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1892 United Kingdom general election

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1892 United Kingdom general election

← 1886 4–26 July 1892 (1892-07-04 – 1892-07-26) 1895 →

All 670 seats in the House of Commons
336 seats needed for a majority
Turnout77.4% (Increase3.2 pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Marquess of Salisbury William Ewart Gladstone Justin McCarthy
Party Conservative and Liberal Unionist Liberal Irish National Federation
Leader since April 1881 April 1880 1891
Leader's seat House of Lords Midlothian North Longford
Last election 393 seats, 51.4% 191 seats, 41.8% Part of IPP
Seats won 314 272[a] 72
Seat change Decrease79 Increase80 Increase72
Popular vote 2,028,586 1,958,598 224,528
Percentage 47.0% 45.4% 5.2%
Swing Decrease4.4 pp Increase3.6 pp New party

Colours denote the winning party

Diagram displaying the composition of the House of Commons following the election

Prime Minister before election

Marquess of Salisbury
Conservative

Prime Minister after
election

William Ewart Gladstone
Liberal

The 1892 United Kingdom general election was held from 4 to 26 July 1892. It saw the Conservatives, led by Lord Salisbury again win the greatest number of seats, but no longer a majority as William Ewart Gladstone's Liberals won 80 more seats than in the 1886 general election. The Liberal Unionists who had previously supported the Conservative government saw their vote and seat numbers go down.

Despite being split between Parnellite and anti-Parnellite factions, the Irish Nationalist vote held up well. As the Liberals did not have a majority on their own, Salisbury refused to resign on hearing the election results and waited to be defeated in a vote of no confidence on 11 August. Gladstone formed a minority government dependent on Irish Nationalist support.

The Liberals had engaged in failed attempts at reunification between 1886 and 1887. Gladstone however was able to retain control of much of the Liberal party machinery, particularly the National Liberal Federation. Gladstone used the annual NLF meetings as a platform to consolidate various Liberal causes, particularly the Newcastle meeting of 1891, which gave its name to the radical Newcastle Programme. This programme placed Irish Home Rule first, followed by Welsh and Scottish disestablishment, reduction in factory work hours, free education, electoral reform, land reform, reform or abolition of the House of Lords, and the removal of duties on basic foods. This programme would later be disowned by the party leadership following the Liberal defeat in the 1895 election.[1]

Results

[edit]
UK General Election 1892
Candidates Votes
Party Leader Stood Elected Gained Unseated Net % of total % No. Net %
  Conservative and Liberal Unionist Lord Salisbury 606 314 21 100 −79 46.87 46.99 2,028,586 −4.4
  Liberal William Ewart Gladstone 535 271 98 19 +79 40.44 45.37 1,958,598 +0.2
  Irish National Federation Justin McCarthy 85 72 +72 10.75 5.20 224,528 N/A
  Irish National League John Redmond 44 9 +9 1.34 1.55 67,119 N/A
  Independent Labour N/A 9 3 3 0 +3 0.45 0.51 22,198 N/A
  Ind. Conservative N/A 4 0 0 0 0 0 0.13 5,556 N/A
  Independent Liberal N/A 6 1 1 0 +1 0.15 0.08 3,572 N/A
  Scottish Trades Councils Chisholm Robertson 4 0 0 0 0 0 0.05 2,313 N/A
  Ind. Nationalist N/A 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.05 2,180 N/A
  Scottish Parliamentary Labour Keir Hardie 3 0 0 0 0 0 0.04 1,866 N/A
  Social Democratic Federation H. M. Hyndman 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.02 659 N/A
  Independent N/A 3 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 137 N/A

Voting summary

[edit]
Popular vote
Conservative and Liberal Unionist
46.99%
Liberal
45.37%
Irish National Federation
5.20%
Irish National League
1.55%
Independent Labour
0.51%
Independent Conservative
0.13%
Independent Liberal
0.08%
Others
0.17%

Seats summary

[edit]
Parliamentary seats
Conservative and Liberal Unionist
46.72%
Liberal
40.60%
Irish National Federation
10.75%
Irish National League
1.34%
Independent Labour
0.45%
Independent Liberal
0.15%

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Includes Arthur Peel (Speaker of the House of Commons) and Sir Edward Watkin (Independent Liberal)

References

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  1. ^ (Haigh 1990, p. 259)
  2. ^ All parties shown.
  3. ^ "General Election Results 1885-1979". Archived from the original on 30 January 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2022.

Further reading

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