United Kingdom general election, 1847

29 July–26 August 1847

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	Daniel O'Connell
Party	Conservative	Whig	Irish Repeal
Leader since	July 1846	October 1842	15 April 1840
Leader's seat	Baron Stanley	City of London	County Cork
Last election	367 seats, 50.9%	271 seats, 46.9%	20 seats, 1.9%
Seats won	325	292	36
Seat change	42	21	16
Popular vote	205,481	259,311	14,128
Percentage	42.7%	53.8%	2.9%
Swing	8.2%	6.9%	1.0%

PM before election

Lord John Russell
Whig

Subsequent PM

Lord John Russell
Whig

1837 election • MPs
1841 election • MPs
1847 election • MPs
1852 election • MPs
1857 election • MPs

The 1847 United Kingdom general election saw candidates calling themselves Conservatives win the most seats, in part because they won a number of uncontested seats. However, the split among the Conservatives between the majority of Protectionists, led by Lord Stanley, and the minority of free traders, known also as the Peelites, led by former prime minister Sir Robert Peel, left the Whigs, led by Prime Minister Lord John Russell, in a position to continue in government.

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.

1 Results
- 1.1 Voting summary
- 1.2 Seats summary
2 References

Results

United Kingdom General Election 1847
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Whig	292			+ 21		53.8	259,311	+ 6.9
	Conservative	325			- 42		42.7	205,481	- 8.2
	Irish Repeal	36			+ 16		2.9	14,128	+ 1.0
	Chartist	1	1	0	+ 1		0.6	2,848	0
	Others	2	2	0	+ 2		0.1	661	N/A

Total votes cast: 482,429. "Others" includes Irish Confederate Party.

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%

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)
Spartacus: Political Parties and Election Results

Elections and referendums in the United Kingdom

General elections	1801 co-option 1802 1806 1807 1812 1818 1820 1826 1830 1831 1832 1835 1837 1841 1847 1852 1857 1859 1865 1868 1874 1880 1885 1886 1892 1895 1900 1906 1910 (Jan) 1910 (Dec) 1918 1922 1923 1924 1929 1931 1935 1945 1950 1951 1955 1959 1964 1966 1970 1974 (Feb) 1974 (Oct) 1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015

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United Kingdom general election, 1847