The 1918 United Kingdom general election was called immediately after the

Armistice with Germany {{Short description, none This is a list of armistices signed by the German Empire (1871–1918) or Nazi Germany (1933–1945). An armistice is a temporary agreement to cease hostilities. The period of an armistice may be used to negotiate a peace t ...

which ended the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, and was held on Saturday, 14 December 1918. The governing coalition, under Prime Minister

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. A Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, he was known for leadi ...

, sent letters of endorsement to candidates who supported the coalition government. These were nicknamed "

Coalition Coupon The Coalition Coupon was a letter sent to parliamentary candidates at the 1918 United Kingdom general election, endorsing them as official representatives of the Coalition Government. The 1918 election took place soon after British victory in the ...

s", and led to the election being known as the "coupon election". The result was a massive

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...

in favour of the coalition, comprising primarily the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...

and Coalition Liberals, with massive losses for Liberals who were not endorsed. Nearly all the Liberal MPs without coupons were defeated, including party leader H. H. Asquith. It was the first general election to be held after enactment of the

Representation of the People Act 1918 The Representation of the People Act 1918 ( 7 & 8 Geo. 5. c. 64) was an act of Parliament passed to reform the electoral system in Great Britain and Ireland. It is sometimes known as the Fourth Reform Act. The act extended the franchise in pa ...

. It was thus the first election in which women over the age of 30 (with some property qualifications), and all men over the age of 21, could vote. Previously, all women and many poor men had been excluded from voting. Women generally supported the coalition candidates. Simultaneously, it was the first parliamentary election in which women were able to stand as candidates, following the

Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918 The Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It gave women over 21 the right to stand for election as a Member of Parliament. At 41 words, it is the shortest UK statute. Background The ...

, believed to be one of the shortest Acts of Parliament ever given Royal Assent. The Act was passed shortly before Parliament was dissolved. It followed a report by Law Officers that the Great Reform Act 1832 had specified parliamentary candidates had to be male, and that the Representation of the People Act passed earlier in the year did not change that. One woman,

Nina Boyle Constance Antonina Boyle (21 December 1865 – 4 March 1943) was a British journalist, campaigner for women's suffrage and women's rights, charity and welfare worker, and novelist. She was one of the pioneers of women police officers in Britain. ...

, had already presented herself for a by-election earlier in the year in Keighley, but had been turned down by the returning officer on technical grounds. It was also the first general election to include on a single day all eligible voters of the United Kingdom, although the vote count was delayed until 28 December so that the ballots cast by soldiers serving overseas could be included in the tallies. Prior to this election the

university constituency A university constituency is a constituency, used in elections to a legislature, that represents the members of one or more universities rather than residents of a geographical area. These may or may not involve plural voting, in which voters ar ...

seats were re-allocated. Several seats were filled in multi-seat constituencies using STV. The election resulted in a landslide victory for the

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

of David Lloyd George, who had replaced

H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928) was a British statesman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916. He was the last ...

as Prime Minister in December 1916. They were both Liberals, and continued to battle for control of the party, which was rapidly losing popular support, and never regained power. The election was also noted for the dramatic result in Ireland, which showed clear disapproval of government policy. The

Irish Parliamentary Party The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nati ...

were almost completely wiped out by the

Irish republican Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish republic, void of any British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously elective and militant and has been both w ...

party

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

, who vowed in their

manifesto A manifesto is a written declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party, or government. A manifesto can accept a previously published opinion or public consensus, but many prominent ...

to establish an independent

Irish Republic The Irish Republic ( or ) was a Revolutionary republic, revolutionary state that Irish Declaration of Independence, declared its independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in January 1919. The Republic claimed jurisdict ...

. They refused to take their seats in Westminster, instead forming a breakaway government and declaring Irish independence. The

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...

began soon after the election. Because of the resulting

partition of Ireland The Partition of Ireland () was the process by which the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (UK) divided Ireland into two self-governing polities: Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland (the area today known as the R ...

, this was the last United Kingdom general election to include the entire island of Ireland.

Background

Lloyd George's coalition government was supported by a minority (majority after the election) of the Liberals and

Bonar Law Andrew Bonar Law (; 16 September 1858 – 30 October 1923) was a British statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1922 to May 1923. Law was born in the British colony of New Brunswick (now a Canadi ...

. However, the election saw a split in the Liberal Party between those who were aligned with Lloyd George and the government and those who were aligned with

Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928) was a British statesman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916. He was the last ...

