1892 United Kingdom general election

The 1892 United Kingdom general election was held from 4 to 26 July 1892. It saw the Conservatives, led by Lord Salisbury again win the greatest number of seats, but no longer a majority 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.

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
Turnout	77.4% (3.2 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Marquess of Salisbury William Ewart Gladstone Justin McCarthy Party Conservative and Liberal Unionist Liberal Irish National Federation Leader since April 1881 April 1880 1891 Leader's seat House of Lords Midlothian North Longford Last election 393 seats, 51.4% 191 seats, 41.8% Part of IPP Seats won 314 272 72 Seat change 79 80 72 Popular vote 2,028,586 1,958,598 224,528 Percentage 47.0% 45.4% 5.2% Swing 4.4 pp 3.6 pp New party
Colours denote the winning party
Diagram displaying the composition of the House of Commons following the election
Prime Minister before election Marquess of Salisbury Conservative Prime Minister after election William Ewart Gladstone Liberal

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.

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	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
	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
	Ind. 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.
Electorate: 6,160,541 (5,614,202 in contested seats)
Turnout: 77.4%

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
• 1892 United Kingdom general election in Ireland
• 1892 United Kingdom local elections

Further reading

• Blaxill, Luke. From: The War of Words: The Language of British Elections, 1880–1922 (2020) pp. 81–123.
• Cawood, Ian (2010), "The 1892 General Election and the Eclipse of the Liberal Unionists", Parliamentary History, 29 (3): 331–357, doi:10.1111/j.1750-0206.2010.00137.x331-357&rft.date=2010&rft_id=info:doi/10.1111/j.1750-0206.2010.00137.x&rft.aulast=Cawood&rft.aufirst=Ian&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:1892 United Kingdom general election" class="Z3988">
• 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
• Lloyd-Jones, Naomi (2020). "The 1892 general election in England: Home Rule, the Newcastle programme and positive Unionism". Historical Research. 93 (259): 73–104. doi:10.1093/hisres/htz009.73-104&rft.date=2020&rft_id=info:doi/10.1093/hisres/htz009&rft.aulast=Lloyd-Jones&rft.aufirst=Naomi&rft_id=https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fhisres%2Fhtz009&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:1892 United Kingdom general election" class="Z3988">
• 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 Archived 30 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine