► Royal Navy ► Varia
- Prime ministers: Tory/Conservative Liberal/Whig Peelite-Liberal coalition
- William IV's dismissal of Melbourne in 1834 was the last time that a British soverign dismissed his Prime minister.
- Peel's victory in the 1841 election was the first time a sitting majority government was defeated by the erstwhile minority party.
- Disraeli was, in 1868, the first Prime minister te resign without meeting parliament.
| Wellington had taken office after internal disputes in the brief (liberal) Tory administrations of George Canning and Lord Goderich (Frderick John Robinson), who followed Lord Liverpool's lengthy (1815-1827) spell as Prime minister, during which more liberal men came to the fore in that party (Huskisson, Robinson, Peel, Canning). | |
| 22 January 1828 | Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley) (1st time); hard-line Tory |
| May 1828 | Canningites left the cabinet after disagreement on disposal of seats of rotten boroughs. |
| July 1830 | election (on death of George IV) to 7th Parliament (since the Act of Union): 30 Whig gains. |
| 15 November 1830 | Wellington was defeated on a motion to examine the accounts of the Civil List. The introduction of Catholic Emancipation had lost him the support of the traditional Tories, while his resistance to parliamentary reform had alienated more progressive forces. |
| 16 November 1830 | Earl Grey (Charles Grey); Whig cabinet also containing some radicals and Canningites |
| April 1831 | Grey dissolved after defeat on an amendment to his Parliamentary Reform Bill. |
| June 1831 | election to 8th Parliament: Whigs returned. |
| 8 October 1831 | The Tory majority in the House of Lords rejected Grey's Reform Bill. Widespread public disorder followed. |
| 9 May 1832 | Grey resigned. Peel and the Tories refused to take office, but allowed the Bill to pass into law when Grey resumed office. |
| December 1832 | election (following 1832 Parliamentary Reform Act) to 9th Parliament: 320 Liberals, 190 Radicals and Irish nationalists, 150 Conservatives |
| May 1834 | Stanley and followers left the cabinet, objecting to Grey's proposals to appropriate the surplus revenue of the Irish church. |
| 8 July 1934 | Grey resigned due to cabinet disunity on Irish Coersion Act and church proposals; other ministers remained. |
| 16 July 1834 | Viscount Melbourne (William Lamb) (1st time); conservative Whig |
| 14 November 1834 | Melbourne dismissed by King William IV after Melbourne proposed to include Lord John Russell in the cabinet; William considered Russell too radical (and also objected to Melbournes Irish church proposals). |
| 17 November 1834 | Duke of Wellington (2nd time); as caretaker, Peel being on holiday in Italy at the time. |
| 10 December 1834 | Sir Robert Peel (1st time), minority cabinet. |
| 18 December 1834 | Peel published his "Tamworth manifesto", considered the first clear statement of Conservative ideas. |
| 30 December 1834 | Peel dissolved parliament. |
| January 1835 | election to 10th Parliament: 290 Conservatives, 218 Whigs, 150 Radicals and Irish nationalists. |
| 8 April 1835 | After suffered six defeats in as many weeks, Peel resigned after being defeated by the "Litchfield House compact" (Whigs and Irish) on, among other things, the appropriation of surplus Irish Church revenues. |
| 18 April 1835 | Viscount Melbourne (2nd time) |
| 1837 | Stanley and followers join the Conservative party |
| July 1837 | election (after death of William IV) to 11th Parliament: 313 Conservatives, 345 Liberals |
| 7 May 1839 | Melbourne resigned after close vote on Bill to suspent jamacian Assembly. Queen Victoria refused to accept Peel's proposals for changes in the (then overwhelmingly Whig) royal household (The "Bedchamber Crisis"), and Melbourne returned. |
| 7 June 1841 | Melbourne dissolved parliament after defeat by 1 vote on no-confidence motion, hoping that a popular programme (repeal of the Corn Laws, and introduction of the ballot (secret voting)) would bring victory in the subsequent election. |
| July 1841 | election to 12th Parliament: 367 Conservatives, 271 Liberals, 20 Irish nationalists |
| 30 August 1841 | Melbourne resigned after defeat on Amendment to the Address. |
| 30 August 1841 | Sir Robert Peel (2nd time) |
| August 1842 | Chartist and Anti-Corn law Agitation lead to widespread public disorder. |
| 29 June 1846 | Peel was defeated on an Irish Coercion Bill, after opposition by Tory protectionists to the repeal of the Corn laws in 1846 split the party; Stanley (in the Lords) and Disraeli (in the Commons) lead the official - protectionist - party. |
| 6 July 1846 | Lord John Russell (1st time) |
| 1847 | election to 13th Parliament: 324 Conservatives (including about 90 Peelites), 292 Liberals, 36 Irish nationalists |
| 20 February 1851 | Russell defeated on Radical election reform proposal after losing Irish support after anti-Catholic remarks; Stanley unable to form government; Russell returned. |