, the party's official leader. On 14 November it was announced that Parliament, which had been sitting since 1910 and had been extended by emergency wartime action, would dissolve on 25 November, with elections on 14 December. Following confidential negotiations over the summer of 1918, it was agreed that certain candidates were to be offered the support of the Prime Minister and the leader of the Conservative Party at the next general election. To these candidates a letter, known as the

, was sent, indicating the government's endorsement of their candidacy. 159 Liberal, 364 Conservative, 20 National Democratic and Labour, and 2

Coalition Labour Coalition Labour was a description used by candidates in the 1918 United Kingdom general election who identified with trade unionism and supported the outgoing coalition government, which retained power at the election. The Labour Party had left ...

candidates received the coupon. For this reason, the election is often called the Coupon Election. 80 Conservative candidates stood without a coupon. Of these, 35 candidates were Irish Unionists. Of the other non-couponed Conservative candidates, only 23 stood against a Coalition candidate; the remaining 22 candidates stood in areas where there were no coupons, or refused the offer of a coupon. The Labour Party, led by

William Adamson William Adamson (2 April 1863 – 23 February 1936) was a Scottish trade unionist and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician. He was Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1917 to 1921 and was Secretary of State for Scotland in ...

, fought the election independently, as did those Liberals who did not receive a coupon. The election was not chiefly fought over what peace to make with Germany, although those issues played a role. More important was the voters' evaluation of Lloyd George in terms of what he had accomplished so far and what he promised for the future. His supporters emphasised that he had won the Great War. Against his strong record in social legislation, he called for making "a country fit for heroes to live in". This election was also known as a

khaki election In Westminster systems of government, a khaki election is any national election which is heavily influenced by wartime or postwar sentiment. In the British general election of 1900, the Conservative Party government of Lord Salisbury was return ...

, due to the immediate postwar setting and the role of the demobilised soldiers.

Coalition victory

The coalition won the election easily, with the Conservatives the big winners. They were the largest party in the governing majority. Lloyd George remained Prime Minister, despite the Conservatives outnumbering his pro-coalition Liberals and having a majority in their own right. The Conservatives welcomed his leadership on foreign policy as the Paris Peace talks began a few weeks after the election. An additional 47 Conservatives, 23 of whom were Irish Unionists, won without the coupon but did not act as a separate block or oppose the government except on the issue of Irish independence. While most of the pro-coalition Liberals were re-elected, the

Independent Liberal Independent Liberal is a description which candidates and politicians have used to describe themselves, designating them as liberals, yet independent of the official Liberal Party of their country. To avoid confusion with the Liberal Party of ...

faction was reduced to a handful of MPs, not all of whom were opponents of the coalition. Asquith and the other leaders lost their seats, and only three with junior ministerial experience were elected. According to Trevor Wilson's book, ''The Downfall of the Liberal Party'', 136 couponed Liberals were elected, whereas only 29 who did not receive the coupon were returned to Parliament, but as 8 Independent Liberals received the coupon and 10 Lloyd George Liberals did not, the actual number of the Asquith faction was 27. Another historian puts the Asquith faction at 36 seats, of whom nine of these MPs subsequently joined the Coalition Liberal group. The remainder became bitter enemies of Lloyd George. Asquith's biographer

Stephen Koss Stephen Edward Koss (25 May 1940 – 25 October 1984) was an American historian specialising in subjects relating to Britain. Koss received his BA, MA, and PhD from Columbia University, where he was a student of R.K. Webb. He began his academic ...

accepts that, although accounts differ as to the exact numbers, around 29 uncouponed Liberals had been elected. On 3 February 1919, 23 non-coalition Liberals formed themselves into a "Free Liberal" group (soon known as the "Wee Frees" after a Scottish religious sect of that name); they accepted Asquith's appointment of

Sir Donald Maclean Sir Donald Maclean (9 January 1864 – 15 June 1932) was a British Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was Leader of the Opposition (UK), Leader of the Opposition between 1918 and 1920 and served in the Cabi ...

as chairman in his absence. After a brief attempt to set up a joint committee with the Coalition Liberal MPs, the "Wee Frees" resigned the government whip on 4 April, although some Liberal MPs still remained of uncertain allegiance. Maclean served as

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

until Asquith returned at a by-election in February 1920. The Labour Party greatly increased its vote share and surpassed the total votes of either faction of the Liberal party, but they lacked an official leader. Labour could only slightly increase their number of seats, however, from 42 to 57 and some of their earlier leaders including

Ramsay MacDonald James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British statesman and politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The first two of his governments belonged to the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, where he led ...

and

Arthur Henderson Arthur Henderson (13 September 1863 – 20 October 1935) was a British iron moulder and Labour Party (UK), Labour politician. He was the first Labour Cabinet of the United Kingdom, cabinet minister, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1934 and, uniqu ...

