1861 Newfoundland general election

The 1861 Newfoundland general election was held on May 2, 1861 to elect the members of the 8th General Assembly of Newfoundland in the Newfoundland Colony. It was triggered following the forced resignation of Premier John Kent by Governor Alexander Bannerman after Kent accused Bannerman of colluding with the Conservative Party. Bannerman had appointed Conservative leader Hugh Hoyles as the new Premier, but Kent quickly passed a motion of non-confidence against Hoyles' administration, forcing Bannerman to call an election.

The election was fraught with sectarian tensions. Most districts went uncontested for fear of violence. Riots prevented an election from occuring in the district of Harbour Grace. A violent confrontation broke out in Salmon Cove within the Harbour Main district, killing one man and injuring nine others, and the returns for that district were subsequently invalidated by the House of Assembly. A political deadlock ensued, and no party controlled the legislature until a by-election held in Harbour Grace on November 1861 finally gave Hoyles' Conservatives a majority government. Ambrose Shea subsequently became the leader of the Liberal Party.