United Kingdom general election, 1892

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   Leader William Ewart Gladstone Lord Salisbury Party Liberal Conservative Leader since April 1880 April 1881 Leader's seat Midlothian Marquess of Salisbury Last election 192 seats, 41.8% 317 seats, 29.8% Seats won 272 268 Seat change 80 49 Popular vote 2,088,019 1,690,594 Percentage 45.4% Swing 3.6%   Third party Fourth party   150x150px Leader Justin McCarthy Spencer Cavendish Party Irish Parliamentary Liberal Unionist Leader since 6 December 1891 April 1886 Leader's seat North Longford Duke of Devonshire Last election 85 seats, 3.4% 77 seats, 3.4% Seats won 81 46 Seat change 4 31 Popular vote 309,329 468,556 Percentage 7.0% Swing 3.7%
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	Standing	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
	Independent 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
	Independent 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