1826 United Kingdom general election

none August 2024 May 2014 1826 United Kingdom general election United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland parliamentary no 1820 United Kingdom general election 1820 1830 United Kingdom general election 1830 All 658 seats in the House of Commons 330 1826 6 7 1826 7 12 yes 160x160px Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (cropped).jpg Earl of Liverpool 8 June 1812 Tory Party (UK) 341 428 Henry Walton (1746-1813) - Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne - NPG 178 - National Portrait Gallery (3x4 cropped).jpg Marquess of Lansdowne 1824Lansdowne was the acting leader of the Whigs. Whigs (British political party) 198 215 Prime Minister Prime Minister afterelection Earl of Liverpool Tory Party (UK) Earl of Liverpool Tory Party (UK) 1826generalelection.svg 380px Composition of the House of Commons after the election 87 17 List of MPs elected in the 1826 United Kingdom general election List of MPs elected in the 1820 United Kingdom general election 1818 1820 1826 1830 1831 The 1826 United Kingdom general election was the 7th general election after the Acts of Union 1800, held on 7 June 1826 to 12 July 1826, to elect members of the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament. It saw the Tories under Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool win a landslide victory over the Whigs. In Ireland, liberal Protestant candidates favouring Catholic emancipation, backed by the Catholic Association, achieved significant gains. The seventh United Kingdom Parliament was dissolved on 2 June 1826. The new Parliament was summoned to meet on 25 July 1826, for a maximum seven-year term from that date. The maximum term could be and normally was curtailed, by the monarch dissolving the Parliament, before its term expired. As of 2024, the Earl of Liverpool remains the most recent prime minister to have won four successive elections. Political situation The Tory leader was the Earl of Liverpool, who had been prime minister since his predecessor's assassination in 1812. Liverpool had led his party to three general election victories before that of 1826. The Tory Leader of the House of Commons until 1822, when he committed suicide, was Robert Stewart. He was known by the courtesy title of Viscount Castlereagh, until he inherited his father's Irish peerage and became the 2nd Marquess of Londonderry in 1821. Londonderry was replaced as leader by George Canning, who remained Leader of the House of Commons in 1826. The Whig Party continued to suffer from weak leadership, particularly in the House of Commons. In 1824 Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey gave up the formal Whig leadership in the Lords, although he remained the most prominent Whig peer. Grey asked his friends to look to the leadership of Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne. Although Lansdowne performed the functions of leader, he did not accept the title. At the time of the general election, Grey was still the leading figure amongst the Whig peers. It was likely that he would have been invited to form a government, had the Whigs come to power, although in this era the monarch rather than the governing party decided which individual would be prime minister. The Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons at the previous general election, George Tierney, disclaimed the leadership on 23 January 1821. No new Whig leader emerged during the rest of the Parliament. There had been significant developments in Irish politics since the 1820 general election. Whilst Catholics in Ireland—who met the normal property qualifications—had been permitted to vote since before the Union, they were still not eligible to sit in the United Kingdom Parliament. The right for Catholics to serve in Parliament was known as a measure of Catholic emancipation. In 1823, Daniel O'Connell started a campaign for repeal of the Act of Union, and took Catholic Emancipation as his rallying call, establishing the Catholic Association. From 1826, the Catholic Association began to support pro-emancipation candidates in elections. The Association used its money and manpower to campaign for candidates to be elected into Parliament, to pressure the government from within to pass Catholic emancipation. Dates of election At this period there was not one election day. After receiving a writ (a royal command) for the election to be held, the local returning officer fixed the election timetable for the particular constituency or constituencies he was concerned with. Polling in seats with contested elections could continue for many days. The general election took place between the first contest on 7 June and the last contest on 12 July 1826. Summary of the constituencies In 1821 the borough of Grampound in Cornwall was disenfranchised for corruption. Its two seats were transferred to the county of Yorkshire, which from this general election became a four-seat constituency. Key to categories in the following tables: BC – Borough/Burgh constituencies, CC – County constituencies, UC – University constituencies, Total C – Total constituencies, BMP – Borough/Burgh Members of Parliament, CMP – County Members of Parliament, UMP – University Members of Parliament. Monmouthshire (1 County constituency with 2 MPs and one single member Borough constituency) is included in Wales in these tables. Sources for this period may include the county in England. Table 1: Constituencies and MPs, by type and country Country BC CC UC Total C BMP CMP UMP Total MPsEngland201392242402804486Wales 180713130261314027Scotland15300451530045Ireland333216635641100Total26211433794651785658 Table 2: Number of seats per constituency, by type and country Country BCx1 BCx2 BCx4 CCx1 CCx2 CCx4 UCx1 UCx2 Total CEngland41952038102242Wales 1807130012100026Scotland150030000045Ireland312003201066Total6319724271112379 See also United Kingdom general elections List of MPs elected in the 1826 United Kingdom general election Notes References British Electoral Facts 1832–1999, compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher (Ashgate Publishing Ltd 2000). Source: Dates of Elections – Footnote to Table 5.02 British Historical Facts 1760–1830, by Chris Cook and John Stevenson (The Macmillan Press 1980). Source: Types of constituencies – Great Britain His Majesty's Opposition 1714–1830, by Archibald S. Foord (Oxford University Press 1964) Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland 1801–1922, edited by B.M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978). Source: Types of constituencies – Ireland Category:1826 elections in the United Kingdom General election 1826 Category:June 1826 Category:July 1826 Category:1820s elections in Ireland Category:Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool