Polling day of General Election in Britain and Ireland (except for University constituencies).
Introduction from Chronology
In Britain, the coalition of the
‘Coupon’ Liberals (i.e. Liberal Imperialists) and Conservatives wins 478 out of
the 707 seats (made up of 335 Conservative and 133 Coalition Liberal
seats). In addition, there was 23
non-Coalition Conservatives.
In Ireland, Sinn Féin wins 73 out of
105 seats - the remaining seats are 23 Northern Unionists; 6 Irish Party and 3
Southern Unionists. Sinn Féin received 48% of votes cast - however there
were 26 unopposed constituencies. (Also,
it received 68% of vote outside the six counties of north-east Ulster which
were to become Northern Ireland.)
More Detail
Electorate in Ireland had gone from
700,000 in 1910 to over 1.9m in 1919 with the granting of the vote to nearly
all men over 21 and the granting the vote, with qualifications, to women over
30.
Sinn Féin’s manifesto committed it to
making use “any and every means available to render impotent the power of
England to hold Ireland in subjection by military force or otherwise”. This phrase got through the censors. The
manifesto also stated that Sinn Féin stands by the 1916 proclamation in
asserting the inalienable right of the Irish nation to sovereign independence.