1826 United Kingdom general election

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| <- 1820 | 7 June – 12 July 1826 (1826-06-07 – 1826-07-12) | 1830 ->

|
|

<- outgoing members

elected members ->

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All 658 seats in the House of Commons
330 seats needed for a majority
|  | First party  | Second party

|
|

|  |
Leader  | Earl of Liverpool | Marquess of Lansdowne
Party  | Tory | Whig
Leader since  | 8 June 1812  | 1824[1]
Seats before  | 341  | 215
Seats won  | 428 | 198
Seat change  |  87  |  17

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Composition of the House of Commons after the election

* * *

| Prime Minister before election

Earl of Liverpool
Tory

| Prime Minister after
election

Earl of Liverpool
Tory

|

The 1826 United Kingdom general election was the 7th general election after the Acts of Union 1800, held on 7 June 1826 to 12 July 1826, to elect members of the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament. It saw the Tories under the Earl of Liverpool win a landslide victory over the Whigs. In Ireland, liberal Protestant candidates favouring Catholic emancipation, backed by the Catholic Association, achieved significant gains.

The seventh United Kingdom Parliament was dissolved on 2 June 1826. The new Parliament was summoned to meet on 25 July 1826, for a maximum seven-year term from that date. The maximum term could be and normally was curtailed, by the monarch dissolving the Parliament, before its term expired. As of 2024, the Earl of Liverpool remains the most recent prime minister to have won four successive elections.

* 1818 election
* MPs

* 1820 election
* MPs

* 1826 election
* MPs

* 1830 election
* MPs

* 1831 election
* MPs

## Political situation

[edit]

The Tory leader was the Earl of Liverpool, who had been prime minister since his predecessor's assassination in 1812. Liverpool had led his party to three general election victories before that of 1826. The Tory Leader of the House of Commons until 1822, when he committed suicide, was Robert Stewart. He was known by the courtesy title of Viscount Castlereagh, until he inherited his father's Irish peerage and became the 2nd Marquess of Londonderry in 1821. Londonderry was replaced as leader by George Canning, who remained Leader of the House of Commons in 1826.

The Whig Party continued to suffer from weak leadership, particularly in the House of Commons.

In 1824 the Earl Grey gave up the formal Whig leadership in the Lords, although he remained the most prominent Whig peer. Grey asked his friends to look to the leadership of the Marquess of Lansdowne. Although Lansdowne performed the functions of leader, he did not accept the title.

At the time of the general election, Grey was still the leading figure amongst the Whig peers. It was likely that he would have been invited to form a government, had the Whigs come to power, although in this era the monarch rather than the governing party decided which individual would be prime minister.

The Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons at the previous general election, George Tierney, disclaimed the leadership on 23 January 1821. No new Whig leader emerged during the rest of the Parliament.

There had been significant developments in Irish politics since the 1820 general election. Whilst Catholics in Ireland—who met the normal property qualifications—had been permitted to vote since before the Union, they were still not eligible to sit in the United Kingdom Parliament. The right for Catholics to serve in Parliament was known as a measure of Catholic emancipation. In 1823, Daniel O'Connell started a campaign for repeal of the Act of Union, and took Catholic Emancipation as his rallying call, establishing the Catholic Association.

From 1826, the Catholic Association began to support pro-emancipation candidates in elections. The Association used its money and manpower to campaign for candidates to be elected into Parliament, to pressure the government from within to pass Catholic emancipation.

## Dates of election

[edit]

At this period there was not one election day. After receiving a writ (a royal command) for the election to be held, the local returning officer fixed the election timetable for the particular constituency or constituencies he was concerned with. Polling in seats with contested elections could continue for many days.

The general election took place between the first contest on 7 June and the last contest on 12 July 1826.

## Summary of the constituencies

[edit]

In 1821 the borough of Grampound in Cornwall was disenfranchised for corruption. Its two seats were transferred to the county of Yorkshire, which from this general election became a four-seat constituency.

Key to categories in the following tables: BC – Borough/Burgh constituencies, CC – County constituencies, UC – University constituencies, Total C – Total constituencies, BMP – Borough/Burgh Members of Parliament, CMP – County Members of Parliament, UMP – University Members of Parliament.

Monmouthshire (1 County constituency with 2 MPs and one single member Borough constituency) is included in Wales in these tables. Sources for this period may include the county in England.

