United Kingdom general election, 1885

24 November–18 December 1885

All 670 seats in the House of Commons 336 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	William Ewart Gladstone	Lord Salisbury	Charles Stewart Parnell
Party	Liberal	Conservative	Irish Parliamentary
Leader since	April 1880	April 1881	17 October 1882
Leader's seat	Midlothian	Marquess of Salisbury	Cork City
Last election	352 seats, 54.7%	237 seats, 42.5%	63 seats, 2.8%
Seats won	319	247	86
Seat change	33	10	23
Popular vote	2,199,198	2,020,927	310,608
Percentage	47.4%	43.5%	6.9%
Swing	7.3%	1.0%	4.1%

PM before election

Lord Salisbury
Conservative

Subsequent PM

William Ewart Gladstone
Liberal

1874 election • MPs
1880 election • MPs
1885 election • MPs
1886 election • MPs
1892 election • MPs

The 1885 United Kingdom general election was from 24 November to 18 December 1885. This was the first general election after an extension of the franchise and redistribution of seats. For the first time a majority of adult males could vote and most constituencies returned a single-member to Parliament. It saw the Liberals, led by William Ewart Gladstone, win the most seats, but not an overall majority. As the Irish Nationalists held the balance of power between them and the Conservatives, this exacerbated divisions within the Liberals over Irish Home Rule and led to a split and another general election the following year.

Results 1
- Voting summary 1.1
- Seats summary 1.2
See also 2
References 3

Results

UK General Election 1885
		Candidates						Votes
Party		Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Liberal	575	319			- 33		47.4	2,199,198	- 7.3
	Conservative	597	247			+ 10		43.5	2,020,927	+ 1.0
	Irish Parliamentary	91	86			+ 23		6.9	310,608	+ 4.1
	Independent Liberal	35	11	11	0	+ 11		1.3	55,652	N/A
	Independent Liberal and Crofters Party	6	4	4	0	+ 4		0.4	16,551	N/A
	Independent Conservative	8	2	2	0	+ 2		0.3	12,599	N/A
	Lib-Lab	4	1	1	0	+ 1		0.2	8,232	N/A
	Independent	6	0	0	0	0		0.1	6,570	N/A
	Independent Nationalist	2	0	0	0	0		0.1	2,889	N/A
	Scottish Land Restoration	5	0	0	0	0		0.0	2,359	N/A
	Irish Loyalist	6	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,869	N/A
	Social Democratic Federation	3	0	0	0	0		0.0	657	N/A

Total votes cast: 4,638,235. All parties shown.

Voting summary

Popular vote

Liberal			47.41%
Conservative			43.57%
Irish Parliamentary			6.7%
Independent			2.03%
Others			0.29%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats

Liberal			47.61%
Conservative			36.87%
Irish Parliamentary			12.84%
Lib-Lab			0.15%
Independent			2.54%

References

F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987
Spartacus: Political Parties and Election Results
United Kingdom election results - summary results 1885-1979

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, 1885