United Kingdom general election, 1918

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

January 1910 election • MPs
December 1910 election • MPs
1918 election • MPs
1922 election • MPs
1923 election • MPs
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
Andrew Bonar Law
Andrew Bonar Law
William Adamson
William Adamson
Herbert Henry Asquith
Herbert Henry Asquith
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera

The United Kingdom general election of 1918 was the first to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918, which meant it was the first United Kingdom general election in which women could vote. Polling was held on 14 December 1918, although the count did not begin until 28 December. The election was won by a coalition of the Conservatives under Andrew Bonar Law, most of the Liberals under David Lloyd George, and a few independent and former Labour MPs, and produced a government which retained Lloyd George as Prime Minister.

Candidates which had the official support of the coalition were issued a letter of endorsement from Lloyd George and Bonar Law, known as a "coupon", and so this election is often called the coupon election. Coupons were issued to 159 Liberal candidates and 364 Conservatives. It was also known as one of the khaki elections, due to the immediate postwar setting and the role of the demobilized soldiers.

Labour, led by William Adamson, vastly increased their share of the vote but only slightly increased their number of seats. They were, however, the main parliamentary opposition and surpassed the total votes of either Liberal party (although Labour's share was less than both combined and the Coalition Liberals alone had more seats). The anti-coalition Liberals under former Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith, won few seats.

In Ireland, the Irish Parliamentary Party lost almost all their seats, most of which were won by Sinn Féin under Éamon de Valera (see Irish (UK) general election, 1918). The 73 Sinn Féin elected members declined to take their seat in the British House of Commons, sitting instead in the Irish revolutionary assembly, Dáil Éireann. On 17 May 1918 almost the entire leadership of Sinn Féin, including de Valera and Arthur Griffith, had been arrested. In total 47 of the Sinn Féin MPs were elected from jail. It was in this election also that the UK's first ever woman MP was elected: Constance Markiewicz (Sinn Féin, Dublin St Patrick's). Like the other Sinn Féin MPs, Markiewicz did not take her seat.

Contents

[edit] Results

UK General Election 1918
Party Candidates Seats Gains Losses Net Gain/Loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/-
  Coalition Conservative 362 332 N/A N/A + 61 47.0 33.3 3,472,738 2.9
  Labour 361 57 N/A N/A + 15 8.1 21.5 2,245,777 16.7
  Coalition Liberal 145 127 127 0 + 127 18.0 13.4 1,396,590 N/A
  Liberal 276 36 N/A N/A - 236 5.1 13.3 1,388,784 -16.5
  Conservative 83 50 50 0 + 50 7.1 6.4 671,454 N/A
  Sinn Féin 102 73 73 0 + 73 10.3 4.8 497,107 N/A
  Irish Parliamentary 57 7 2 69 - 67 1.0 2.3 238,197 0.6
  Coalition National Democratic 18 9 9 0 + 9 1.3 1.5 156,834 N/A
  Independent Labour 29 2 2 0 + 2 0.3 1.1 116,322
  Independent 42 2 2 0 + 2 0.3 1.0 105,261
  National 26 2 2 0 + 2 0.3 0.9 94,389 N/A
  Independent NFDSS 25 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.6 58,164 N/A
  Co-operative 10 1 1 0 + 1 0.1 0.6 57,785 N/A
  Coalition Labour 5 4 4 0 + 4 0.6 53,962 N/A
  Independent Conservative 17 1 1 1 0 0.1 0.4 44,637
  Independent Liberal 9 1 1 0 + 1 0.1 0.2 24,985
  National Democratic 8 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.2 24,497 N/A
  Agriculturalist 7 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.2 19,412 N/A
  NFDSS 5 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.1 12,329 N/A
  Belfast Labour 4 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.1 12,164 N/A
  National Socialist 3 1 1 0 + 1 0.1 0.1 11,013 N/A
  Independent Coalition 1 1 1 0 + 1 0.1 0.1 9,274 N/A
  Highland Land League 4 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.1 8,710
  Women's Party 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.1 8,614 N/A
  British Socialist 3 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.1 8,394
  Independent Democratic 4 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.1 8,351 N/A
  Independent NADSS 1 1 1 0 + 1 0.1 0.1 8,287 N/A
  Ind. Nationalist 6 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.1 8,183
  Socialist Labour 3 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.1 7,567
  Scottish Prohibition 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 5,212
  Independent Progressive 3 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 5,077
  Independent Labour and Agriculturalist 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 1,927
  Christian Socialist 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 597

Total votes cast: 10,434,700. All parties shown. Coalition Conservative vote is compared with Conservative vote in previous election. In each other case, the non-coalition vote is compared with the party's previous vote.

[edit] Ireland

Main article: Irish (UK) general election, 1918

The 1918 United Kingdom general election is seen as a key defining moment in modern Irish history. This is because it saw the overwhelming defeat of the moderate nationalist Irish Parliamentary Party, which had dominated the Irish political landscape since the 1880s, and a landslide victory for the radical Sinn Féin party, which had never previously enjoyed significant electoral success.

The aftermath of the elections saw the convention of an extra-legal parliament, the First Dáil, by the elected Sinn Féin candidates, and the outbreak of the Irish War of Independence.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

The results in London
The results in London

[edit] References

v • d • e
Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom general elections
1801 co-option · 1802 · 1806 · 1807 · 1812 · 1818 · 1820 · 1826 · 1830 · 1831 · 1832 · 1835 · 1837 · 1841 · 1847 · 1852 · 1857 · 1859 · 1865 · 1868 · 1874 · 1880 · 1885 · 1886 · 1892 · 1895 · 1900 · 1906 · 1910 (Jan) · 1910 (Dec) · 1918 · 1922 · 1923 · 1924 · 1929 · 1931 · 1935 · 1945 · 1950 · 1951 · 1955 · 1959 · 1964 · 1966 · 1970 · 1974 (Feb) · 1974 (Oct) · 1979 · 1983 · 1987 · 1992 · 1997 · 2001 · 2005 · next