British General Election 1885

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← 1880General election
18851886 →

(in %)

 %

50

40

30th

20th

10

0

47.65

43.00

6.88

2.47

Liberals

Tories

IP

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to 1880

 % p

   6th

   4th

   2

   0

  -2

  -4

  -6

  -8th

-7.01

+0.54

+4.04

+2.44

Liberals

Tories

IP

Otherwise.

319

18th

86

247

319 18th 86 247 

A total of 670 seats

• Liberals : 319
• Otherwise: 18
• HBW : 86
• Tories : 247

The United Kingdom general election in 1885 ran from November 24 to December 18, 1885. This was the first parliamentary election after the extension of the franchise in 1884 and the reallocation of seats.

Changed electoral law

For the first time, a majority of adult men were able to vote, and most constituencies legally returned a single member to parliament, thereby fulfilling one of the ideals of Chartism , namely direct accountability of a single member and a single voter.

Social Democratic Federation

In the elections of 1885, a socialist party took part for the first time: the Social Democratic Federation, led by Henry Hyndman , nominated three candidates.

Results and consequences

The Liberals, led by William Ewart Gladstone , won the majority of the seats, but not the majority. As the Irish nationalists maintained the balance of power between them and the Conservatives , who sat with a growing number of allied Unionist MPs (meaning the Union of Great Britain and Ireland), this exacerbated the division within the Liberals over Irish self-government and led to a split in the Liberals and to another general election the following year .