United Kingdom general election, 1857

27 March–24 April 1857

All 654 seats in the House of Commons 328 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party

Leader	The Viscount Palmerston	The Earl of Derby
Party	Whig	Conservative
Leader since	6 February 1855	July 1846
Leader's seat	Tiverton	Earl of Derby
Last election	324 seats, 57.9%	330 seats, 41.9%
Seats won	377	264 (including Peelites)
Seat change	53	66
Popular vote	464,127	239,712
Percentage	65.9%	34.0%
Swing	7.0%	7.9%

PM before election

Lord Palmerston
Whig

Subsequent PM

Lord Palmerston
Whig

1847 election • MPs
1852 election • MPs
1857 election • MPs
1859 election • MPs
1865 election • MPs

In the 1857 United Kingdom general election, the Whigs, led by Lord Palmerston, finally won a majority in the House of Commons as the Conservative vote fell significantly. The election had been provoked by a vote of censure in Palmerston's government over his approach to the Arrow affair which led to the Second Opium War.

Results

United Kingdom General Election 1857
		Candidates						Votes
Party		Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Whig	507	377			+ 53		64.9	464,127	+ 7.0
	Conservative	351	264			- 66		33.5	239,712	- 7.1
	Others	19	13	13	0	+ 13		1.7	12,099	N/A
	Chartist	1	0	0	0	0		0.1	614	- 0.1

Total votes cast: 716,552. "Others" are mostly Irish Independent Opposition. The Conservative total votes cast and MPs includes around 26 Peelites - some reference works claim it was as few as 18.

Summary

Popular vote

Whig			64.77%
Conservative			33.45%
Others			1.69%
Chartist			0.09%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats

Whig			57.65%
Conservative			40.37%
Others			1.99%

References

F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987
British Electoral Facts 1832-1999, compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher (Ashgate Publishing Ltd 2000)
1857 General Election / Spartacus: Political Parties and Election Results

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