United Kingdom general election, 1874

United Kingdom general election, 1874

31 January–17 February 1874

All 652 seats to the House of Commons 327 seats needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader Benjamin Disraeli William Ewart Gladstone Isaac Butt Party Conservative Liberal Home Rule Leader since 27 February 1868 3 December 1868 November 1873 Leader's seat Buckinghamshire Greenwich Limerick Last election 271 seats, 38.4% 387 seats, 61.5% N/A Seats won 350 242 60 Seat change 79 145 N/A Popular vote 1,091,708 1,281,159 90,234 Percentage 44.3% 52.0% 3.7% Swing 5.9% 9.5% N/A

PM before election William Ewart Gladstone Liberal Subsequent PM Benjamin Disraeli Conservative

1865 election • MPs

1868 election • MPs

1874 election • MPs

1880 election • MPs

1885 election • MPs

The 1874 United Kingdom general election saw the Liberals, led by William Ewart Gladstone, win a majority of the votes cast, but Benjamin Disraeli's Conservatives won the majority of seats in the House of Commons, largely because they won a number of uncontested seats. It was the first Conservative victory in a General Election since 1841.

The election also saw Irish nationalists in the Home Rule League become the first significant third party in Parliament. This had been the first General Election that used a secret ballot following the 1872 Secret Ballot Act. The Irish Nationalist gains could well be attributed to the effects of the secret ballot as tenants faced less of a threat of eviction if they voted against the wishes of their landlords.

This is the only time since the introduction of the secret ballot that a party has been defeated despite receiving an absolute majority of the popular vote. This was primarily because over 100 Conservative candidates were elected unopposed. This meant that there was no contest in many constituencies where the Conservatives were popular.

Results

UK General Election 1874
		Candidates						Votes
Party		Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Liberal	489	242			− 139	37.1	52.0	1,281,159	− 9.5
	Conservative	507	350			+ 79	53.7	44.3	1,091,708	+ 5.9
	Home Rule	80	60	0	0	+ 60	9.2	3.7	90,234	N/A
	Others	4	0	0	0	0		0.0	2,936	0.0

Total votes cast: 2,466,037. "Others" include the Catholic Union.

Voting summary

Popular vote
Liberal			51.95%
Conservative			44.27%
Home Rule			3.66%
Others			0.12%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats
Liberal			37.12%
Conservative			53.68%
Home Rule			9.2%

Regional Results

Great Britain

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Conservative	319		1,000,006	44.6
	Liberal	232		1,241,381	55.4
	Others	0		2	0.0
Total		551		2,241,389	100

England

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Conservative	280		905,239	46.2
	Liberal	171		1,035,268	53.8
	Others	0		2	0.0
Total		451		1,940,509	100

Scotland

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Liberal	40		148,345	68.4
	Conservative	18		63,193	31.6
Total		58		211,538	100

Wales

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Liberal	19		57,768	60.9
	Conservative	14		31,574	39.1
Total		33		89,342	100

Ireland

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Home Rule	60	New	90,234	39.6	New
	Irish Conservative	31	6	91,702	40.8	1.1%
	Liberal	10	56	39,778	18.4	39.5%
	Other	0		2,934	1.2
Total		101	2	224,648	100

Universities

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Conservative	7
	Liberal	2
Total		9			100

All University candidates were elected unopposed.

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