The total number of candidates standing at general elections in Britain has obviously gone up as the number of constituencies have expanded – the result of an expanding population. The increasing number of parties – away from the traditional Liberal and Conservative parties of the Ninteenth Century – also accounts for the growing number of candidates.

 

1832: 1,037

 

1835: 945

 

1837: 994

 

1841: 916

 

1847: 879

 

1852: 953

 

1857: 878

 

1859: 860

 

1865: 922

 

1868: 1,039

 

1874: 1,080

 

1880: 1,103

 

1885: 1,338

 

1886: 1,115

 

1892: 1,303

 

1895: 1,180

 

1900: 1,102

 

1906: 1,273

 

1910: 1,315

 

1910*: 1,191

 

1918: 1,623

 

1922: 1,441

 

1923: 1,446

 

1924: 1,428

 

1929: 1,730

 

1931: 1,292

 

1935: 1,348

 

1945: 1,683

 

1950: 1,868

 

1951: 1,376

 

1955: 1,409

 

1959: 1,536

 

1964: 1,757

 

1966: 1,707

 

1970: 1,837

 

1974: 2,135

 

1974**: 2,252

 

1979: 2,576

 

* = December

 

** = October