| 19 December 1851 | Palmerston (Foreign secretary) was dismissed by Russell after giving unauthorized support to the coup by Napoleon III of France; cabinet fell. |
| 20 February 1852 | Palmerston led government defeat on Amendment to Millitia Act; Russell resigned. |
| 27 February 1852 | Earl of Derby (Edward Geoffrey Stanley) (1st time); minority Conservative cabinet ("Who? Who? ministry") |
| Derby dissolved parliament after defeat on Disraeli's budget proposals | |
| 1852 | election to 14th Parliament: 330 Conservatives (including Peelites), 324 Liberals |
| 28 December 1852 | Earl of Aberdeen (George Hamilton-Gordon); Liberal/Peelite coalition |
| Aberdeen resigned after parliamentary censure of conduct of Russian ("Crimean") war | |
| 10 February 1855 | Viscount Palmerston (Henry John Temple) (1st time) |
| Palmerson dissolved parliament after defeat on a motion concerning his agressive anti-Chinese policy | |
| 1857 | election to 15th Parliament: 264 Conservatives, 390 Liberals (including Peelites) |
| Palmerston resigned after rejection of his Conspiracy to Murder Bill, introduced after the Orsini bomb attempt on Napoleon III | |
| 25 February 1858 | Earl of Derby (2nd time), minority cabinet |
| Derby defeated after dissolving parliament | |
| 1859 | election to 16th Parliament: 297 Conservatives, 357 Liberals |
| 18 June 1859 | Viscount Palmerston (2nd time) |
| 6 July 1865 | Palmerston dissolved parliament. |
| 1865 | election to 17th Parliament: 288 Conservatives, 370 Liberals |
| 18 October 1865 | Palmerston died. |
| 30 October 1865 | Earl Russell (2nd time) |
| 26 June 1865 | Russell resigned after his moderate Parliamentary Reform Bill was defeated by the "Abullamites" |
| 6 July 1866 | Earl of Derby (3rd time), minority cabinet |
| Derby resigned on grounds of ill health | |
| 28 February 1868 | Benjamin Disraeli (1st time), minority cabinet |
| 3 May 1868 | Disraeli defeated on an opposition Irish Church resolution. He introduced a far-reaching Parliamentary Reform Act, which also necessitated a new election. |
| November 1868 | election to 18th Parliament: 271 Conservatives, 387 Liberals |
| 9 December 1868 | William Ewart Gladstone (1st time) |
| Seven year parliamentary period elapsed; decline in Liberal party elan and unity | |
| 1874 | election to 19th Parliament: 342 Conservatives, 251 Liberals, 59 Irish Nationalists |
| 20 February 1874 | Benjamin Disraeli (from 12 August 1876: Earl of Beaconsfield) (2nd time) |
| Disraeli dissolved parliament in a period of economic depression and mounting unemployment, after by-election results seemed to indicate an increase in Conservative popularity. | |
| 3 April 1880 | election to 20th Parliament: 238 Conservatives, 353 Liberals, 61 Irish Nationalists |
| 28 April 1880 | William Ewart Gladstone (2nd time) |
| Gladstone resigned after defeat on proposed increase in beer and spirit duties; Liberal party divided on Irish question, and country shocked by failure to relieve Gordon at Khartoum | |
| 24 June 1885 | Marquis of Salisbury (Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil) (1st time), minority cabinet |
| Salisbury's caretaker minority cabinet dissolved parliament, which was anyway approaching the end of its seven year term | |
| November 1885 | election to 21st Parliament: 251 Conservatives, 333 Liberals, 86 Irish Nationalists |
| 6 February 1886 | William Ewart Gladstone (3rd time) |
| June 1886 | Gladstone dissolved parliament after defeat of Irish Home Rule Bill; Liberal Unionists leave Liberal party. |
| July 1886 | election to 22nd Parliament: 317 Conservatives, 77 Liberal Unionists, 191 Liberals, 85 Irish Nationalists |
| 3 August 1886 | Marquis of Salisbury (2nd time) |
| 29 June 1892 | Salisbury dissolved parliament approaching end of term. |
| 1892 | election to 23rd Parliament: 268 Conservatives, 46 Liberal Unionists, 272 Liberals, 80 Irish Nationalists |
| 11 August 1892 | Salisbury's government resigned after vote of no-confidence. |
| 15 August 1892 | William Ewart Gladstone (4th time) |
| 3 March 1894 | Gladstone resigned following the rejection of his second Irish Home Rule Bill (passed by the Commons) by the House of Lords on 8 September 1893. |
| 5 March 1894 | Earl of Rosebury (Archibald Primrose) |
| Weak Liberal government resigned after defeat on army estimates | |
| 25 June 1895 | Marquis of Salisbury (3rd time) |
| Salisbury formed temporary coalition with Devonshire and Chamberlain, and subsequently dissolved to obtain majority. | |
| 1895 | election to 24th Parliament: 340 Conservatives, 71 Liberal Unionists, 177 Liberals, 82 Irish Nationalists |
| Salisbury dissolved, to exploit Liberal party being divided on South African war. | |
| 1900 | election to 25th Parliament: 334 Conservatives, 68 Liberal Unionists, 184 Liberals, 82 Irish Nationalists, 2 Labour |
Top↑
 |