1885 United Kingdom general election

|[[File:United Kingdom general election 1885.svg|300px]] |Results by constituency |[[File:United Kingdom general election 1885 (by country).svg|300px]] |Results by country 81.2% The 1885 United Kingdom general election was held from 24 November to 18 December 1885. The first general election after an extension of the franchise and redistribution of seats, it saw the Liberals lose their majority.

The election saw the Liberals, led by William Gladstone, win the most seats, but not an overall majority, so a minority government was necessary. The Irish Nationalists held the balance of power between the Liberals and the Conservatives who sat with a large number of allied Unionist MPs (their name referred to their support for the Union of Great Britain and Ireland). The pressure of minority government status exacerbated divisions within the Liberals over Irish Home Rule. This led to a Liberal split that caused another general election the following year.

The 1885 election saw the first socialist party participate, with the Social Democratic Federation led by H. M. Hyndman standing three candidates. None were elected.

Results

|votes % = 47.65 |seats % = 47.61 |plus/minus = −7.3 |votes % = 43.00 |seats % = 36.87 |plus/minus = +0.9 |votes % = 6.88 |seats % = 12.84 |plus/minus = +4.0 |votes % = 1.28 |seats % = 1.64 |plus/minus = N/A |votes % = 0.38 |seats % = 0.60 |plus/minus = N/A |votes % = 0.29 |seats % = 0.30 |plus/minus = N/A |votes % = 0.19 |seats % = 0.15 |plus/minus = N/A |votes % = 0.15 |seats % =0 |plus/minus = N/A |votes % = 0.07 |seats % =0 |plus/minus = N/A |votes % = 0.05 |seats % =0 |plus/minus = N/A |votes % = 0.04 |seats % =0 |plus/minus = N/A |votes % = 0.02 |seats % =0 |plus/minus = N/A |}

Electorate: 5,708,030 (5,429,708 in contested seats) Turnout: 81.2%}}