1892 United Kingdom general election

United Kingdom general election, 1892

4–26 July 1892
All 670 seats in the House of Commons 336 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   File:Justin McCarthy (1830-1912).jpg Leader William Ewart Gladstone Lord Salisbury Justin McCarthy Party Liberal Conservative Irish Parliamentary Leader since April 1880 April 1881 6 December 1891 Leader's seat Midlothian Marquess of Salisbury North Longford Last election 192 seats, 41.8% 317 seats, 29.8% 85 seats, 3.4% Seats won 272 268 81 Seat change 80 49 4 Popular vote 2,088,019 1,690,594 309,329 Percentage 45.4% 7.0% Swing 3.6% 3.7%   Fourth party   Leader Spencer Cavendish Party Liberal Unionist Leader since April 1886 Leader's seat Duke of Devonshire Last election 77 seats, 3.4% Seats won 46 Seat change 31 Popular vote 468,556
PM before election Lord Salisbury Conservative Subsequent PM William Ewart Gladstone Liberal

1885 election • MPs

1886 election • MPs

1892 election • MPs

1895 election • MPs

1900 election • MPs

The 1892 United Kingdom general election was held from 4 July to 26 July 1892. It saw the Conservatives, led by Lord Salisbury, win the greatest number of seats, but not enough for an overall majority as William Ewart Gladstone's Liberals won many more seats than in the 1886 general election. The Liberal Unionists who had previously supported the Conservative government saw their vote and seat numbers go down. Despite being split between Parnellite and anti-Parnellite factions, the Irish Nationalist vote held up well. As the Liberals did not have a majority on their own, Salisbury refused to resign on hearing the election results and waited to be defeated in a vote of no confidence on 11 August. Gladstone formed a minority government dependent on Irish Nationalist support.

Results

UK General Election 1892

			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Conservative	Lord Salisbury	470	268						1,690,594
	Liberal Unionist	Joseph Chamberlain	136	46						468,556
	Conservative and Liberal Unionist	Lord Salisbury	606	314			- 79		47.0	2,159,150
	Liberal	William Ewart Gladstone	535	272			+ 80	40.59	45.4	2,088,019	+3.6
	Irish Parliamentary	Justin McCarthy	129	81	0	3	- 4	12.08	7.0	309,329	+3.7
	Independent Labour	N/A	9	3	3	0	+ 3	0.44	0.5	22,198	N/A
	Ind. Conservative	N/A	4	0	0	0	0		0.1	7,211	N/A
	Independent Liberal	N/A	6	1	1	0	+ 1		0.1	3,572	N/A
	Scottish Trades Councils	Chisholm Robertson	4	0	0	0	0		0.0	2,313	N/A
	Ind. Nationalist	N/A	2	0	0	0	0		0.0	2,180	N/A
	Scottish Parliamentary Labour	Keir Hardie	3	0	0	0	0		0.0	2,043	N/A
	Social Democratic Federation	H. M. Hyndman	2	0	0	0	0		0.0	659	N/A
	Independent	N/A	3	0	0	0	0		0.0	139	N/A

The totals above exclude two Irish candidates whose party affiliation was unclear to F. W. S. Craig at the time he compiled his voting figures: Col. J. C. Lowry who gained 897 votes standing for University of Dublin as either an Independent or Official Conservative, and John O'Connor Power who gained 609 votes standing in Mayo West as a Gladstonian Liberal. Craig labelled both candidates: "Others".

Total votes cast: 4,598,319. All parties shown.

Voting summary

Popular vote Conservative and Liberal Unionist   46.96% Liberal   45.41% Irish Parliamentary   6.73% Independent   0.77% Others   0.14%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats Conservative and Liberal Unionist   46.72% Liberal   40.6% Irish Parliamentary   12.1% Independent Liberal   0.15% Independent Labour   0.45%

See also

• MPs elected in the UK general election, 1892
• The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918

Sources

• F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987
• F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918 (Macmillan, 1974)
• Spartacus: Political Parties and Election Results

External links

For an alternative view of the count where each vote in a two-member seat is counted as half a vote (because each elector had two votes) see:

• United Kingdom election results - summary results 1885-1979