1874 United Kingdom general election

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox election The 1874 United Kingdom general election was held between 31 January to 17 February 1874. Although the Liberals won the majority of the votes, Benjamin Disraeli's Conservative Party managed to win a majority, largely caused by the number of uncontested seats held by the Conservatives. Although there had been minority Conservative governments in the intervening years, this was the first outright Conservative election victory since Robert Peel's victory in 1841 over thirty years earlier.<ref>William Henry Maehl, "Gladstone, the Liberals, and the Election of 1874", Historical Research (1963), 36#93: 53–69.</ref>

The election saw the Irish of the Home Rule League become a significant third party in Parliament, with 60 of 101 of the seats for Ireland. This was the first UK election to use a secret ballot following the 1872 Secret Ballot Act. The Irish Nationalist gains are often attributed to the effects of the Secret Ballot Act,<ref name="Kinzer">Template:Cite book</ref> as tenants faced less of a threat of eviction if they voted against the wishes of their landlords.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> However, the Home Rule League had already won 8 by-elections before the passage of the act, diminishing its often emphasised importance.<ref name="Kinzer"></ref> Also in this election, the first two working-class MPs were elected: Alexander MacDonald and Thomas Burt, both members of the Miners' Union, were elected as Liberal-Labour (Lib–Lab) MPs in Stafford and Morpeth, respectively.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The 1867 Reform Act eroded the legislative power of the rural gentry. The 1874 election, especially in Ireland, saw great landowners losing their county seats to tenant farmers.<ref>David F. Krein, "The Great Landowners in the House of Commons, 1833–85." Parliamentary History 32.3 (2013): 460-476.</ref>

This is the only time, since the introduction of the secret ballot, that a UK party has been defeated despite receiving an absolute majority of the popular vote. This was primarily because over 100 Conservative candidates were elected unopposed. This meant no votes were cast in those 100 places where the Conservative candidates were anticipated to be popular; in the seats where Liberal candidates did stand, they polled a high proportion of the vote on average.

The election saw 652 MPs elected, six fewer than at the previous election. Following allegations of corruption, the Conservative-held constituencies of Beverley and Sligo Borough, and the Liberal-held constituencies of Bridgwater and Cashel, had been abolished. Template:UK general election navigation

Results

File:1874 UK parliament.svg

Template:Election summary begin with candidates Template:Election summary party with candidates Template:Election summary party with candidates Template:Election summary party with candidates Template:Election summary with candidates |}

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Regional results

Great Britain

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% change
Template:Party name with colour	319	Template:Increase85	1,000,006	44.6
Template:Party name with colour	230Template:Efn	Template:Decrease93	1,241,381	55.4
Template:Party name with colour	2	Template:Increase2
Template:Party name with colour no link	0		2	0.0
Total		551	Template:Decrease4	2,241,389	100

England

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% change
Template:Party name with colour	280	Template:Increase69	905,239	46.2
Template:Party name with colour	171	Template:Decrease75	1,035,268	53.8
Template:Party name with colour	2	Template:Increase2
Template:Party name with colour no link	0		2	0.0
Total		451	Template:Decrease4	1,940,509	100

Scotland

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% change
Template:Party name with colour	40	Template:Decrease11	148,345	68.4
Template:Party name with colour	18	Template:Increase11	63,193	31.6
Total		58	Template:Steady	211,538	100

Wales

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% change
Template:Party name with colour	19	Template:Decrease4	57,768	60.9
Template:Party name with colour	14	Template:Increase4	31,574	39.1
Total		33	Template:Steady	89,342	100

Ireland

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Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% change
Template:Party name with colour	60	Template:Increase60	90,234	39.6	Template:New entry
Template:Party name with colour	31	Template:Decrease6	91,702	40.8	−1.1%
Template:Party name with colour	10	Template:Decrease56	39,778	18.4	−39.5%
Template:Party name with colour no link	0		2,934	1.2
Total		101	Template:Decrease2	224,648	100

Universities

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% change
Template:Party name with colour	7	Template:Increase1
Template:Party name with colour	2	Template:Decrease1
Total		9	Template:Steady		100

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See also

• List of MPs elected in the 1874 United Kingdom general election
• 1874 United Kingdom general election in Ireland

Further reading

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• McIntyre, William David. "Disraeli's election blunder: The straits of Malacca issue in the 1874 election." Culture, Theory and Critique 5.1 (1961): 76-105.
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• Roberts, Matthew. "Election Cartoons and Political Communication In Victorian England" Cultural & Social History (2013) 10#3 pp 369–395, covers 1860 to 1890.