United Kingdom general election, 1885

United Kingdom general election, 1885

24 November–18 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 33 10 23 Popular vote 2,199,198 2,020,927 310,608 Percentage 47.4% 43.5% 6.9% Swing 7.3% 1.0% 4.1%
Colours denote the winning party.
Prime Minister before election Lord Salisbury Conservative Subsequent Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone Liberal

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

Regional Results

Largest party in each constituent country.

Results within London & Middlesex.

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		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	5	464		491,540	100

Scotland

The results in Scotland, where several Liberal/Crofting MP's would dominate in the western Highlands.

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		446,888	100

Wales

The Liberal party did particularly well in Wales, winning all but four seats.

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		204,687	100

Ireland

In Ireland the Irish Nationalist IPP nearly won every seat. The party even did well in Protestant Ulster, where it won 17 of the provinces 32 seats.

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Irish Parliamentary Party	92	19	85	24	307,119	67.8	30.3
	Conservative	70	2	16	7	111,503	24.8	15
	Liberal	14	0	0	15	30,022	6.8	15.9
	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		5,293	100

Seats summary

See also

• List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1885
• Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885–1918
• Representation of the People Act 1884
• Redistribution of Seats Act 1885

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