1857 United Kingdom general election

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1857 United Kingdom general election

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| ← 1852 | 27 March – 24 April 1857 (1857-03-27 – 1857-04-24) | 1859 →

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← outgoing members

elected members →

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All 654 seats in the House of Commons
328 seats needed for a majority
Turnout| 716,552
|   | First party  | Second party

|
|

|  |
Leader  | Viscount Palmerston | Earl of Derby
Party  | Whig | Conservative
Leader since  | 6 February 1855  | July 1846
Leader's seat  | Tiverton | House of Lords
Last election  | 324 seats, 57.9%  | 330 seats, 41.9%
Seats won  | 377[a] | 264[c]
Seat change  | 53  | 66
Popular vote  | 464,127 | 239,712
Percentage  | 64.8%[b] | 33.5%[b]
Swing  | 6.9 pp | 8.4 pp

* * *

Colours[dubious – discuss] denote the winning party—as shown in § Results

* * *

Composition of the House of Commons after the election

* * *

| Prime Minister before election

Viscount Palmerston
Whig

| Prime Minister after election

Viscount Palmerston
Whig

|

The 1857 United Kingdom general election was held between 27 March 1857 to 24 April 1857, to elect members of the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Whigs, led by Lord Palmerston, won a majority in the House of Commons as the Conservative vote fell significantly. The election had been provoked by a vote of censure in Palmerston's government over his approach to the Arrow affair which led to the Second Opium War.

There is no separate tally of votes or seats for the Peelites. They did not contest elections as an organised party but more as independent Free trade Conservatives with varying degrees of distance from the two main parties.

According to A. J. P. Taylor:

The general election of 1857 is unique in our history: the only election ever conducted as a simple plebiscite in favour of an individual. Even the "coupon" election of 1918 claimed to be more than a plebiscite for Lloyd George; even Disraeli and Gladstone offered a clash of policies as well as of personalities. In 1857 there was no issue before the electorate except whether Palmerston should be Prime Minister; and no one could pretend that Palmerston had any policy except to be himself.[1]

* 1847 election
* MPs

* 1852 election
* MPs

* 1857 election
* MPs

* 1859 election
* MPs

* 1865 election
* MPs

## Results

[edit]

UK General Election 1857

Party  | Candidates  | Votes
Stood  | Elected  | Gained  | Unseated  | Net  | % of total  | %  | No. | Net %
| Whig | 507  | 377[a] |  |  | +53  | 57.65  | 64.77  | 464,127  | +7.0
| Conservative | 351  | 264  |  |  | −66  | 40.37  | 33.45  | 239,712  | −7.1
| Independent Irish |  | 13  |  |  |  | 1.99  | 1.69  | 12,099  |
| Chartist | 1 | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0.1  | 614  | −0.1

Total votes cast: 716,552.[d][e]

### Summary

[edit]

| Popular vote

|  |
Whig |

| 64.77%
Conservative |

| 33.45%
Others |

| 1.69%
Chartist |

| 0.09%

### Seats summary

[edit]

| Parliamentary seats

|  |
Whig |

| 57.65%
Conservative |

| 40.37%
Others |

| 1.99%

## See also

[edit]

* List of MPs elected in the 1857 United Kingdom general election
* 1857 United Kingdom general election in Ireland

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ a b The seat and vote count figures for the Whigs given here include the Speaker of the House of Commons
2. ^ a b Several country and university seats held by Conservatives were uncontested, and many urban multi-member constituencies that tended to vote Liberal had multiple candidates, so this is an misleading figure. Therefore, national swing is not applicable to elections in this era.
3. ^ Including Peelites.
4. ^ "Others" are mostly Irish Independent Opposition.
5. ^ The Conservative total votes cast and MPs includes around 26 Peelites—some reference works claim it was as few as 18.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ A. J. P. Taylor, "Lord Palmerston," History Today (1951) 1#7 pp 35-41 at p. 38 online

## Further reading

[edit]

* Craig, F. W. S. (1989), British Electoral Facts: 1832–1987, Dartmouth: Gower, ISBN 0900178302
* Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael, eds. (2000), British Electoral Facts 1832–1999, Ashgate Publishing Ltd

## External links

[edit]

* 1857 General Election
* Spartacus: Political Parties and Election Results

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