United Kingdom general election, 1841

United Kingdom general election, 1841
	;
	; ; ← outgoing members; ; ; elected members →; ;
; All 658 seats in the House of Commons; 330 seats needed for a majority
	; Colours denote the winning party;
	; Composition of the Commons after the election;
; Prime Minister before election; Viscount Melbourne; Whig; ;	; Appointed Prime Minister ; Sir Robert Peel; Conservative; ;

In the 1841 United Kingdom general election, there was a big swing as Sir Robert Peel's Conservatives took control of the House of Commons. Melbourne's Whigs had seen their support in the Commons erode over the previous years. Whilst Melbourne enjoyed the firm support of the young Queen Victoria, his ministry had seen increasing defeats in the Commons, culminating in the defeat of the government's budget in May 1841 by 36 votes, and by 1 vote in a 4 June 1841 vote of no confidence put forward by Peel. The Whigs and Tories were at odds over whether Melbourne's defeat required his resignation, with the Queen being advised by Lord Brougham that calling an election would be without precedent, and that it should only be dissolved to strengthen the government's hands, whereas dissolution facing the Whigs in 1841 was expected to result in their defeat. Melbourne himself opposed dissolution, although his cabinet came to accept it, and Melbourne requested the Queen dissolve Parliament, leading to an election.^[1]

The Conservatives campaigned mainly on the issue of Peel's leadership, whilst the Whigs emphasised an impersonal platform of reforming the import duties on corn, replacing the existing sliding scale with a uniform rate. The Whig position lost them support amongst protectionists, and the Whigs saw heavy losses in constituencies like the West Riding, where aristocratic Whig families who held a strong tradition of unbroken representation in Parliament were rejected by the electorate. Even radical support coalesced around the Tories, with it being felt that Peel would be more open to electoral reform. Radical opinion also appeared to favour the business background of Peel and his supporters to the aristocratic and political background of Melbourne's Whigs, with it being felt that the Whigs made poor governors.^[1]

The Whigs also lost votes to the Irish Repeal group. The Chartists picked up only a few votes despite their popular support, because voting was still restricted to a small percentage of the population. Only 3.17% of the total population voted. It is regarded as having been one of the most corrupt elections in British parliamentary history, the Westminster Review stating that the "annals of parliamentary warfare contained no page more stained with the foulness of corruption and falsehood than that which relates the history of the general election in the year 1841".^[2]

Results[edit]

UK General Election 1841
Party		Candidates						Votes
Party		Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	№	Net %
	Conservative	498	367			+53	55.78	51.62	306,314	+2.6
	Whig	388	271			−73	41.19	46.15	273,902	−4.8
	Irish Repeal	22	20	20	0	+20	3.04	2.11	12,537	N/A
	Chartist	8	0	0	0	0	0	0.12	692	N/A

Voting summary[edit]

Popular vote

Conservative			51.62%
Whig			46.15%
Irish Repeal			2.11%
Chartist			0.12%

Seats summary[edit]

Parliamentary seats

Conservative			55.78%
Whig			41.19%
Irish Repeal			3.04%

Regional results[edit]

Great Britain[edit]

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% change
	Conservative	439	185	326	+42	286,650	52.7	+4.5
	Whig	333	83	229	−42	256,774	47.2	−4.6
	Chartist	8	0	0		692	0.1
Total		780	268	555		544,116	100

England[edit]

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Votes	%
	Conservative	374	147	277	272,755	53.1
	Whig	277	62	187	236,813	46.8
	Chartist	4	0	0	307	0.1
Total		655	209	464	509,875	100

Scotland[edit]

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Votes	%
	Whig	40	13	31	16,356	60.8
	Conservative	35	16	22	9,793	38.3
	Chartist	3	0	0	385	0.9
Total		78	29	53	26,534	100

Wales[edit]

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Votes	%
	Conservative	24	16	21	4,102	53.2
	Whig	16	8	11	3,605	46.8
	Chartist	1	0	0	0	0.0
Total		41	24	32	7,707	100

Ireland[edit]

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Votes	%
	Whig	55	30	42	17,128	35.1
	Irish Conservative	59	27	41	19,664	40.1
	Irish Repeal	22	12	20	12,537	24.8
Total		136	69	103	49,329	100

Universities[edit]

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% change
	Conservative	6	6	6		Uncontested	Uncontested
Total		6	6	6		Uncontested	Uncontested

Whig MPs who lost their seats[edit]

Viscount Morpeth, Chief Secretary for Ireland

Sir George Strickland, Bt

Sir Henry Barron, 1st Baronet

References[edit]

^ ^a^b Kemp, Betty (June 1952), "The General Election of 1841", History, 37 (130): 146–157, JSTOR 24402876

^ Baldwin, Craddock, Joy (1 January 1843), "Election Comprimises", The Westminster Review, 39: 114, retrieved 5 June 2016 CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)

^ British Electoral Facts 1832–2006, compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher (Parliamentary Research Services, 2007)

External links[edit]

Spartacus: Political Parties and Election Results

[Betty-1] Kemp, Betty (June 1952), "The General Election of 1841", History, 37 (130): 146–157, JSTOR 24402876

[2] Baldwin, Craddock, Joy (1 January 1843), "Election Comprimises", The Westminster Review, 39: 114, retrieved 5 June 2016 CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)

[BEF07-3] British Electoral Facts 1832–2006, compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher (Parliamentary Research Services, 2007)

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