April 29th, 1859. Close of the Poll:—
| Mr. H. B. Sheridan, Independent | 432 |
| Viscount Monck, Liberal-Conservative | 361 |
| —— | |
| Majority for Mr. Sheridan | 71 |
TO THE ELECTORS OF THE BOROUGH OF DUDLEY.
Gentlemen,
The state of the Poll at its close shows a result unfavourable to my desire to represent you in Parliament, and my opponent has been returned as your Member.
It therefore only remains for me, in the same spirit of good feeling and good humour in which I have endeavoured to carry on the contest, to return my sincere and heartfelt thanks to those amongst you who have honoured me with their support at the Poll.
I deem it, however, only an act of justice to myself and my Committee to state that, had the promises of support which were made to me in the course of my Canvass been fulfilled, I should now be your Member.
Into the causes which have led to the failure of these engagements, I do not mean now to enter; but I consider it an unwarrantable act wantonly to involve a Constituency in the turmoil of a Contest, and I therefore desire to leave upon record the fact that my Committee had good grounds for expecting a different result of the Poll.