1895 United Kingdom general election

1895 United Kingdom general election

13 July – 7 August 1895 (1895-07-13 – 1895-08-07)
All 670 seats in the House of Commons 336 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	78.4%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Marquess of Salisbury Earl of Rosebery John Dillon Party Conservative and Liberal Unionist Liberal Irish National Federation Leader since April 1881 5 March 1894 1892 Leader's seat House of Lords House of Lords East Mayo Last election 313 seats, 47.0% 272 seats, 45.4% 72 seats, 5.2% Seats won 411 177 70 Seat change 97 94 2 Popular vote 1,759,484 1,628,405 92,556 Percentage 49.3% 45.6% 2.6% Swing 2.3% 0.2% 2.6%
Colours denote the winning party
Diagram showing the composition of the House of Commons following the election
Prime Minister before election Marquess of Salisbury Conservative Prime Minister after election Marquess of Salisbury Conservative

The 1895 United Kingdom general election was held from 13 July to 7 August 1895. The result was a Conservative parliamentary majority of 153.

William Gladstone had retired as Prime Minister the previous year, and Queen Victoria, disregarding Gladstone's advice to name Lord Spencer as his successor, appointed the Earl of Rosebery as the new Prime Minister. Rosebery's government found itself largely in a state of paralysis due to a power struggle between him and William Harcourt, the Liberal leader in the Commons. The situation came to a head on 21 June, when Parliament voted to dismiss Secretary of State for War Henry Campbell-Bannerman; Rosebery, realising that the government would likely not survive a motion of no confidence were one to be brought, promptly resigned as Prime Minister. Conservative leader Lord Salisbury was subsequently re-appointed for a third spell as Prime Minister, and promptly called a new election.

The election was won by the Conservatives, who continued their alliance with the Liberal Unionist Party and won a large majority. The Liberals, in contrast, went down to what at the time was their worst result since the party's foundation, winning just 177 seats. The Irish Parliamentary Party was split at this time; most of its MPs (the "Anti-Parnellites") followed John Dillon, while a rump (the "Parnellites") followed John Redmond. The Independent Labour Party, having only previously existed as a loose grouping of left-wing politicians, formally organized into a party led by Keir Hardie in 1893 and contested their first election. They earned relatively little attention at this election, winning slightly less than one per cent of the popular vote and no seats, but would enjoy greater success five years later, when they ran under the banner of the Labour Representation Committee.

This was the last United Kingdom general election where neither the incumbent Prime Minister nor leader of the main opposition party sat in the House of Commons, with Rosebery and Salisbury both sitting in the House of Lords, and William Harcourt and Arthur Balfour respectively acting as the Commons leaders for the Liberals and Conservatives.

Results

UK General Election 1895

			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Conservative and Liberal Unionist	Lord Salisbury	588	411	114	17	+97	61.34	49.25	1,759,484	+2.2
	Liberal	Lord Rosebery	447	177	18	112	−94	26.42	45.58	1,628,405	+0.2
	Irish National Federation	John Dillon	77	70			−2	10.45	2.59	92,556	−2.6
	Irish National League	John Redmond	26	12			+3	1.79	1.34	47,698	−0.2
	Ind. Labour Party	Keir Hardie	28	0			0	0	0.96	34,433	N/A
	Independent Liberal	N/A	3	0			−1	0	0.10	3,733
	Social Democratic Federation	H. M. Hyndman	4	0			0	0	0.09	3,122	+0.1
	Independent Lib-Lab	N/A	2	0			0	0	0.07	2,348
	Independent Labour	N/A	1	0			−3	0	0.02	608
	Independent	N/A	2	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	52

Total votes cast: 3,572,439.
Electorate: 6,330,519 (4,597,886 in contested seats)
Turnout: 78.4%

Voting summary

Popular vote Conservative and Liberal Unionist   49.25% Liberal   45.58% Irish National Federation   2.59% Irish National League   1.34% Independent Labour Party   0.96% Others   0.28%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats Conservative and Liberal Unionist   61.34% Liberal   26.42% Irish National Federation   10.45% Irish National League   1.79%

See also

• List of MPs elected in the 1895 United Kingdom general election
• Parliamentary franchise in the United Kingdom 1885–1918
• 1895 United Kingdom general election in Ireland

References

• 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
• Readman, Paul A. (1999), "The 1895 general election and political change in late Victorian Britain", Historical Journal, 42 (2): 467–493, doi:10.1017/S0018246X98008322, JSTOR 3020996, S2CID 154822555
• Roberts, Andrew (1999), Salisbury: Victorian Titan, pp. 596–604

External links

• Spartacus: Political Parties and Election Results
• United Kingdom election results—summary results 1885–1979 Archived 30 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine