1892 United Kingdom general election

1892 United Kingdom general election

4–26 July 1892 (1892-07-04 – 1892-07-26)
All 670 seats in the House of Commons 336 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   160x160px 160x160px Leader Marquess of Salisbury William Ewart Gladstone Party Conservative and Liberal Unionist Liberal Leader since April 1881 April 1880 Leader's seat House of Lords Midlothian Last election 393 seats, 51.4% 191 seats, 41.8% Seats won 314 272 Seat change 79 80 Popular vote 2,028,586 1,958,598 Percentage 47.0% 45.4% Swing 4.4% 3.6%   Third party Fourth party   160x160px 160x160px Leader Justin McCarthy John Redmond Party Irish National Federation Parnellite Nationalist Leader since 1891 1891 Leader's seat North Longford Waterford City Last election Part of IPP Part of IPP Seats won 72 9 Seat change 72 9 Popular vote 224,528 67,119 Percentage 5.2% 1.6% Swing New party New party
330px Colours denote the winning party
Prime Minister before election Marquess of Salisbury Conservative Appointed Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone Liberal

The 1892 United Kingdom general election was held from 4 July to 26 July 1892. It saw the Conservatives, led by Lord Salisbury again win the greatest number of seats, but no longer most as William Ewart Gladstone's Liberals won 80 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.

The Liberals had engaged in failed attempts at reunification between 1886 and 1887. Gladstone however was able to retain control of much of the Liberal party machinery, particularly the National Liberal Federation. Gladstone used the annual NLF meetings as a platform to consolidate various Liberal causes, particularly the Newcastle meeting of 1891, which gave its name to the radical Newcastle Programme. This programme placed Irish Home Rule first, followed by Welsh and Scottish disestablishment, reduction in factory work hours, free education, electoral reform, land reform, reform or abolition of the House of Lords, and the removal of duties on basic foods. This programme would later be disowned by the party leadership following the Liberal defeat in the 1895 election (Haigh 1990, p. 259).

Elected was Britain's first Asian MP, Dadabhai Naoroji (Liberal), for Finsbury Central (The Guardian).

Results

↓ 

271	72	9	314	4
Liberal	INF	INL	Conservative & Lib. Unionist

UK General Election 1892
			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Conservative and Liberal Unionist	Lord Salisbury	606	314	21	100	−79	46.87	46.99	2,028,586	−4.4
	Liberal	William Ewart Gladstone	535	271	98	19	+79	40.44	45.37	1,958,598	+0.2
	Irish National Federation	Justin McCarthy	85	72			+72	10.75	5.20	224,528	N/A
	Parnellite Nationalist	John Redmond	44	9			+9	1.34	1.55	67,119	N/A
	Independent Labour	N/A	9	3	3	0	+3	0.45	0.51	22,198	N/A
	Independent Conservative	N/A	4	0	0	0	0	0	0.13	5,556	N/A
	Independent Liberal	N/A	6	1	1	0	+1	0.15	0.08	3,572	N/A
	Scottish Trades Councils	Chisholm Robertson	4	0	0	0	0	0	0.05	2,313	N/A
	Independent Nationalist	N/A	2	0	0	0	0	0	0.05	2,180	N/A
	Scottish Parliamentary Labour	Keir Hardie	3	0	0	0	0	0	0.04	1,866	N/A
	Social Democratic Federation	H. M. Hyndman	2	0	0	0	0	0	0.02	659	N/A
	Independent	N/A	3	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	137	N/A

Total votes cast: 4,317,312.

Voting summary

Popular vote
Conservative and Liberal Unionist			46.99%
Liberal			45.37%
Irish National Federation			5.20%
Irish National League			1.55%
Independent Labour			0.51%
Independent Conservative			0.13%
Independent Liberal			0.08%
Others			0.17%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats
Conservative and Liberal Unionist			46.72%
Liberal			40.60%
Irish National Federation			10.75%
Irish National League			1.34%
Independent Labour			0.45%
Independent Liberal			0.15%

See also

• List of MPs elected in the 1892 United Kingdom general election
• Parliamentary franchise in the United Kingdom 1885–1918

External links

• Spartacus: Political Parties and Election Results
• United Kingdom election results—summary results 1885–1979