Pictures of the Pontefract of former days appearing in recent issues of ‘The Express’ have brought to light other relics, now in the possession of Councillor T.P. Brindley, O.B.E. J.P. One of them is a ballot-paper for the first Parliamentary Election ever undertaken by secret ballot. That election was held at Pontefract. The eyes of England were focused on Pontefract, for the Borough - not for the first time - was helping make history. The date was 1872, and the occasion was the first by-election in the country after the passing of the Ballot Act. The candidates were Mr. C.H.E. Childers and Viscount Pollington, and the by-election was made necessary by the acceptance by Mr. Childers of the Chancellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster. A Liberal, Mr. Childers had represented Pontefract in Parliament for over 12 years, and sought re-election. He was a forceful personality in the Government of Mr. Gladstone, and held Cabinet rank in a number of offices. Newspaper representatives from all over the country converged on Pontefract to describe the new type of election. The rumbustiousness that characterised earlier hustings, however, was markedly absent, and many of the accounts of the event stressed the absence of former disturbances. The Ballot Act required the marking of papers in privacy and the division of districts for the convenience of the electors. The voting stations at Pontefract were in the British School in Gillygate and the National School in Northgate, and at Knottingley, (which was part of the constituency), in the Town Hall, the Wesleyan School and the National School.

Said one writer: '"The polling places are ramshackle national schools.... there are three compartments designed to trap the unwary... the desks at which the voters are to mark their ballot papers are of a quarter-inch rough stuff, not even planed, and...are ingeniously bestudded with heads and points of nails intended for testing fibre broadcloth..."

A Yorkshire newspaper said that under the new system "Men must have broken their words without shame or scruple" and "It has protected the sneak and the turncoat."

About 1,250 electors out of a total of 1,900 voted; 201 illiterate voters "made a mark"; and there was 10 spoilt papers. Mr. Childers won the day by 80 votes...658 to 578. Viscount Pollington campaigned vigorously, and when the election expenses were published it was found that Mr. Childers had spent £243, while Viscount Pollington parted with £426.

Another memento of the election is one of the ballot boxes used, which now stands in the foyer of the Pontefract Public Library.