United Kingdom general election, 1885

United Kingdom general election, 1885
United Kingdom
24 November18 December 1885

All 670 seats in the House of Commons
336 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader William Ewart Gladstone Lord Salisbury Charles Stewart Parnell
Party Liberal Conservative Irish Parliamentary
Leader since April 1880 April 1881 17 October 1882
Leader's seat Midlothian Marquess of Salisbury Cork City
Last election 352 seats, 54.7% 237 seats, 42.5% 63 seats, 2.8%
Seats won 319 247 86
Seat change Decrease 33 Increase 10 Increase 23
Popular vote 2,199,198 2,020,927 310,608
Percentage 47.4% 43.5% 6.9%
Swing Decrease 7.3% Increase 1.0% Increase 4.1%

PM before election

Lord Salisbury
Conservative

Subsequent PM

William Ewart Gladstone
Liberal

1874 election MPs
1880 election MPs
1885 election MPs
1886 election MPs
1892 election MPs

The 1885 United Kingdom general election was from 24 November to 18 December 1885. This was the first general election after an extension of the franchise and redistribution of seats. For the first time a majority of adult males could vote and most constituencies returned a single-member to Parliament. It saw the Liberals, led by William Ewart Gladstone, win the most seats, but not an overall majority. As the Irish Nationalists held the balance of power between them and the Conservatives, this exacerbated divisions within the Liberals over Irish Home Rule and led to a split and another general election the following year.

Results

UK General Election 1885
Candidates Votes
Party Standing Elected Gained Unseated Net % of total % Net %
  Liberal 575 319 - 33 47.4 2,199,198 - 7.3
  Conservative 597 247 + 10 43.5 2,020,927 + 1.0
  Irish Parliamentary 91 86 + 23 6.9 310,608 + 4.1
  Independent Liberal 35 11 11 0 + 11 1.3 55,652 N/A
  Independent Liberal and Crofters Party 6 4 4 0 + 4 0.4 16,551 N/A
  Independent Conservative 8 2 2 0 + 2 0.3 12,599 N/A
  Lib-Lab 4 1 1 0 + 1 0.2 8,232 N/A
  Independent 6 0 0 0 0 0.1 6,570 N/A
  Independent Nationalist 2 0 0 0 0 0.1 2,889 N/A
  Scottish Land Restoration 5 0 0 0 0 0.0 2,359 N/A
  Irish Loyalist 6 0 0 0 0 0.0 1,869 N/A
  Social Democratic Federation 3 0 0 0 0 0.0 657 N/A

Total votes cast: 4,638,235. All parties shown.

Voting summary

Popular vote
Liberal
 
47.41%
Conservative
 
43.57%
Irish Parliamentary
 
6.7%
Independent
 
2.03%
Others
 
0.29%

Regional Results

Great Britain

Party Candidates Unopposed Seats Seats change Votes % % Change
Liberal 558 14 319 2,169,976 51.8
Conservative 532 8 233 1,909,424 45.6
Other 60 0 16 103,880 2.5
Irish Parliamentary Party 2 0 1 3,489 0.1
Total 1,152 22 569 Steady 4,186,769 100
England
Party Candidates Unopposed Seats Seats change Votes % % Change
Liberal 452 4 238 1,809,665 51.4
Conservative 440 1 213 1,675,757 47.5
Other 26 0 4 40,990 1.0
Irish Parliamentary Party 2 0 1 3,489 0.1
Total 658 177 464 Steady 491,540 100
Scotland
Party Candidates Unopposed Seats Seats change Votes % % Change
Liberal 70 5 51 238,627 53.3
Conservative 55 0 8 151,137 34.3
Other 32 0 11 57,124 12.4
Total 157 5 70 Steady 446,888 100
Wales
Party Candidates Unopposed Seats Seats change Votes % % Change
Liberal 34 4 29 119,231 58.3
Conservative 29 0 4 79,690 38.9
Lib-Lab 1 0 1 3,859 1.9
Other 1 0 0 1,907 0.9
Total 65 4 34 Steady 204,687 100

Ireland

Party Candidates Unopposed Seats Seats change Votes % % Change
Irish Parliamentary Party 92 19 85 Increase24 307,119 67.8 Increase30.3
Conservative 70 2 16 Decrease7 111,503 24.8 Decrease15
Liberal 14 0 0 Decrease15 30,022 6.8 Decrease15.9
Other 10 0 0 2,822
Total 186 21 101 451,466 100

Universities

Party Candidates Unopposed Seats Seats change Votes % % Change
Conservative 8 7 8 2,840 53.7
Liberal 2 1 1 2,453 46.3
Total 10 8 9 Steady 5,293 100

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats
Liberal
 
47.61%
Conservative
 
36.87%
Irish Parliamentary
 
12.84%
Lib-Lab
 
0.15%
Independent
 
2.54%

See also

Further reading

References

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