| Description | This collection consists of election addresses from 1889 to date covering the London County Council elections, By-Elections, General Elections, European Parliament Elections, Scottish Parliament Elections and Welsh Assembly Elections. Candidates are invited to send copies of their addresses, but are not obliged to do so. Thus our collection of election addresses is composed only of those which we receive from candidates. We do not have the resources to collect addresses which are not sent to us at the time of the election. We are also unable to systematically collect by-election addresses. Despite this, it is a considerable resource which is found to be very useful.
There are the following number of boxes of Election Addresses for each General Election from 1892-2010:
1892: 2 volumes (restored), mainly newspaper cuttings
1895: 2 volumes (poor condition, including contemporary photographic copy)
1900: 2 volumes (restored)
1906: 2 volumes (1 restored)
1910, February: 2 volumes (not restored)
1910, December: 2 volumes (not restored)
DM668/3/4: 1918: 1 volume (restored) See separate detailed list of candidates in the volume, England only, 1 1919 by-election
1922: 1 volume (not restored)
1923: 2 large volumes (not restored)
1924: 2 large volumes (not restored)
1929: 3 large volumes (not restored)
1931: 1 archive box (containing 1 large volume not restored)
1935: 2 archive boxes
1945: 2 archive boxes
1950: 2 archive boxes
1951: 5 archive boxes (some rehousing has taken place)
1955: 3 archive boxes
1959: 3 archive boxes
1964: 4 archive boxes
1966: 4 archive boxes
1970: 4 archive boxes (scan pdfs of most files are available, ask staff for more details, August 2020)
1974, February: 4 archive boxes
1974, October: 4 archive boxes
1979: 5 archive boxes
[Please note that by 1979, the National Liberal Club Collection had been purchased by the University of Bristol, and collecting is now done by the University of Bristol]
1983: 5 archive boxes
1987: 5 archive boxes
1992: 12.5 archive boxes
1997: 9.5 archive boxes
2001: 13 archive boxes, of which 10 are election addresses and 3 are newspapers, manifestos, and supporting material
2005: 14 archive boxes, of which 10 are election addresses and 4 are newspapers, manifestos, and supporting material
2010: 20 archive boxes, of which 10 are election addresses and 10 are newspapers, manifestos, and supporting material [These have the reference DM2240, and are catalogued separately]
2015: 23 archive boxes [These have the reference DM2676, and are catalogued separately]
2017: 16 archive boxes and 1 oversize packet [These have the reference DM2734, and are catalogued separately]
2019: 23 archive boxes [These have the reference DM2952, and are catalogued separately]
Archive boxes are arranged alphabetically by constituency, with all the candidates from one constituency in one envelope.
Manifestos, press coverage, and other materials may be arranged separately. Please ask for more details.
See also
DM2078: European Parliament Elections, 1979-2014
1979: 1 box
1984: 1 box
1989: 1 box
1994: 1 box
1999: 2 boxes
2004: 4 boxes
and additional elections to 2014
See DM2869 for the 2019 European Election Archive
See also
DM1857:
Scottish Assembly Elections, 1999, 2 boxes (not collected after this election)
Welsh Assembly Elections, 1999, 2 boxes (not collected after this election)
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There is also material relating the Irish Dail elections
88 archive boxes of General Election addresses, 1935-present (2010), 88 archive boxes (plus additional)
General Election addresses from 1892-1931, 32 large bound volumes which are fragile
Other election addresses, including London County Council elections, 1889-1913, By-Elections, 1905-1920 (with sporadic collection post-1920),, Scottish Parliament Elections, 1999, and Welsh Assembly Elections, 1999, 18 archive boxes
Manifestos, from 1900-present, detailing most political parties, as well as European manifestos, 6 archive boxes
Lists of candidates, 1906-1992, including European Parliament candidates.
The papers were collected until 1979 by the National Liberal Club, after which point they were collected directly by University of Bristol Special Collections.
Accruals sought from all candidates during each General Election and European Election. We only collected addresses of the first Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament held in 1999
Throughout Special Collections there are a number of associated election addresses for different dates and localities:
DM1701: Souvenir containing biographical details and pictures of Welsh MPs, 1906
DM1712: 1945 General election newspaper coverage
DM1715: 1992 General election newspaper coverage
DM 1735: Election material relating to the Referendum Party, 1997
DM1788: Election addresses of George H. Young, 1909-1934, Croydon and Exeter, election papers for Stroud, 1832-1874, and related material concerning the Stanton family.
DM1795: 1997 General election newspaper coverage
DM1786: Election material concerning John Stuart Mill's candidacy for Westminster, 1865-1868
DM1836: County Durham election, 1820: Broad sheets and election material
DM1857: Election material regarding Scottish and Welsh Parliamentary elections. Also, manifestos, newspapers and election addresses concerning the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly elections, 1999
DM1937: Election posters for Marlborough, Wiltshire, 1832-1841
DM1972: Bristol elections, 2 scrapbooks, 1878, 1880, 1885-1906
Typescript catalogues are available in Special Collections. Materials are only catalogued online as resources allow. See also separate catalogues for later General Elections.
See also the following microfilm collection:
British political party general election addresses: from the National Liberal Club Collection, Bristol University, Part 1: General Election Addresses 1892-1922, Harvester Microform, 1984, 12 reels, Serial Store 1406a
British political party general election addresses: from the National Liberal Club Collection, Bristol University, Part 2: General Election Addresses 1923-1931, Harvester Microform, 1985, 16 reels, numbered 13-28, Serial Store 1406b
Access Points (Library of Congress Subject Headings): Labour Party; Conservative Party; Liberal Party;
Liberal Democrats; Scottish National Party; Ulster Unionist Party; Independent Labour Party; Communist Party of Great Britain; British National Party; Plaid Cymru; Workers' Revolutionary Party of Great Britain; Social Democratic and Labour Party (Northern Ireland); Sinn Fein; Monster Raving Loony Party of Great Britain; Natural Law Party of Great Britain; Social Democratic Party; UKIP |