1857 United Kingdom general election

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1857 United Kingdom general election
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
←  1852 27 March – 24 April 1857 (1857-03-27 – 1857-04-24) 1859  →
All 654 seats in the House of Commons
328 seats needed for a majority
Turnout716,552
 First partySecond party
  Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston.jpg Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby (cropped).jpg
Leader Viscount Palmerston Earl of Derby
Party Whig Conservative
Leader since6 February 1855July 1846
Leader's seat Tiverton House of Lords
Last election324 seats, 57.9%330 seats, 41.9%
Seats won377 [a] 264 [b]
Seat changeIncrease2.svg53Decrease2.svg66
Popular vote464,127239,712
Percentage64.8% [c] 33.5% [c]
SwingIncrease2.svg6.9 pp Decrease2.svg8.4 pp
1857 UK general election map.svg
Colours denote the winning party—as shown in § Results
Results of the 1857 UK General Election.svg
Composition of the House of Commons after the election
Prime Minister before election

Viscount Palmerston
Whig

Prime Minister after election

Viscount Palmerston
Whig

The 1857 United Kingdom general election was held between 27 March 1857 to 24 April 1857, to elect members of the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Whigs, led by Lord Palmerston, won a majority in the House of Commons as the Conservative vote fell significantly. The election had been provoked by a vote of censure in Palmerston's government over his approach to the Arrow affair which led to the Second Opium War.

Contents

There is no separate tally of votes or seats for the Peelites. They did not contest elections as an organised party but more as independent Free trade Conservatives with varying degrees of distance from the two main parties.

According to A. J. P. Taylor:

The general election of 1857 is unique in our history: the only election ever conducted as a simple plebiscite in favour of an individual. Even the "coupon" election of 1918 claimed to be more than a plebiscite for Lloyd George; even Disraeli and Gladstone offered a clash of policies as well as of personalities. In 1857 there was no issue before the electorate except whether Palmerston should be Prime Minister; and no one could pretend that Palmerston had any policy except to be himself. [1]

Results

1857 UK parliament.svg
UK General Election 1857
PartyCandidatesVotes
StoodElectedGainedUnseatedNet % of total %No.Net %
  Whig 507377 [a] +5357.6564.77464,127+7.0
  Conservative 351264−6640.3733.45239,712−7.1
  Independent Irish 131.991.6912,099
  Chartist 1 000000.1614−0.1

Summary

Popular vote
Whig
 
64.77%
Conservative
 
33.45%
Others
 
1.69%
Chartist
 
0.09%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats
Whig
 
57.65%
Conservative
 
40.37%
Others
 
1.99%

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 The seat and vote count figures for the Whigs given here include the Speaker of the House of Commons
  2. ↑ Including Peelites.
  3. 1 2 Several country and university seats held by Conservatives were uncontested, and many urban multi-member constituencies that tended to vote Liberal had multiple candidates, so this is an misleading figure. Therefore, national swing is not applicable to elections in this era.
  4. ↑ "Others" are mostly Irish Independent Opposition.
  5. ↑ The Conservative total votes cast and MPs includes around 26 Peelites—some reference works claim it was as few as 18.

References

  1. ↑ A. J. P. Taylor, "Lord Palmerston," History Today (1951) 1#7 pp 35-41 at p. 38 online

Further reading

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