1859 United Kingdom general election

1859 United Kingdom general election

← 1857 28 April – 18 May 1859 (1859-04-28 – 1859-05-18) 1865 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 654 seats in the House of Commons 328 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Viscount Palmerston Earl of Derby Party Liberal Conservative Leader since 6 February 1855 July 1846 Leader's seat Tiverton House of Lords Last election 377 seats, 64.8% 264 seats, 33.5% Seats won 356[a] 298 Seat change 21 34 Popular vote 372,117 193,232 Percentage 65.8% 34.2% Swing 1.0% 0.7%
Colours denote the winning party—as shown in § Results
Composition of the House of Commons after the election
Prime Minister before election Earl of Derby Conservative Prime Minister after election Viscount Palmerston Whig

The 1859 United Kingdom general election returned the Liberal Party to a majority of seats (356 out of 654) in the House of Commons. The Earl of Derby's Conservatives formed a minority government. but despite having made small overall gains in the election, Derby's government was defeated in a confidence vote by an alliance of Palmerston's Whigs together with Peelites, Radicals, and the Irish Brigade. Palmerston subsequently formed a new government from this alliance which is now considered to be the first Liberal Party administration.

There is no separate tally of votes or seats for the Peelites. They did not contest elections as an organised party but more as independent Free trade Conservatives with varying degrees of distance from the two main parties.

It was also the last general election entered by the Chartists, before their organisation was dissolved. As of 2024^[update], this is the last election in which the Conservatives won the most seats in Wales.^[1]

The election was the quietest and least competitive between 1832 and 1885, with most county elections being uncontested. The election also saw the lowest number of candidates between 1832 and 1885, with Tory gains potentially being the result of a lack of opposition as much as a change in public opinion.^[2] According to A. J. P. Taylor:

the government which Palmerston organized in June 1859 was a coalition of a different kind: not a coalition of groups which looked back to the past, but a coalition which anticipated the future. Had it not been for Palmerston himself—too individual, too full of personality to be fitted into a party-pattern—it would have been the first Liberal government in our history. Everything that was important in it was Liberal—finance, administrative reform, its very composition: the first government with unmistakable middle-class Free Traders as members.^[3]

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