See main article: 1886 United Kingdom general election.
Type: | parliamentary |
Ongoing: | no |
Previous Election: | 1885 United Kingdom general election in Ireland |
Previous Year: | 1885 |
Previous Mps: | List of MPs elected in the 1885 United Kingdom general election |
Next Election: | 1892 United Kingdom general election in Ireland |
Next Year: | 1892 |
Seats For Election: | 101 of the 670 seats to the House of Commons |
Elected Mps: | List of MPs elected in the 1886 United Kingdom general election |
Leader1: | Charles Stewart Parnell |
Leader Since1: | 17 October 1882 |
Party1: | Irish Parliamentary Party |
Leaders Seat1: | Cork City |
Seats Before1: | 85 |
Seats1: | 84 |
Seat Change1: | 1 |
Popular Vote1: | 94,883 |
Percentage1: | 46.7% |
Swing1: | 19.2% |
Leader2: | Marquess of Salisbury |
Leader Since2: | April 1881 |
Party2: | Conservative and Liberal Unionist |
Leaders Seat2: | House of Lords |
Seats Before2: | 16 |
Seats2: | 17 |
Seat Change2: | 1 |
Popular Vote2: | 98,201 |
Percentage2: | 50.4% |
Swing2: | 25.6% |
Leader3: | William Ewart Gladstone |
Leader Since3: | April 1880 |
Party3: | Liberal Party (UK) |
Leaders Seat3: | Midlothian |
Seats Before3: | 0 |
Seats3: | 0 |
Popular Vote3: | 1,910 |
Percentage3: | 2.9% |
Swing3: | 5.8% |
Map Size: | 300px |
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.
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 | Seat Change |
| % of Votes | Vote Change | ||||
Irish Parliamentary | Charles Stewart Parnell | 84 | 83.2 | 1 | 91,083 | 46.7 | 20.6 | ||
Conservative | Lord Salisbury | 15 | 14.9 | 1 | 76,257 | 39.1 | 16.2 | ||
Liberal Unionist | Joseph Chamberlain | 2 | 2.0 | 2 | 21,944 | 11.3 | 11.3 | ||
Liberal | William Ewart Gladstone | 0 | 0 | 5,710 | 2.9 | 3.7 | |||
Totals | 101 | 100 | 194,994 | 100 | |||||
Source: B.M. Walker[1] |