United Kingdom general election, 1859

28 April–18 May 1859

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	377 seats, 65.9%	264 seats, 34.0%
Seats won	356 (including Peelites)	298
Seat change	21	34
Popular vote	372,117	193,232
Percentage	65.7%	34.3%
Swing	0.2%	0.3%

PM before election

Lord Derby
Conservative

Subsequent PM

Lord Palmerston
Whig

1852 election • MPs
1857 election • MPs
1859 election • MPs
1865 election • MPs
1868 election • MPs

In the 1859 United Kingdom general election, the Whigs, led by Lord Palmerston, held their majority in the House of Commons over the Earl of Derby's Conservatives. This election is also considered to be the first to be contested by the Liberal Party - a name unofficially adopted to cover the alliance of Whigs, Peelites, Radicals and Irish Brigade who had previously voted against the Derby administration in the House of Commons that had led to the election. It was also the last general election entered by the Chartists, before their organisation was dissolved.

Results

UK General Election 1859
		Candidates						Votes
Party		Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Whig	298	356			- 21	54.4	65.7	372,117	- 0.2
	Conservative	394	298			+ 34	45.6	34.3	193,232	+ 0.3
	Chartist	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	151	- 0.1

Total votes cast: 565,500

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)
Spartacus: Political Parties and Election Results

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