1885 United Kingdom general election in Scotland

Main article: 1885 United Kingdom general election

A general election was held in the United Kingdom between 24 November and 18 December 1885 and 70 constituency seats in Scotland were contested. One of the two university seats for Scotland was also contested. Scotland had gained 12 seats since the previous election as a result of the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, and the electorate had increased from 293,581 to 560,580 as a result of the Representation of the People Act 1884 (out of 24,397,385 people registered in the 1881 census).

1885 United Kingdom general election

24 November – 18 December 1885 (1885-11-24 – 1885-12-18)
All 72 Scottish seats to the House of Commons
First party Second party Third party   Leader William Ewart Gladstone Marquess of Salisbury Gavin Brown Clark Party Liberal Conservative Crofters Party Leader since April 1880 April 1881 Leader's seat Midlothian House of Lords Caithness Seats before 53 7 0 Seats won 51 10 4 Seat change 1 3 4 Popular vote 238,627 151,137 16,551 Percentage 53.3% 34.3% 3.7% Swing 16.8% 4.4% 3.7%
Results of the 1885 election in Scotland

Of particular note was the splintering of the Liberal representation in Scotland. Some 7 MPs were returned as Independent Liberals, with Edinburgh in particular seeing 3 of its 4 constituencies return Independent Liberals.

In the western Highlands the Crofters Party emerged as the dominant force, taking four constituencies. The Independent Liberal MP elected for the Wick Burghs also aligned with the group. The emergence of the group was owed to the Representation of the People Act 1884, which had reduced the property qualifications for voters. As a result many Crofters were able to vote for the first time in 1885. The Crofting Party worked in close collaboration with the Highland Land League, and opposed the lack of secure and tenure and the severely reduced access to land for crofters.

Results

Below is a table summarising the results of the 1885 general election in Scotland.

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Liberal	51	1	238,627	53.3	16.8
	Conservative	8	2	151,137	34.3	4.4
	Independent Liberal & Crofters Party	4	4	16,551	3.7	3.7
	Independent Liberal	7	7	38,214	8.6	8.6
	Other	0
	Scottish Land Restoration League	0		2,359	0.5	0.5
Total		70	12	446,888	100

University constituencies

General election 1885: Edinburgh & St Andrews Universities

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Macdonald CB QC LLD	2,840	53.7%
	Liberal	John Eric Erichsen	2,453	46.3%
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

General election 1885: Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Alexander Campbell	unopposed	unopposed
	Conservative hold		Swing

Votes summary

Popular vote Liberal   53.3% Conservative   34.3% Independents & Other   8.6% Crofters Party   3.7% Scottish Land Restoration League   0.5%

Parliament seats Liberal   71.83% Conservative   14.01% Independents Liberals   9.86% Crofters Party   5.63%

See also

• History of Scotland § 19th century