1874 United Kingdom general election
31 January – 17 February 1874 (1874-01-31 – 1874-02-17)
All 652 seats in the House of Commons
327 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Benjamin Disraeli William Gladstone Isaac Butt
Party Conservative Liberal Home Rule
Leader since 27 February 1868 3 December 1868 November 1873
Leader's seat Buckinghamshire Greenwich Limerick City
Last election 271 seats, 38.7% 387 seats, 61.2% Did not contest
Seats won 350 242 60
Seat change Increase79 Decrease145 Increase60
Popular vote 1,091,708 1,281,159 90,234
Percentage 44.3% 52.0% 3.7%
Swing Increase5.6% Decrease9.2% New party
Colours denote the winning party
Prime Minister before election

William Gladstone
Liberal

 Prime Minister after election

Benjamin Disraeli
Conservative

The 1874 United Kingdom general election saw the incumbent Liberals, led by William Gladstone, lose decisively, even though their party won a majority of the votes cast.[1] 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. Gladstone's decision to call an election surprised his colleagues, for they were aware of large sectors of discontent in their coalition. For example, the nonconformists were upset with education policies; many working-class people disliked the new trade union laws and the restrictions on drinking. The Conservatives were making gains in the middle-class, Gladstone wanted to abolish the income tax, but failed to carry his own cabinet. The result was a disaster for the Liberals, who went from 387 MPs to only 242. Conservatives jumped from 271 to 350. Gladstone himself noted: "We have been swept away in a torrent of gin and beer".[2]

The election saw the Irish of the Home Rule League become a significant third party in Parliament, with 60 of 101 of the seats for Ireland. 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 Act, as tenants faced less of a threat of eviction if they voted against the wishes of their landlords. Also in this election, the first two working-class MPs were elected: Alexander MacDonald and Thomas Burt, both members of the Miners' Union, were elected as Liberal-Labour (Lib–Lab) MPs in Stafford and Morpeth, respectively.[3] The 1867 Reform Act eroded the legislative power of the rural gentry. The 1874 election, especially in Ireland, saw great landowners losing their county seats to tenant farmers.[4]

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 no votes were cast in those 100 places where the Conservative candidates were anticipated to be popular; in the seats where Liberal candidates did stand, they polled a high proportion of the vote on average.

The election saw 652 MPs elected, six fewer than at the previous election. Following allegations of corruption, the Conservative-held constituencies of Beverley and Sligo Borough, and the Liberal-held constituencies of Bridgwater and Cashel, had been abolished.

Results

UK General Election 1874
Party Candidates Votes
Stood Elected Gained Unseated Net  % of total  % No. Net %
  Liberal 489 242 −139 37.12 51.95 1,281,159 −9.5
  Conservative 507 350 +79 53.68 44.27 1,091,708 +5.9
  Home Rule 80 60 0 0 +60 9.20 3.66 90,234 N/A
  Others 4 0 0 0 0 0 0.12 2,936 0.0

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 Increase85 1,000,006 44.6
Liberal 230 Decrease93 1,241,381 55.4
Lib-Lab 2 Increase2
Other 0 2 0.0
Total 551 Decrease4 2,241,389 100
England
Party Seats Seats change Votes  %  % change
Conservative 280 Increase69 905,239 46.2
Liberal 171 Decrease75 1,035,268 53.8
Lib-Lab 2 Increase2
Other 0 2 0.0
Total 451 Decrease4 1,940,509 100
Scotland
Party Seats Seats change Votes  %  % change
Liberal 40 Decrease11 148,345 68.4
Conservative 18 Increase11 63,193 31.6
Total 58 Steady 211,538 100
Wales
Party Seats Seats change Votes  %  % change
Liberal 19 Decrease4 57,768 60.9
Conservative 14 Increase4 31,574 39.1
Total 33 Steady 89,342 100

Ireland

Party Seats Seats change Votes  %  % change
Home Rule 60 Increase60 90,234 39.6 New entry
Irish Conservative 31 Decrease6 91,702 40.8 −1.1%
Liberal 10 Decrease56 39,778 18.4 −39.5%
Other 0 2,934 1.2
Total 101 Decrease2 224,648 100

Universities

Party Seats Seats change Votes  %  % change
Conservative 7 Increase1
Liberal 2 Decrease1
Total 9 Steady 100

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ William Henry Maehl, "Gladstone, the Liberals, and the Election of 1874", Historical Research (1963), 36#93: 53–69.
  2. ↑ (Roberts 2001, p. 332).
  3. ↑ Whitfield, Bob (2001). The Extension of the Franchise, 1832-1931. Heinemann. p. 240. ISBN 9780435327170.
  4. ↑ David F. Krein, "The Great Landowners in the House of Commons, 1833–85." Parliamentary History 32.3 (2013): 460-476.
  5. ↑ "Others" include the Catholic Union.

References and further reading

  • Craig, F. W. S. (1989), British Electoral Facts: 1832–1987, Dartmouth: Gower, ISBN 0900178302
  • Hurst, Michael (1972), "Liberal versus Liberal: The General Election of 1874 in Bradford and Sheffield", Historical Journal, 15 (4): 669–713, doi:10.1017/s0018246x00003502, S2CID 145108784
  • McIntyre, William David. "Disraeli's election blunder: The straits of Malacca issue in the 1874 election." Culture, Theory and Critique 5.1 (1961): 76-105.
  • Maehl, William Henry (1963), "Gladstone, the Liberals, and the Election of 1874", Historical Research, 36 (93): 53–69, doi:10.1111/j.1468-2281.1963.tb00622.x
  • Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael, eds. (2000), British Electoral Facts 1832–1999, Ashgate Publishing Ltd
  • Roberts, Martin (2001), Britain: 1846–1964: The Challenge of Change, Oxford University Press
  • Roberts, Matthew. "Election Cartoons and Political Communication In Victorian England" Cultural & Social History (2013) 10#3 pp 369–395, covers 1860 to 1890.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.