1832 United Kingdom general election explained

Election Name:	1832 United Kingdom general election
Country:	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Type:	parliamentary
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1831 United Kingdom general election
Previous Year:	1831
Previous Mps:	List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1831
Next Election:	1835 United Kingdom general election
Next Year:	1835
Seats For Election:	All 658 seats in the House of Commons
Majority Seats:	330
Elected Mps:	List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1832
Leader1:	Earl Grey
Leader Since1:	22 November 1830
Party1:	Whigs (British political party)
Leaders Seat1:	House of Lords
Seats1:	441
Seat Change1:	71
Popular Vote1:	554,719
Percentage1:	67%
Leader2:	Duke of Wellington
Leader Since2:	22 January 1828
Party2:	Tories (British political party)
Leaders Seat2:	House of Lords
Seats2:	175
Seat Change2:	60
Popular Vote2:	241,284
Percentage2:	29%
Leader3:	Daniel O'Connell
Leader Since3:	1830
Party3:	Repeal Association
Leaders Seat3:	Dublin City
Seats3:	42
Seat Change3:	42
Popular Vote3:	31,773
Percentage3:	4%
Map Size:	380px
Prime Minister
Posttitle:	Prime Minister after election
Before Election:	Earl Grey
Before Party:	Whigs (British political party)
After Election:	Earl Grey
After Party:	Whigs (British political party)
Map2 Image:	File:1832 UK GE Composition diagram.svg
Map2 Caption:	Composition of the House of Commons after the election

The 1832 United Kingdom general election was the first United Kingdom general election held in the Reformed House of Commons following the Reform Act, which introducing significant changes to the electoral system.

Earl Grey, Prime Minister since November 1830, led the first predominantly Whig administration since 1806–07, supported by Radicals and allied politicians, though no formal Liberal Party existed yet. Viscount Althorp led the House of Commons and served as Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Tories, led by the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel, had not fully adopted the Conservative label. In Ireland, Daniel O'Connell's Irish Repeal Association campaigned for the repeal of the Act of Union, presenting independent candidates.

The election took place from December 1832 to January 1833, with polling staggered across constituencies. The Whigs won an overall majority of 224 seats, 67%, the Tories 27%, and the Repeal Association 6%. The Whigs won 67% of the vote, the Tories 29%, and the Repeal Association 4%. The results varied by region, with the Whigs dominant in Great Britain, but facing stronger Tory opposition in Wales and Ireland.

This was the last election before the Tories formally reconstituted themselves into the Conservatives, and the last time until 1906 that they won fewer than 200 seats.

Political situation

The Earl Grey had been Prime Minister since November 1830. He headed the first predominantly Whig administration since the Ministry of All the Talents in 1806–07.

In addition to the Whigs themselves, Grey was supported by Radical and other allied politicians. The Whigs and their allies were gradually coming to be referred to as liberals, but no formal Liberal Party had been established at the time of this election, so all the politicians supporting the ministry are referred to as Whig in the above results.

The Leader of the House of Commons since 1830 was Viscount Althorp (heir of the Earl Spencer), who also served as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The last Tory prime minister, at the time of this election, was the Duke of Wellington. After leaving government office, Wellington continued to lead the Tory peers and was the overall Leader of the Opposition.

The Tory Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons was Sir Robert Peel, Bt.

John Wilson Croker had used the term "conservative" in 1830, but the Tories at the time of this election had not yet become generally known as the Conservative Party. This distinction would finally take hold after the Liberal Party was officially created.

In Irish politics, Daniel O'Connell was continuing his campaign for repeal of the Act of Union. He had founded the Irish Repeal Association and it presented candidates independent of the two principal parties.

Dates of election

Following the passage of the Reform Act 1832 and related legislation to reform the electoral system and redistribute constituencies, the tenth United Kingdom Parliament was dissolved on 3 December 1832. The new Parliament was summoned to meet on 29 January 1833, 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.

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 December 1832 and January 1833. The first nomination was on 8 December, with the first contest on 10 December and the last contest on 8 January 1833. It was usual for polling in the university constituencies and in Orkney and Shetland to take place about a week after other seats. Disregarding contests in the Universities and Orkney and Shetland, the last poll was on 1 January 1833.

Summary of the constituencies

For the distribution of constituencies in the unreformed House of Commons, before this election, see the 1831 United Kingdom general election. Apart from the disenfranchisement of Grampound for corruption in 1821 and the transfer of its two seats as additional members for Yorkshire from 1826, there had been no change in the constituencies of England since the 1670s. In some cases the county and borough seats had remained unaltered since the 13th century. Welsh constituencies had been unchanged since the 16th century. Those in Scotland had remained the same since 1708 and in Ireland since 1801.

In 1832 politicians were facing an unfamiliar electoral map, as well as an electorate including those qualified under a new uniform householder franchise in the boroughs. However the reform legislation had not removed all the anomalies in the electoral system.

Table of largest and smallest electorates 1832–33, by country, type and number of seats

Country	Type	Seats	Largest constituency	Largest electorate	Smallest constituency	Smallest electorate
scope=row rowspan="7"	England	Borough	1		1,497		153
2			11,576		146
4			18,584
County	1		1,167
	2		18,056	Rutland	1,296
	3		6,435	Oxfordshire	4,721
University	2		2,496		2,319
scope=row rowspan="3"	Wales	Borough	1		1,359		242
County	1		3,700		580
	2		3,887		3,401
scope=row rowspan="3"	Scotland	Burgh	1		2,024		316
2			6,989		6,048
County	1		3,180		84
scope=row rowspan="4"	Ireland	Borough	1		1,024		91
2			7,008		1,241
County	2		3,835		1,112
University	2		2,073

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 MPs
	186	68	2	256	322	142	4	468
	15	13	0	28	15	17	0	32
	21	30	0	51	23	30	0	53
	33	32	1	66	39	64	2	105
	255	143	3	401	399	253	6	658

Table 2: Number of seats per constituency, by type and country

Country	BCx1	BCx2	BCx4	CCx1	CCx2	CCx3	UCx2	Total C
	52	133	1	1	60	7	2	256
	15	0	0	9	4	0	0	28
	19	2	0	30	0	0	0	51
	27	6	0	0	32	0	1	66
	113	141	1	40	96	7	3	401

Results

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Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats
	636	109	441
	350	66	175
	51	14	42
Total		1,037	189	658

Regional results

Great Britain

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% change
	408		525,706	71.1
	147		213,254	28.9
Total		555		738,960	100

England

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% change
	347		474,542	70.8
	117		193,442	29.2
Total		464		667,984	100

Scotland

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% change
	43		44,003	79.0
	10		9,752	21.0
Total		53		53,755	100

Wales

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% change
	18		6,348	46.6
	14		7,466	53.4
Total		32		13,814	100

Ireland

See main article: United Kingdom general election, 1832 (Ireland).

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% change
	42		31,773	34.6
	33		29,013	33.3
	28		28,030	32.1
Total		103		88,816	100

Universities

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% change
	6		2,594	76.2
	0		813	23.8
Total		6		3,407	100

See also

• List of United Kingdom general elections
• List of MPs elected in the 1832 United Kingdom general election

External links

• Spartacus: Political Parties and Election Results