lost their seats. Labour won the most seats in Wales (which had previously been dominated by the Liberals) for the first time, a feat it has continued to the present day. The Conservative MPs included record numbers of corporate directors, bankers and businessmen, while Labour MPs were mostly from the working class. Bonar Law himself symbolised the change in the type of a Conservative MP as he was a Presbyterian Canadian-born Scottish businessman who became, in the words of his biographer Robert Blake, the leader of "the Party of Old England, the Party of the Anglican Church and the country squire, the party of broad acres and hereditary titles".Blake, Robert ''The Unknown Prime Minister: The Life and Times of Andrew Bonar Law, 1858–1923'', London: Faber and Faber, 2011 p.86. Bonar Law's ascent as leader of the Conservatives marked a shift in Conservative leaders from the aristocrats who generally led the party in the 19th century to a more middle class leadership who usually led the party in the 20th century. Many young veterans reacted against the harsh tone of the campaign and became disillusioned with politics.

Ireland

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, the

, which favoured Home Rule within the United Kingdom, lost almost all their seats, most of which were won by

under

Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (; ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was an American-born Irish statesman and political leader. He served as the 3rd President of Ire ...

, which called for independence. The executions of many of the leaders of the Easter uprising of 1916, the force-feeding of those imprisoned in connection with the uprising who had gone on a hunger strike in 1917, and the

Conscription Crisis of 1918 The Conscription Crisis of 1918 stemmed from a move by the British government to impose conscription (military draft) in Ireland in April 1918 during the First World War. Vigorous opposition was led by trade unions, Irish nationalist parties a ...

all served to alienate Irish Catholic opinion from the United Kingdom. The Sinn Féin candidates had promised on the campaign trail to win an Irish republic "by any means necessary", which was a code-word for violence, though it is not entirely clear if all Irish voters understood what the phrase meant. The 73 Sinn Féin elected members declined to take their seats in the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...

, sitting instead in the Irish revolutionary assembly, the

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( ; , ) is the lower house and principal chamber of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann.Article 15.1.2° of the Constitution of Ireland reads: "The Oireachtas shall co ...

. On 17 May 1918 almost the entire leadership of Sinn Féin, including de Valera and

Arthur Griffith Arthur Joseph Griffith (; 31 March 1871 – 12 August 1922) was an Irish writer, newspaper editor and politician who founded the political party Sinn Féin. He led the Irish delegation at the negotiations that produced the 1921 Anglo-Irish Trea ...

, had been arrested. In total 47 of the Sinn Féin MPs were elected from jail. The Dáil first convened on 21 January 1919, which marks the beginning of the

. In the six Ulster counties that became Northern Ireland, Unionists consolidated their position by winning 23 out of the 30 seats. Cardinal

Michael Logue Michael Cardinal Logue (1 October 1840 – 19 November 1924) was an Irish prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland from 1887 until his death in 1924. He was appointed a cardinal in 1893. Early ...

brokered a pact in eight seats (one, East Donegal, not in the six counties), after nominations closed, where Catholic voters were instructed to vote for one particular nationalist party. Split evenly, the Irish Parliamentary Party won four of those seats and Sinn Féin three. (The pact failed in East Down).

Joseph Devlin Joseph Devlin (13 February 1871 – 18 January 1934) was an Irish journalist and influential nationalist politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Irish Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom (1902-192 ...

, memorably, also won Belfast (Falls) for the Irish Parliamentary Party in a straight fight with Éamon de Valera of Sinn Féin.

Constance Markievicz Constance Georgine Markievicz ( ; ' Gore-Booth; 4 February 1868 – 15 July 1927), also known as Countess Markievicz and Madame Markievicz, was an Irish politician, revolutionary, nationalist, suffragist, and socialist who was the first woman ...

became the first woman elected to Parliament and also to the Dáil Éireann. She was a Sinn Féin member elected for Dublin St Patrick's, and like the other Sinn Féin MPs, did not take her seat at Westminster.

Women candidates

The seventeen women candidates were: *

Margery Corbett Ashby Dame Margery Irene Corbett Ashby, ( Corbett; 19 April 1882 – 15 May 1981) was a British suffragist, Liberal politician, feminist and internationalist. Background She was born at Danehill, East Sussex, the daughter of Charles Corbett, a ...

, aged 36, Liberal, Birmingham, Ladywood * Winnifred Carney, aged 31, Sinn Féin, Belfast, Victoria *

Charlotte Despard Charlotte Despard (née French; 15 June 1844 – 10 November 1939) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish suffragist, socialist, pacifist, Sinn Féin activist, and novelist. She was a founding member of the Women's Freedom League, the Women's Pe ...

