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Sydney City - By-election (Roll: 13,870)
Nominations: Monday, 29 December 1856, Polling: Tuesday, 30 December 1856
Candidate Votes Votes %
Dalley, William Bede (Elected) 1,998 57.23
Fairfax, John 1,493 42.77
Formal Votes 3,491
Informal Votes 0 0.00
Total Votes / Turnout 3,491 25.17
Cause Category: Resignation - Financial difficulties
Notes: Caused by the resignation of Henry Parkes on 19 December, forced to resign owing to the financial difficulties of his newspaper the Empire. John Fairfax was the proprieter of his rival newspaper, the Sydney Morning Herald. An unsuccessful petition was lodged against Dalley's election claiming he was not on the electoral roll and therefore not qualified to be elected. See LAVP 1856-7, Vol A1 p.815. The petition was dismissed as unproved.
Source: Report of nominations, SMH 30 December 1856, pp.4-5, results the Empire 31 December 1856, p.4 col.6, also SMH 31 December, p.5 col.4-5, including ward results.