Table 1: Constituencies and MPs, by type and country

Country  | BC  | CC  | UC  | Total C  | BMP  | CMP  | UMP  | Total MPs

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

England | 201  | 39  | 2  | 242  | 402  | 80  | 4  | 486
Wales | 13  | 13  | 0  | 26  | 13  | 14  | 0  | 27
Scotland | 15  | 30  | 0  | 45  | 15  | 30  | 0  | 45
Ireland | 33  | 32  | 1  | 66  | 35  | 64  | 1  | 100
Total  | 262  | 114  | 3  | 379  | 465  | 178  | 5  | 658

Table 2: Number of seats per constituency, by type and country

Country  | BCx1  | BCx2  | BCx4  | CCx1  | CCx2  | CCx4  | UCx1  | UCx2  | Total C

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

England | 4  | 195  | 2  | 0  | 38  | 1  | 0  | 2  | 242
Wales | 13  | 0  | 0  | 12  | 1  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 26
Scotland | 15  | 0  | 0  | 30  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 45
Ireland | 31  | 2  | 0  | 0  | 32  | 0  | 1  | 0  | 66
Total  | 63  | 197  | 2  | 42  | 71  | 1  | 1  | 2  | 379

## See also

[edit]

* United Kingdom general elections
* List of MPs elected in the 1826 United Kingdom general election

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Lansdowne was the acting leader of the Whigs.

## References

[edit]

* British Electoral Facts 1832–1999, compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher (Ashgate Publishing Ltd 2000). Source: Dates of Elections – Footnote to Table 5.02
* British Historical Facts 1760–1830, by Chris Cook and John Stevenson (The Macmillan Press 1980). Source: Types of constituencies – Great Britain
* His Majesty's Opposition 1714–1830, by Archibald S. Foord (Oxford University Press 1964)
* Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland 1801–1922, edited by B.M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978). Source: Types of constituencies – Ireland

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Elections and referendums in the United Kingdom

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European elections|

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Referendums|

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See also
Elections in England
Northern Ireland
Scotland
Wales
Great Britain

* v
* t
* e

Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool

* Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1812–1827)
* MP for Appleby and Rye

Premiership|

| Events|

* Blanketeers (1817)
* Cato Street Conspiracy (1820)
* Ely and Littleport riots (1816)
* Radical War (1820)
* The Trial of Queen Caroline

|

Legislation|

* Corn Laws
* Treaty of Ghent
* Gagging Acts
* Pains and Penalties Bill 1820
* Seditious Meetings Act 1817
* Seditious Meetings Act 1819
* Six Acts
* Slave Trade Act 1824

Foreign policy|

* Allied sovereigns' visit to England
* Battle of Copenhagen (1807)
* English Wars (Scandinavia)
* Gunboat War
* Treaty of Amiens

Legacy|

| Establishments|

* Royal National Lifeboat Institution
* Kingston Bridge, London
* Wellington Arch

|

Works|

* The Black Dwarf (journal)
* British Tars Towing the Danish Fleet into Harbour
* Coningsby (novel)
* The Masque of Anarchy

Election victories|

* 1812 United Kingdom general election
* 1818 United Kingdom general election
* 1820 United Kingdom general election
* 1826 United Kingdom general election

Family|

* Louisa Jenkinson (first wife)
* Mary Jenkinson (second wife)
* Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool (father)
* Amelia Watts (mother)
* Charles Jenkinson, 3rd Earl of Liverpool (half-brother)
* Selina Jenkinson (niece)
* Cecil Foljambe (great nephew)
* Arabella Diana Cope (step-sister)
* William Watts (maternal grandfather)
* Begum Johnson (maternal grandmother)
* Sir Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Baronet (paternal great grandfather)
* Wolfran Cornewall (paternal great grandfather)

Homes|

* Fife House, Whitehall
* Walmer Castle
* Church of St Mary, Hawkesbury

Namesakes|

* Liverpool Plains
* Liverpool Range
* Liverpool River
* Liverpool Road
* Liverpool, New South Wales

Cultural depictions|

* British Tars Towing the Danish Fleet into Harbour
* The House of Commons, 1793–94
* The House of Rothschild
* Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (TV series)
* Napoléon (1955 film)
* Peterloo (film)
* Portrait of Lord Hawkesbury
* Portrait of Lord Liverpool
* Prince Regent (TV series)
* A Royal Scandal (1996 film)

Related|

* "Feeble-minded"
* Massacre of Tranent

* ← Spencer Perceval
* George Canning →

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