United Kingdom general election, 1857

27 March–24 April 1857

All 654 seats in the House of Commons 328 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party

Leader	The Viscount Palmerston	The Earl of Derby
Party	Whig	Conservative
Leader since	6 February 1855	July 1846
Leader's seat	Tiverton	Earl of Derby
Last election	324 seats, 57.9%	330 seats, 41.9%
Seats won	377	264
Seat change	53	66
Popular vote	464,127	239,712
Percentage	65.9%	34.0%
Swing	7.0%	7.9%

PM before election

Lord Palmerston
Whig

Subsequent PM

Lord Palmerston
Whig

1847 election • MPs
1852 election • MPs
1857 election • MPs
1859 election • MPs
1865 election • MPs

In the 1857 United Kingdom general election, the Whigs, led by Lord Palmerston, finally won a majority in the House of Commons as the Conservative vote fell significantly. The election had been provoked by a vote of censure in Palmerston's government over his approach to the Arrow affair which led to the Second Opium War.

Results 1
- Summary 1.1
- Seats summary 1.2
References 2

Results

United Kingdom General Election 1857
		Candidates						Votes
Party		Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Whig	507	377			+ 53		64.9	464,127	+ 7.0
	Conservative	351	264			- 66		33.5	239,712	- 7.1
	Others	19	13	13	0	+ 13		1.7	12,099	N/A
	Chartist	1	0	0	0	0		0.1	614	- 0.1

Total votes cast: 716,552. "Others" are mostly Irish Independent Opposition. The Conservative total votes cast and MPs includes around 26 Peelites - some reference works claim it was as few as 18.

Summary

Popular vote

Whig			64.77%
Conservative			33.45%
Others			1.69%
Chartist			0.09%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats

Whig			57.65%
Conservative			40.37%
Others			1.99%

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

Local elections	1949 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

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Referendums	1975 2011

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United Kingdom general election, 1857