United Kingdom general election, 1886

United Kingdom general election, 1886

1–27 July 1886

All 670 seats in the House of Commons 336 seats needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader Lord Salisbury William Ewart Gladstone Charles Stewart Parnell Party Conservative and Liberal Unionist Liberal Irish Parliamentary Leader since April 1881 April 1880 17 October 1882 Leader's seat Marquess of Salisbury Midlothian Cork City Last election 247 seats, 43.5% 319 seats, 47.4% 86 seats, 6.9% Seats won 394 191 85 Seat change 147 128 1 Popular vote 1,520,886 1,353,581 97,905 Percentage 51.1% 45.5% 3.3% Swing 7.6 1.9 3.6%

PM before election William Ewart Gladstone Liberal Subsequent PM Lord Salisbury Conservative

The 1886 United Kingdom general election took place from 1–27 July 1886. It resulted in a major reversal of the results of the 1885 election as the Conservatives, led by Lord Salisbury in an electoral pact with the breakaway Unionist wing of the Liberals led by Lord Hartington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain. The new Liberal Unionist party gave the Conservatives their parliamentary majority but did not join them in a formal coalition.

William Ewart Gladstone's Liberals, who supported Irish Home Rule, and their sometimes allies, the Irish Parliamentary Party led by Charles Stewart Parnell, placed a distant second. This ended the period of Liberal dominance – they had held power for 18 of the 27 years since 1859 and won five of the six elections held during that time, but would only be in power for three of the next 19 years.

Results

Vote summary

Seats summary

Regional Results

Great Britain

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Conservative & Liberal Unionist	528	115	376	143	1,422,685	51.2	5.6
	Liberal	448	40	192	127	1,351,671	48.6	3.2
	Irish Parliamentary Party	2	0	1		3,022	0.1
	Other	3	0	0	16	1,791	0.1	2.4
Total		982	155	569		2,779,169	100

England

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Conservative & Liberal Unionist	432	105	332	119	1,193,289	52.6	5.1
	Liberal	347	23	123	115	1,087,065	47.2	4.2
	Irish Parliamentary Party	1	0	1		2,911	0.1
	Other	3	0	0	4	1,791	0.1	1.9
Total		783	128	456		2,285,056	100

Scotland

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Liberal	68	7	43	8	193,801	53.6	0.3
	Conservative & Liberal Unionist	63	2	27	19	164,314	46.4	12.1
Total		131	9	70		358,115	100

Wales

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Liberal	32	10	26	3	70,289	53.9	4.4
	Conservative & Liberal Unionist	24	2	8	4	60,048	46.1	7.3
Total		56	12	34		130,337	100

Ireland

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Irish Parliamentary Party	97	66	84	1	94,883	48.6	19.2
	Conservative & Liberal Unionist	35	3	17	1	98,201	50.4	25.6
	Liberal	1	0	0		1,910	1.0	5.8
Total		133	69	101		194,994	100

Universities

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Conservative & Liberal Unionist	9	6	9	1	5,034	84.7	31.0
	Liberal	1	0	0	1	516	13.8	32.5
	Irish Parliamentary Party	2	0	0		111	1.5	1.5
Total		12	6	9		5,661	100

See also

• MPs elected in the UK general election, 1886
• The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918

Further reading

• Walker, Brian. "The 1885 and 1886 General Elections in Ireland," History Ireland 13#6 (2005), pp. 36-40 in JSTOR

References

• F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987
• Spartacus: Political Parties and Election Results
• United Kingdom election results - summary results 1885-1979

Elections and referendums in the 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 2010 2015 Next Local elections 1889 1890 1892 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 European elections 1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 Referendums 1975 2011 2016 Elections and referendums in England (1264–1705) Great Britain (1708–1796) Ireland Northern Ireland Scotland Wales