1865 United Kingdom general election

The 1865 general election was regarded by contemporaries as being a generally dull contest nationally, which exaggerated the degree of corruption within individual constituencies. In his PhD thesis, Cornelius O'Leary described The Times as having reported "the testimony is unanimous that in the General Election of 1865 there was more profuse and corrupt expenditure than was ever known before".{{sfn|Kelly|Hamlyn|2013|page=93 }} As a result of allegations of corruption, 50 election petitions were lodged, of which 35 were pressed to a trial; 13 ended with the elected MP being unseated. In four cases a Royal Commission had to be appointed because of widespread corrupt practices in the constituency.{{sfn|O'Leary|1962|pages=27–28, 39 }}

As a result, when he became Prime Minister in 1867, Benjamin Disraeli announced that he would introduce a new method for election petition trials, which were then determined by a committee of the House of Commons, resulting in the Parliamentary Elections Act 1868, whereby two Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, Exchequer of Pleas or Queen's Bench would be designated to try election petitions with full judicial salaries.{{sfn|O'Leary|1962|pages=27–28, 39 }}

Many new constituencies were used for this election:

• Northern West Riding of Yorkshire
• Southern West Riding of Yorkshire

{{Main|List of MPs elected in the 1865 United Kingdom general election}}

File:1865 UK parliament.svg

{{Election summary begin with candidates |title=UK General Election 1865}}

{{Election summary party with candidates|

|party = Liberal Party (UK)

|candidates = 516

|seats = 369{{efn|name=speaker|The seat and vote count figures for the Liberals given here include the Speaker of the House of Commons}}

|gain =

|loss =

|net = +13

|votes = 508,821

|votes % = 59.52

|seats % = 56.08

|plus/minus = −6.2

|government = yes

|vps = 1,379

}}

{{Election summary party with candidates|

|party = Conservative Party (UK)

|candidates = 406

|seats = 289

|gain =

|loss =

|net = −9

|votes = 346,035

|votes % = 40.48

|seats % = 43.92

|plus/minus = +6.2

|vps = 1,197

}}

|- class="sortbottom" style="font-weight: bold; text-align: right; background: #f2f2f2;"

! colspan="2" style="padding-left: 1.5em; text-align: left;" | Total

|

| 658

|

|

| +4

| 100

| 100

| 854,856

|

|}

{{bar box

|title=Popular vote

|titlebar=#ddd

|width=600px

|barwidth=380px

|bars=

{{bar percent|Liberal|{{party color|Liberal Party (UK)}}|59.52}}

{{bar percent|Conservative|{{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}|40.48}}

}}

{{bar box

|title=Parliamentary seats

|titlebar=#ddd

|width=600px

|barwidth=380px

|bars=

{{bar percent|Liberal|{{party color|Liberal Party (UK)}}|56.08}}

{{bar percent|Conservative|{{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}|43.92}}

}}

{{Main|United Kingdom general election, 1865 (Ireland)}}

Source: {{harvnb|Rallings|Thrasher|2012|pages=8–9}}

• List of MPs elected in the 1865 United Kingdom general election
• 1865 United Kingdom general election in Ireland

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{citation |author-link=F. W. S. Craig |first=F. W. S. |last=Craig |title=British Electoral Facts: 1832–1987 |year=1989 |location=Dartmouth |publisher=Gower |isbn=0900178302 }}
• {{citation |last=Crewe |first=Ivor |author-link=Ivor Crewe |contribution=New Labour's Hegemony: Extension or Erosion? |editor1-last=Bartle |editor1-first=John |editor2-last=King |editor2-first=Anthony |title=Britain at the Polls 2005 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=CQ Press |year=2006 |page=204}}
• {{citation |title=1865 |work=The People's Chronology |editor-first=Jason M. |editor-last=Everett |publisher=Thomson Gale |year=2006 |access-date=12 May 2007 |url=http://history.enotes.com/peoples-chronology/year-1865/political-events |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070806024249/http://www.enotes.com/peoples-chronology/year-1865/political-events |archive-date=6 August 2007 |url-status=dead }}
• {{citation |chapter=The Law and Conduct of MPs |first1=Richard |last1=Kelly |first2=Matthew |last2=Hamlyn |title=Parliament and the Law |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GZTbBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA93 |editor1-first=Alexander |editor1-last=Horne |editor2-first=Gavin |editor2-last=Drewry |editor3-first=Dawn |editor3-last=Oliver |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-7822-5258-0}}
• {{citation |title=The Elimination of Corrupt Practices in British Elections 1868–1911 |last=O'Leary |first=Cornelius |author-link=Cornelius O'Leary |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=1962}}
• {{citation |title=British Electoral Facts 1832–1999 |editor1-first=Colin |editor1-last=Rallings |editor1-link=Colin Rallings |editor2-first=Michael |editor2-last=Thrasher |editor2-link=Michael Thrasher |publisher=Ashgate Publishing Ltd |year=2000}}
• {{citation |editor-last=Rallings |editor-first=Colin |editor2-last=Thrasher |editor2-first=Michael |date=2012 |title=British Electoral Facts 1832–2012 |location=London |publisher=Biteback |isbn=978-1-84954-134-3 }}
• Roberts, Matthew. "Election Cartoons and Political Communication in Victorian England" Cultural & Social History (2013) 10#3 pp 369–395, covers 1860 to 1890.

{{refend}}

• [http://www.spartacus-educational.com/politics.htm Spartacus: Political Parties and Election Results]

{{United Kingdom elections}}

Category:1865 elections in the United Kingdom

General election

1865

Category:July 1865

Category:Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby

Category:Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston