United Kingdom general election, 1880

United Kingdom general election, 1880

31 March–27 April 1880
All 652 seats to the House of Commons 327 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Lord Hartington Lord Beaconsfield William Shaw Party Liberal Conservative Home Rule Leader since January 1875 27 February 1868 May 1879 Leader's seat North East Lancashire Earl of Beaconsfield County Cork Last election 242 seats, 52.0% 350 seats, 44.3% 60 seats, 3.7% Seats won 352 237 63 Seat change 110 113 3 Popular vote 1,836,423 1,426,351 95,535 Percentage 54.7% 42.5% 2.8% Swing 2.7% 1.8% 0.9%
PM before election Lord Beaconsfield Conservative Subsequent PM William Ewart Gladstone Liberal

1868 election • MPs

1874 election • MPs

1880 election • MPs

1885 election • MPs

1886 election • MPs

The United Kingdom general election of 1880 was a general election in the United Kingdom held from March to April 1880.

At the culmination of the Midlothian campaign, the Liberals, led by the fierce oratory of retired former Liberal leader William Ewart Gladstone in attacking the supposedly immoral foreign policy of the Disraeli government, secured one of their largest ever majorities in the election, leaving the Conservatives a distant second. As a result of the campaign, the Liberal leaders, Lord Hartington and Lord Granville, withdrew in favour of Gladstone, who thus became Prime Minister a second time.

Results

United Kingdom General Election 1880
		Candidates						Votes
Party		Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Liberal	499	352			+ 110	54	54.7	1,836,423	+ 2.7
	Conservative	521	237			- 113	36.3	42.5	1,426,351	- 1.8
	Home Rule	81	63			+ 3	9.7	2.8	95,535	- 0.9
	Independent	2	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,107	0.0

Total votes cast: 3,359,416.

Voting summary

Crowds wait outside Leeds Town Hall to hear the result.

Popular vote
Liberal			54.66%
Conservative			42.46%
Home Rule			2.84%
Others			0.03%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats
Liberal			53.99%
Conservative			36.35%
Home Rule			9.66%

Regional Results

Great Britain

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Liberal	337	105	1,780,171	57.3	1.9
	Conservative	214	105	1,326,744	42.7	1.9
	Others	0		1,107	0.04	0.04
Total		551		3,108,022	100

England

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Liberal	254	83	1,519,576	56.2	2.4
	Conservative	197	83	1,205,990	43.7	2.5
	Others	0		1,107	0.1	0.1
Total		451		2,726,673	100

Scotland

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Liberal	52	12	195,517	70.1	1.7
	Conservative	6	12	74,145	29.9	1.7
Total		58		269,662	100

Wales

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Liberal	29	10	50,403	58.8	2.1
	Conservative	4	10	41,106	41.2	2.1
Total		33		100,509	100

Ireland

Main article: United Kingdom general election, 1880 (Ireland)

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Home Rule	63	3	95,535	37.5	2.1%
	Irish Conservative	24	8	99,607	39.8	1.0%
	Liberal	15	5	56,252	22.7	4.3%
Total		101		251,394	100

Universities

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Conservative	7		5,503	49.2
	Liberal	2		5,675	50.8
Total		9		11,178	100

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