future Labor MLC Daniel McNamara.^[3]

This was the first state election in Victoria in which women could vote.^[3]