1873, Aug. 6.—Mr. John Jaffray, one of the proprietors of the Daily Post, contested East Staffordshire against Mr. Allsopp, but he only obtained 2,893 votes, as against Mr. Allsopp's 3,630.
1873, Oct. 18.—Soon after recovery of health Mr. Bright returned to his seat, and being appointed to the office of the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, was re-elected in due course.
1874, Jan. 30.—No opposition was made to the re-election of Messrs. Bright, Dixon, and Muntz.
1876, June 27.—Mr. Joseph Chamberlain was elected without opposition on the resignation of Mr. Dixon.
1880, March 31.—Though free from all the rioting and possible bloodshed that would have attended such an occasion a hundred years ago, the election of 1880 was the most exciting and hardest-fought battle between the two great political parties of the town yet recorded in local history. The candidates were Messrs. John Bright, Joseph Chamberlain and Philip Henry Muntz, the previous members and nominees of the Liberal Association, and Major Burnaby and the Hon. A.C.G. Calthorpe, Conservatives. There were 139 polling stations, and no less than 47,776 out of the 63,398 persons whose names were on the register, recorded their votes under the protection of the Ballot Act of 1870, now first brought into use at a Parliamentary election. The usual courtesies (!) appertaining to political contests were indulged in to considerable extent, and personalities of all sorts much too freely bandied about, but the election altogether passed off in the most creditable manner. The returns of the polling stood thus—
| Philip Henry Muntz | 22,803 | }Returned} |
| John Bright | 21,986 | |
| Joseph Chamberlain | 19,476 | |
| Major Burnaby | 15,716 | |
| Hon. A.C.G. Calthorpe | 14,270 |
An analysis of the polling issued by the Mayor about a week after the election showed that 16,098 voters supported the Conservative candidates and 33,302 the Liberals. Deducting the 2,004 who "split" their votes between the parties, and 380 whose papers were either rejected or not counted as being doubtful, the total gives 47,396 as the actual number whose votes decided the election. As a curiosity and a puzzle for future politicians, the Mayor's analysis is worth preserving, as here re-analysed:—
| PLUMPERS. | ||
| Calthorpe only | 42 | |
| Burnaby only | 164 | 206 |
| Chamberlain only | 50 | |
| Muntz only | 199 | |
| Bright only | 86 | 335 |
| SPLIT VOTES. | ||
| Calthorpe and Muntz | 153 | |
| Calthorpe and Chamberlain | 83 | |
| Burnaby and Muntz | 1,239 | |
| Burnaby and Chamberlain | 182 | |
| Bright and Calthorpe | 104 | |
| Bright and Burnaby | 243 | 2,004 |
| CON. PARTY VOTES. | ||
| Burnaby and Calthorpe | 13,888 | 13,888 |
| LIBERAL PARTY VOTES. | ||
| Chamberlain and Muntz | 9,410 | |
| Bright and Muntz | 11,802 | |
| Bright and Chamberlain | 9,751 | 30,963 |
| Voting papers rejected and doubtful | 380 | |
| Total number of voters polled | 47,776 |
Mr. Bright having been again appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Mr. Chamberlain chosen as President of the Board of Trade, they were re-elected, without opposition, early in May following the election. Three other local Liberal gentlemen were returned to Parliament during this general election, viz.:—Mr. Jesse Collings for Ipswich (receiving 3,074 votes), Mr. H. Wiggin for East Staffordshire (4,617 votes), and Mr. J.S. Wright for Nottingham (8,085 votes). The last-named, however, did not live to take his seat, dying very suddenly while attending a committee-meeting at the Council House, Birmingham, on the 15th April.—See "[Statues]," &c According to the published returns of January, 1884, Birmingham was then the largest borough constituency in England, the number of electors on the register then in force being 63,221: Liverpool coming next with 61,336; and Lambeth third, with 55,588; but Glasgow was the largest in the United Kingdom, with 68,025. The largest county constituency in England and Wales was Middlesex, with 41,299 electors; the next being South-West Lancashire, with 30,624; the third, South-East Lancashire, with 28,728; and the fourth, the southern division of the West Riding, with 27,625. The total electorate for England and Wales, was 2,660,444; Scotland, 331,264; and Ireland, 230,156.
The following statistics have been taken from the returns named, showing in respect of each constituency in this neighbourhood, the area of each borough, city, or county division, the population, the number of inhabited houses, the number of voters and their qualifications, and the Members sent to Parliament prior to the passing of the Franchise and Redistribution Bills of 1885, and are worth preserving for future local reference:—