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1886 United Kingdom general election in Ireland

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1886 United Kingdom general election in Ireland
← 1885 1–27 July 1886 (1886-07-01 – 1886-07-27) 1892 →

101 of the 670 seats to the House of Commons
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Charles Stewart Parnell Marquess of Salisbury William Ewart Gladstone
Party Irish Parliamentary Conservative and Liberal Unionist Liberal
Leader since 17 October 1882 April 1881 April 1880
Leader's seat Cork City House of Lords Midlothian
Seats before 85 16 0
Seats won 84 17 0
Seat change Decrease1 Increase1 Steady
Popular vote 94,883 98,201 1,910
Percentage 46.7% 50.4% 2.9%
Swing Decrease19.2% Increase25.6% Decrease5.8%

Results of the 1886 election in Ireland
  Conservative
  Liberal Unionist
  Irish Parliamentary Party
Irish Parliamentary Party MPs elected in 1886.

The 1886 general election in Ireland took place from 1–27 July 1886 following the collapse of the Liberal government of William Gladstone after his failed attempt to implement Home Rule for Ireland.

In response to Gladstone's attempt to implement Home Rule a unionist wing of the Liberals broke off to found the Liberal Unionist Party, which entered into an alliance with the Conservatives in an effort to block any attempt to implement Home Rule.

Results

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The Irish Liberal Party, having lost all seats in the 1885 election, saw its share of the vote further plummet, to 3%. In comparison, the relative share of the vote enjoyed by the Conservatives nearly doubled. This is explained by the fact that in this election, most southern Irish seats were uncontested as opposed to the previous year, so the Irish Parliamentary Party had no contests in seats they were popular and won in walkovers. Despite a drop in their relative share of the vote the Parliamentary party only lost one seat, with the bulk of their seats – 66 – being unopposed. In total the Parliamentary party stood some 97 candidates, the Conservatives 28 (three of whom were unopposed), the Liberal Unionists seven, and the Liberals just three.

Whilst the Liberal Unionists gained two seats – South Londonderry and South Tyrone – the Conservatives lost the seat of Belfast West to the Parliamentary party.

Not included in the totals are the two Dublin University seats, which were retained by Conservatives standing on a Unionist ticket.

Party Leader Seats Votes
# of Seats % of Seats Seat Change # of Votes % of Votes Vote Change
Irish Parliamentary Charles Stewart Parnell 84 83.2 Decrease1 91,083 46.7 Decrease20.6
Conservative Lord Salisbury 15 14.9 Increase1 76,257 39.1 Increase16.2
Liberal Unionist Joseph Chamberlain 2 2.0 Increase2 21,944 11.3 Increase11.3
Liberal William Ewart Gladstone 0 0 Steady 5,710 2.9 Decrease3.7
Totals 101 100 194,994 100
Source: B.M. Walker[1]
Popular vote
Irish Parliamentary
46.71%
Conservative
39.10%
Liberal Unionist
11.25%
Liberal
2.93%
Parliamentary seats
Irish Parliamentary
83.17%
Conservative
14.85%
Liberal Unionist
1.98%

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Walker, Brian Mercer (1978). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922 (New History of Ireland). Royal Irish Academy. pp. 144–150. ISBN 0901714127.