United Kingdom general election, 1837

24 July–18 August 1837

All 658 seats in the House of Commons 330 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party

Leader	The Viscount Melbourne	Sir Robert Peel
Party	Whig	Conservative
Leader since	16 July 1834	19 December 1834
Leader's seat	Baron Melbourne	Tamworth
Last election	385 seats, 55.2%	273 seats, 40.8%
Seats won	344	314
Seat change	41	41
Popular vote	418,331	379,694
Percentage	51.7%	48.3%
Swing	5.5%	5.5%

PM before election

Lord Melbourne
Whig

Subsequent PM

Lord Melbourne
Whig

1832 election • MPs
1835 election • MPs
1837 election • MPs
1841 election • MPs
1847 election • MPs

The 1837 United Kingdom general election was triggered by the death of King William IV and produced the first parliament of the reign of his successor, Queen Victoria. It saw Robert Peel's Conservatives close further on the position of the Whigs, who won their fourth election of the decade.

The election marked the last time that a parliament was dissolved as a result of the demise of the Crown. Immediate dissolution of parliament following the demise of the Crown was abolished by the Reform Act 1867.

Results 1
- Voting summary 1.1
- Seats summary 1.2
- Regional Results 1.3
  - Great Britain 1.3.1
    - England 1.3.1.1
    - Scotland 1.3.1.2
    - Wales 1.3.1.3
  - Ireland 1.3.2
  - Universities 1.3.3
References 2

Results

United Kingdom General Election 1837
		Candidates						Votes
Party		Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Whig	510	344			- 41	52.3	52.4	418,331	- 4.8
	Conservative	484	314			+ 41	47.7	47.6	379,694	+ 4.8

Total votes cast: 798,025

Voting summary

Popular vote

Whig			52.42%
Conservative			47.58%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats

Whig			52.28%
Conservative			47.72%

Regional Results

Great Britain

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Conservative	414	102	284	46	353,000	48.2	5.4
	Whig	422	81	271	46	379,961	51.8	5.4
Total		836	183	555		732,961	100

England

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Conservative	348	80	239	39	321,124	48.9	6.3
	Whig	352	60	225	39	347,549	51.1	6.3
Total		658	177	464		491,540	100

Scotland

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Whig	49	15	33	5	22,082	54.0	8.8
	Conservative	35	7	20	5	18,569	46.0	8.8
Total		84	22	53		40,651	100

Wales

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Conservative	25	11	19	2	11,616	52.8	11.1
	Whig	20	6	13	2	10,144	47.2	11.1
Total		45	17	32		21,760	100

Ireland

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Whig/Repeal Coalition	88	34	73	5	38,370	58.5	9.9
	Conservative	70	19	30	5	26,694	41.5	9.9
Total		158	53	103		65,064	100

Universities

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Votes	%
	Conservative	6	4	6	1,691	90.1
	Whig	1	0	0	186	9.9
Total		6	6	6	1,877	100

References

F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987
British Electoral Facts 1832-1999, compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher (Ashgate Publishing Ltd 2000)
Spartacus: Political Parties and Election Results

Elections and referendums in the United Kingdom

General elections	1801 co-option 1802 1806 1807 1812 1818 1820 1826 1830 1831 1832 1835 1837 1841 1847 1852 1857 1859 1865 1868 1874 1880 1885 1886 1892 1895 1900 1906 1910 (Jan) 1910 (Dec) 1918 1922 1923 1924 1929 1931 1935 1945 1950 1951 1955 1959 1964 1966 1970 1974 (Feb) 1974 (Oct) 1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015

Local elections	1949 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014

Referendums	1975 2011

Elections and referendums in

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United Kingdom general election, 1837