1892 United Kingdom general election

United Kingdom general election, 1892

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   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 313 272 Seat change 80 80 Popular vote 2,028,586 1,958,598 Percentage 47.0% 45.4% Swing 4.4% 0.2%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Justin McCarthy John Redmond Party Irish National Federation Irish National League 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% 1.3% Swing New party New party
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, 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.

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 in the form of the constituency organisation known as 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).

The election also saw the election of Britain's first Asian MP, with Dadabhai Naoroji being elected for Finsbury Central (The Guardian 2013).

Results

UK General Election 1892

			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Conservative and Liberal Unionist	Lord Salisbury	606	313	21	101	−80	46.72	46.99	2,028,586	−4.4
	Liberal	William Ewart Gladstone	535	272	99	19	+80	40.60	45.37	1,958,598	+0.2
	Irish National Federation	Justin McCarthy	85	72			+72	10.75	5.20	224,528	N/A
	Irish National League	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
	Ind. 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

• MPs elected in the UK general election, 1892
• Parliamentary franchise in the United Kingdom 1885–1918

References

• Cawood, Ian (2010), "The 1892 General Election and the Eclipse of the Liberal Unionists", Parliamentary History, 29 (3): 331–357
• Cawood, Ian (2013), "The Unionist 'Compact' in West Midland Politics 1891–1895", Midland History
• Craig, F. W. S. (1989), British Electoral Facts: 1832–1987, Dartmouth: Gower, ISBN 0900178302
• Craig, F. W. S. (1974), British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918, Macmillan
• "From the archive, 26 July 1892: Britain's first Asian MP elected", The Guardian, 26 July 2013, retrieved 2 May 2018
• Haigh, Christopher, ed. (1990), The Cambridge Historical Encyclopedia of Great Britain and Ireland, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521395526
• Pelling, Henry (1967), Social Geography of British Elections 1885–1910

External links

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