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1847 United Kingdom general election

29 July – 26 August 1847 (1847-07-29 – 1847-08-26)

All 656 seats in the House of Commons
329 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Lord Stanley	Lord John Russell	John O'Connell
Party	Conservative	Whig	Irish Repeal
Leader since	July 1846	October 1842	15 May 1847
Leader's seat	House of Lords	City of London	Limerick City
Last election	367 seats, 51.6%	271 seats, 46.2%	20 seats, 1.9%
Seats won	325^[1]	292	36
Seat change	42	21	16
Popular vote	205,481	259,311	14,128
Percentage	42.6%^[n 1]	53.8%^[n 1]	2.9%
Swing	9.0%	7.6%	1.0%

Prime Minister before election

Lord John Russell
Whig

Prime Minister after election

Lord John Russell
Whig

The 1847 United Kingdom general election was conducted between 29 July 1847 and 26 August 1847 and resulted in the Whigs in control of government despite candidates calling themselves Conservatives winning the most seats. The Conservatives were divided between Protectionists, led by Lord Stanley, and a minority of free-trade Tories, known also as Liberal Conservatives or the Peelites for their leader, former prime minister Sir Robert Peel. This left the Whigs, led by Prime Minister Lord John Russell, in a position to continue in government.^[2]

The Irish Repeal group won more seats than in the previous general election, while the Chartists gained the only seat they were ever to hold, Nottingham's second seat, held by Chartist leader Feargus O'Connor.

The election also witnessed the election of Britain's first Jewish MP, the Liberal Lionel de Rothschild in the City of London. Members being sworn in were however required to swear the Christian Oath of Allegiance, meaning Rothschild was unable actually to take his seat until the passage of the Jews Relief Act in 1858. The constituency of Sudbury, which elected two members, was disfranchised for this election. This accounts there being two fewer seats in the House of Commons as compared to the previous election, though no redistribution took place.

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Results

UK General Election 1847
	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
Whig	292			+21	44.51	53.75	259,311	+6.9
Conservative	325			−42	49.54	42.59	205,481	−8.2
Irish Repeal	36			+16	5.49	2.93	14,128	+1.0
Chartist	1	1	0	+1	0.15	0.59	2,848	0
Irish Confederation	2	2	0	+2	0.30	0.14	661	N/A

Voting summary

Popular vote

Whig			53.75%
Conservative			42.59%
Irish Repeal			2.93%
Chartist			0.59%
Others			0.14%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats

Whig			44.51%
Conservative			49.54%
Irish Repeal			5.49%
Chartist			0.15%
Others			0.3%

Regional results

Great Britain

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Seats change	Votes	%
	Conservative & Liberal Conservatives	373	180	285		194,223	43.1
	Whig	360	125	267		253,376	56.2
	Chartist	9	0	1	+1	2,848	0.6
Total		742	305	553		450,447	100

England

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Seats change	Votes	%
	Conservative & Liberal Conservatives	319	149	239		170,407	42.1
	Whig	297	92	222		230,656	57.2
	Chartist	9	0	1	+1	2,848	0.7
Total		625	241	462		403,911	100

Scotland

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% change
	Whig	48	21	33	+2	20,092	81.7	+20.9
	Conservative & Liberal Conservatives	23	16	20	−2	3,509	18.3	−20.0
Total		71	37	53		23,601	100

Wales

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Votes	%
	Conservative & Liberal Conservatives	22	15	20	11,114	89.5
	Whig	13	12	12	1,394	10.5
Total		35	27	32	12,508	100

Ireland

Party		Candidates	Unopposed	Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% change
	Irish Conservative	38	24	29	−1	10,294	31.0	−6.1
	Peelite	11	9	11	−1	964	3.0	−6.1
	Irish Repeal	51	18	36		14,128	43.6
	Whig	33	11	25		5,935	20.2
	Irish Confederate	3	0	2		629	2.0
	independent politician	1	0	0		32	0.2
Total		137	62	103		31,982	100

Universities

Party		Candidates	Seats	Votes	%
	Conservative & Liberal Conservatives	9	6	9,193	88.2
	Whig	2	0	1,234	11.8
Total		11	6	10,427	100

Notes

^ ^a ^b Several country and university seats held by Conservatives were uncontested, and many urban multi-member constituencies that tended to vote Liberal had multiple candidates, so this is an misleading figure. Therefore, national swing is not applicable to elections in this era.

References

^ Including Peelites.
^ White, Isobel; Durkin, Mary (15 November 2007). "General Election Dates 1832-2005" (PDF). House of Commons.
^ Conservative totals include Liberal Conservatives.