Newcastle University

Member of Parliament

When Joseph Cowen Snr. died, in December 1873, a vacancy was created in the Parliamentary representation of Newcastle. The Liberal electors requested that Joseph Cowen announce his candidature in the forthcoming election against the Conservative candidate, Charles Frederic Hamond. Cowen won the election on 14th January 1874, with a majority of 1,003.¹³Unexpectedly, Parliament was dissolved on 23rd January, meaning that another contested election would be held. Again, the Liberals selected Joseph Cowen as their representative but leaders of a more moderate faction of the party supported Thomas Emmerson Headlam. Polling, on 3rd February 1874 saw Cowen win with 8,464 votes to Hamond's 6,479 and Headlam's 5,807.¹⁴ Another General Election was held in 1880 and Cowen's supporters thought it integral to the national Liberal Party that he be re-elected. (Ashton W. Dilke was selected as the candidate for the second seat.) There was dissent in the party over Ireland and foreign policy but again, the self-professed “National Radical” retained his seat: the results were 11,766 votes for Cowen; 10,404 votes for Dilke; and 5,271 votes for the Conservative, Hamond.¹⁵

For the 1885 General Election, Cowen isolated himself by choosing to campaign without the usual machinery of support and by refusing to canvass for votes - a practice which he believed to be contrary to the principles of representative government. Still popular with the people, he was returned as senior Member for Newcastle: Cowen 10,489 votes; Morley (Liberal) 10,129 votes; and Hamond 9,500 votes.¹⁶ However, Cowen's “divergence” from Liberal policies met with the disapproval of members of the local Liberal Association and Cowen was hurt by the vindictiveness he perceived in local politicians during the campaign. He vowed not to contest the next election and retired from politics and all public life the following year.

Cowen clashed with the Liberal Party throughout his political career and even outspokenly opposed key Gladstonian policies.
He was an effective orator who encouraged political debate and persuaded the working classes and whole communities to participate in local, national, and even international political struggles, from electoral reform to fighting alongside Italian revolutionary, Giuseppe Garibaldi.17