The East Dorset election ended in a victory for the
Unionists, but a victory by a reduced majority (namely, 347). Mr. Sturt, the Conservative candidate, polled 4,421 votes, against 4,074 given to Mr. Glyn, the Gladstonian,—majority, 347. Mr. Sturt polled 104 votes more than Mr. Bond, the Unionist candidate of 1886 polled in that year, and only 122 short of Mr. Glyn's poll in 1885, when the Liberal Party was still undivided, and carried in Mr. Glyn by a majority of 697. In 1886 the Conservative majority was 655, so that in 1891 that majority has dwindled to nearly half the majority of 1886. But though the Unionist poll has increased since 1886, the Gladstonian poll has increased more largely. The victory was barely won, but it was won, and this we owe to the sturdy labour which the last Unionist Member underwent to keep the Unionist organisation on an effective footing.
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