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   Leader Lord Salisbury William Ewart Gladstone Party Conservative Liberal Leader since April 1881 April 1880 Leader's seat Marquess of Salisbury Midlothian Last election 247 seats, 43.5% 319 seats, 47.4% Seats won 317 191 Seat change 70 128 Popular vote 1,103,779 1,353,581 Percentage 37.1% 45.5% Swing 6.4 1.9   Third party Fourth party   Leader Charles Stewart Parnell Spencer Cavendish Party Irish Parliamentary Liberal Unionist Leader since 17 October 1882 April 1886 Leader's seat Cork City Duke of Devonshire Last election 86 seats, 6.9% Part of Liberal Party Seats won 85 77 Seat change 1 Popular vote 97,905 417,107 Percentage 3.3% 14.0% Swing 3.6%

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

1880 election • MPs

1885 election • MPs

1886 election • MPs

1892 election • MPs

1895 election • MPs

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

UK General Election 1886
		Candidates						Votes
Party		Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Conservative	402	317					37.1	1,103,779
	Liberal Unionist	161	77					14.0	417,107
	Conservative and Liberal Unionist	563	394			+ 147		51.1	1,520,886
	Liberal	449	191			- 128		45.5	1,353,581
	Irish Parliamentary	100	85	1	1	0		3.3	97,905
	Independent Liberal	1	0	0	0	0		0.1	1,247
	Ind. Liberal Unionist	2	0	0	0	0		0.0	544

Vote summary

Popular vote
Conservative and Liberal Unionist			51.14%
Liberal			45.51%
Irish Parliamentary			3.29%
Independent			0.06%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats
Conservative and Liberal Unionist			58.66%
Liberal			28.66%
Irish Parliamentary			12.69%

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