However, he had no connection with the city and although he attracted support from the local branches of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners and the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, Frederick Maddison, a Liberal trade union leader, persuaded much of the city's labour movement to back the incumbent, Charles Wilson. No Conservative Party candidate contested the seat at the 1895 UK general election, while McCarthy lost heavily to Wilson, taking only 17.4% of the votes cast. Maddison attempted to capitalise on this by arguing that Hull dockers should break away from the London-based union and form a local society, an idea which McCarthy and Tillett successfully argued against. McCarthy died suddenly in September 1899.