, aged 74, Labour, Battersea, North * Norah Dacre Fox, aged 40, Independent, Richmond *

Alison Vickers Garland Alison Vickers Garland (10 April 1862 – 26 September 1939), was a suffragist and British Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician. Background Garland was born in Birkenhead in 1862. She was the second daughter of Alfred Stephen Garland, mas ...

, aged 56, Liberal, Portsmouth South *

Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Baroness Pethick-Lawrence (; 21 October 1867 – 11 March 1954) was a British women's rights activist, suffragist and pacifist. Early life Pethick-Lawrence was born in 1867 in Clifton, Bristol as Emmeline Pethick. He ...

, aged 51, Labour, Manchester, Rusholme * Alice Lucas, aged 65, Conservative, Lambeth, Kennington *

Mary Macarthur Mary Reid Anderson (née Macarthur; 13 August 1880 – 1 January 1921) was a Scottish suffragist (although at odds with the national groups who were willing to let a minority of women gain the franchise) and was a leading Trade Union, trades ...

(Mrs W. C. Anderson), aged 38, Labour, Stourbridge, Worcestershire * Violet Markham (Mrs Carruthers), aged 46, Independent Liberal, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire * Edith How Martyn, aged 43, Independent Progressive, Hendon, Middlesex * Janet McEwan, aged 58, Liberal, Enfield, Middlesex * Millicent Mackenzie, 55, Labour, University of Wales *

, aged 50, Sinn Féin, Dublin, St. Patrick's (''elected'') * Eunice Murray, aged 41, Independent, Glasgow, Bridgetown *

Christabel Pankhurst Dame Christabel Harriette Pankhurst (; 22 September 1880 – 13 February 1958) was a British suffragette born in Manchester, England. A co-founder of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), she directed Suffragette bombing and arson ca ...

, aged 38, Women's Party, Smethwick * Emily Phipps, aged 53, Independent Progressive, Chelsea *

Ray Strachey Ray Strachey (born Rachel Pearsall Conn Costelloe; 4 June 188716 July 1940) was a British feminist politician, artist and writer. Early life Her father was Irish barrister Benjamin "Frank" Conn Costelloe, and her mother was art historian Mary ...

, aged 31, Independent, Brentford and Isleworth, MiddlesexHallam, David J. A., ibid, pp 73–90

Results

Seats by party

, colspan=12 bgcolor=#E0E0E0 align="center", Coalition Government , - , colspan=1 bgcolor=#efefef align="left", , colspan=1 bgcolor=#efefef align="left", Coalition Government (total) , colspan=1 bgcolor=#efefef align="right",

, colspan=1 bgcolor=#efefef align="right", 614 , colspan=1 bgcolor=#efefef align="right", 521 , colspan=1 bgcolor=#efefef align="right", , colspan=1 bgcolor=#efefef align="right", , colspan=1 bgcolor=#efefef align="right", +249 , colspan=1 bgcolor=#efefef align="right", 73.6 , colspan=1 bgcolor=#efefef align="right", 53.0 , colspan=1 bgcolor=#efefef align="right", 5,529,441 , colspan=1 bgcolor=#efefef align="right", +6.4 , - , colspan=12 bgcolor=#E0E0E0 align="center", Non-Coalition parties

Votes summary

Seats summary

Maps

File:Irish UK election 1918.png, Results in Ireland. The Sinn Féin MPs did not take their seats in the House of Commons, and instead formed the

(). File:Greater-London-1918-election.svg, Results in London File:United Kingdom general election 1918 in Scotland.svg, Results in Scotland

Transfers of seats

* All comparisons are with the December 1910 election. **In some cases the change is due to the MP defecting to the gaining party. Such circumstances are marked with a *. **In other circumstances the change is due to the seat having been won by the gaining party in a by-election in the intervening years, and then retained in 1918. Such circumstances are marked with a †.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Adelman, Paul. ''The Decline of the Liberal Party 1910–1931'' (2014). * *
Hallam, David J.A., Taking on the Men: the first women parliamentary candidates 1918
Studley 2018 * Hilson, Mary. "Women voters and the rhetoric of patriotism in the British general election of 1918" ''Women's History Review'' 10.2 (2001): 325–347. * * * McGill, Barry. "Lloyd George's Timing of the 1918 Election." ''Journal of British Studies'' 14.1 (1974): 109–124. * * * (Covers the campaign as well as a statistical analysis of the vote) *

External links

Manifestos

1918 Conservative manifesto1918 Labour manifesto1918 Liberal manifesto1918 Sinn Féin manifesto
{{Bonar Law

1918 The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...

General election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

United Kingdom general election United Kingdom general elections (elections for the House of Commons) have occurred in the United Kingdom since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliame ...

Bonar Law David Lloyd George Éamon de Valera H. H. Asquith