United Kingdom general election, 1874

31 January–17 February 1874

All 652 seats to the House of Commons 327 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Benjamin Disraeli	William Ewart Gladstone	Isaac Butt
Party	Conservative	Liberal	Home Rule
Leader since	27 February 1868	3 December 1868	November 1873
Leader's seat	Buckinghamshire	Greenwich	Limerick
Last election	271 seats, 38.4%	387 seats, 61.5%	N/A
Seats won	350	242	60
Seat change	79	145	N/A
Popular vote	1,091,708	1,281,159	90,234
Percentage	44.3%	52.0%	3.7%
Swing	5.9%	9.5%	N/A

PM before election

William Ewart Gladstone
Liberal

Subsequent PM

Benjamin Disraeli
Conservative

1865 election • MPs
1868 election • MPs
1874 election • MPs
1880 election • MPs
1885 election • MPs

The 1874 United Kingdom general election saw the incumbent Liberals, led by William Ewart Gladstone, lose decisively, even though it won a majority of the votes cast. Benjamin Disraeli's Conservatives won the majority of seats in the House of Commons, largely because they won a number of uncontested seats. It was the first Conservative victory in a General Election since 1841. Gladstone's decision to call an election surprised his colleagues, for they were aware of large sectors of discontent in their coalition. For example, the nonconformists were upset with education policies; the working class disliked the new trade union laws and the restrictions on drinking. The Conservatives were making gains in the middle-class, Gladstone wanted to abolish the income tax, but failed to carry his own cabinet. The result was a disaster for the Liberals, who dropped from 387 MPs to only 251. Conservatives jumped from 271 to 342. For the first time the Irish Nationalists gained seats, returning 59. Gladstone himself noted, "We have been swept away in a torrent of gin and beer."^[1]

The election also saw Irish nationalists in the Home Rule League become the first significant third party in Parliament. This had been the first General Election that used a secret ballot following the 1872 Secret Ballot Act. The Irish Nationalist gains could well be attributed to the effects of the secret ballot as tenants faced less of a threat of eviction if they voted against the wishes of their landlords.

This is the only time since the introduction of the secret ballot that a 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 that there was no contest in many constituencies where the Conservatives were popular.

Results

UK General Election 1874
		Candidates						Votes
Party		Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	№	Net %
	Liberal	489	242			− 139	37.1	52.0	1,281,159	− 9.5
	Conservative	507	350			+ 79	53.7	44.3	1,091,708	+ 5.9
	Home Rule	80	60	0	0	+ 60	9.2	3.7	90,234	N/A
	Others	4	0	0	0	0		0.0	2,936	0.0

Total votes cast: 2,466,037. "Others" include the Catholic Union.

Voting summary

Popular vote

Liberal			51.95%
Conservative			44.27%
Home Rule			3.66%
Others			0.12%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats

Liberal			37.12%
Conservative			53.68%
Home Rule			9.2%

Regional Results

Great Britain

Party		Seats	Votes	%
	Conservative	319	1,000,006	44.6
	Liberal	232	1,241,381	55.4
	Others	0	2	0.0
Total		551	2,241,389	100

England

Party		Seats	Votes	%
	Conservative	280	905,239	46.2
	Liberal	171	1,035,268	53.8
	Others	0	2	0.0
Total		451	1,940,509	100

Scotland

Party		Seats	Votes	%
	Liberal	40	148,345	68.4
	Conservative	18	63,193	31.6
Total		58	211,538	100

Wales

Party		Seats	Votes	%
	Liberal	19	57,768	60.9
	Conservative	14	31,574	39.1
Total		33	89,342	100

Ireland

Main article: United Kingdom general election, 1874 (Ireland)

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Home Rule	60	New	90,234	39.6	New
	Irish Conservative	31	6	91,702	40.8	1.1%
	Liberal	10	56	39,778	18.4	39.5%
	Other	0		2,934	1.2
Total		101	2	224,648	100

Universities

Party		Seats	%
	Conservative	7
	Liberal	2
Total		9	100

All University candidates were elected unopposed.

Notes

↑ Martin Roberts, Britain: 1846-1964: The Challenge of Change (Oxford University Press, 2001) p 332

F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987
Hurst, Michael. "Liberal versus Liberal: The General Election of 1874 in Bradford and Sheffield." Historical Journal 15#4 (1972): 669-713.
Maehl, William Henry. "Gladstone, the Liberals, and the Election of 1874" Historical Research 36.93 (1963): 53-69.
Rallings, Colin, and Michael. Thrasher British Electoral Facts 1832-1999, compiled and edited by (Ashgate Publishing Ltd 2000

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