United Kingdom general election, 1841

United Kingdom general election, 1841

29 June–22 July 1841
All 658 seats in the House of Commons 330 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Sir Robert Peel The Viscount Melbourne Daniel O'Connell Party Conservative Whig Irish Repeal Leader since 19 December 1834 16 July 1834 15 April 1840 Leader's seat Tamworth Baron Melbourne County Cork Last election 314 seats, 48.3% 344 seats, 51.7% N/A Seats won 367 271 20 Seat change 53 73 N/A Popular vote 306,314 273,902 12,537 Percentage 50.9% 46.9% 1.9% Swing 2.6% 4.8% N/A
Colours denote the winning party.
PM before election Lord Melbourne Whig Subsequent PM Sir Robert Peel Conservative

1835 election • MPs

1837 election • MPs

1841 election • MPs

1847 election • MPs

1852 election • MPs

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. The Whigs 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.

Results

United Kingdom General Election 1841
		Candidates						Votes
Party		Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Conservative	498	367			+ 53		50.9	306,314	+ 2.6
	Whig	388	271			- 73		46.9	273,902	- 4.8
	Irish Repeal	22	20	20	0	+ 20		2.1	12,537	N/A
	Chartist	8	0	0	0	0		0.1	692	N/A

Total votes: 593,445

Voting summary

Popular vote
Conservative			50.9%
Whig			46.9%
Irish Repeal			2.1%
Chartist			0.1%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats
Conservative			55.78%
Whig			41.19%
Irish Repeal			3.04%

Regional Results

Great Britain

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	New
Total		780	268	555		544,116	100

England

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

Scotland

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

Wales

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

Ireland

Main article: United Kingdom general election, 1841 (Ireland)

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

Universities

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

• Viscount Morpeth - Chief Secretary for Ireland
• Sir George Strickland, Bt
• Sir Henry Barron, 1st Baronet

References

• F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987
• British Electoral Facts 1832-1999, compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher (Ashgate Publishing Ltd 2000)

External links

• Spartacus: Political Parties and Election Results