February 1906 City of London by-election February 1906 City of London by-election The City of London by-election, February 1906 was a parliamentary by-election held on 27 February 1906 for the British House of Commons constituency of City of London, which covered the "Square Mile" which was the United Kingdom's traditional financial district. The seat had become vacant on the resignation of Alban Gibbs, one of the constituency's two Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs). Gibbs had resigned in order to provide a safe seat for Arthur Balfour. He would go on to succeed his father, Hucks Gibbs, as Baron Aldenham the following year. Balfour had been out
Royal Commission on the Amalgamation of the City and County of London of the LCC, Lord Rosebery, was strongly in favour of the unification of the city and county. Campaigning for the second county council elections in 1892, he set out the position of the Progressives: "The present arrangement by which a comparatively small district in the centre of London is detached from London and held aloof cannot be maintained. The object of parliament and of reformers must be that the city should be united with London as soon as possible and with as little friction as possible. Of all London reforms I lay infinitely the most stress on this, because each