The 1902 Devonport by-election was held on 22 October 1902 after the death of one of the incumbents, Liberal politician E. J. C. Morton. The contest was won by the Conservative Party candidate John Lockie. Vacancy The by-election in Devonport was caused by the death on 3 October of one of the sitting Liberal MPs, Edward John Chalmers Morton. There were two seats in the constituency, which had both been won by Liberals in the 1900 general election. Morton was a barrister who had held the seat since the 1892 general election, and had been re-elected in 1895 and in 1900. Candidates John Lockie had contested the constituency for the Conservative party in the previous election, and had kept a residence there with a view to stand again. As he was the declared candidate for the party no other names were put forward. Leckie was a shipbuilder from Glasgow, who had previously lived in Edinburgh and Newcastle before he moved south. He was the founder of the National Industrial Association, an organization which sought to promote British trading interests by reconciling the claims of capital and labour. Several names were mentioned as candidates for the Liberal Party, including Augustine Birrell and Rufus Isaacs. By 8 October Thomas Brassey was stated to be the most likely candidate, and at a meeting the following day of the council of the Liberal party, he was adopted as such. Brassey was a volunteer officer who had recently returned from South Africa following the end of the Second Boer War. He had unsuccessfully contested the Epsom division in 1892, and the Christchurch division in 1895 and 1900. His father Thomas Brassey (later 1st Earl Brassey) was briefly an MP for Devonport in 1865. Issues Education Following the successful campaign in the Leeds North by-election in July 1902, the Liberal party spent much time on the government's plans for an Education Bill to replace school boards with local education authorities, which included proposals to bring church schools into the public system. Many Liberals were strongly nonconformist and the idea that Church of England and Roman Catholic schools should be funded from the rates, a form of local taxation, was anathema to them. It provided the battle slogan 'Rome on the Rates' and united the party against the government. The bill was debated in the House as the campaign in Devonport took place, and Brassey "heartily approved