Protest, agitation and parliamentary reform, c1780–1928

3.1 Reform of parliament, c1780–1928

Key questions
• How effective were pressures for change to the franchise in the years c1780–1928?
• How significant were changes in the distribution of seats in the years c1780–1918?

Key termS Introduction

Constitution In 1780, in common with all European countries, Britain did not possess a written constitution.
A set of laws and agreed Instead, the country’s system of government and its electoral system were both governed by a
principles that set out
haphazard collection of laws and customs that had grown up since the 15th century and the early
rules on how a country is
governed. Although Britain years of the reign of Henry VI. It is perhaps too generous to refer to a ‘system’, because neither
does not have a single written the right to vote nor the national distribution of seats were organised in any rational way. Over the
constitution, it does have a set next 150 years, a number of significant reforms were carried out, which were intended to make the
of constitutional rules that are electoral system reflect the changing distribution of the population and the new economic forces
U rP

based largely on custom and which had grown up through the industrialisation of the country. By 1928, despite the retention of
ne l

practice.
Fo

a monarchy and an unelected House of Lords, Britain had been transformed into a parliamentary
nd an

Vested interests democracy based on universal suffrage.

In politics, individuals or groups
or nin

of people who benefit from For half a century from 1780, no changes were made to the electoral system. In part, this was due
to the powerful opposition mounted by vested interests in the House of Commons and the House
se g

existing political arrangements,

usually at the expense of of Lords: even the great reforming prime minster Pitt the Younger was unable to pass a mild reform
d Pu

others. in 1785. Far more important, however, was the impact on British politics and society of the French
Pr rp

Revolution. What had begun as a modest programme of constitutional reforms in 1789, had, by
1793, degenerated into the execution of the king and queen, a reign of terror throughout France,
oo os

and war against the leading powers of Europe. Fearing that Britain might become infected with a
fs es

revolutionary spirit, Pitt and his successors turned against reform for a generation.
Ideas for parliamentary reform might have been held back for a time, but a number of long-term
factors were at work which meant that sooner or later change would have to be addressed. Since the
mid-18th century, the industrialisation of the Midlands and northern England had led to the rapid
growth of towns and cities such as Liverpool, Manchester, Oldham and Stockport.
O
nl
y

1832 – First
1828–30 – Wellington’s 1830 – Earl Grey Reform Act
1789 – Outbreak 1795 – Seditious government becomes becomes law
of the French Meetings Act leads to prime minister
Revolution a fall in radical activity

1780 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840

1792 – Founding of the 1812–27 – Lord 1831 – Russell

London Corresponding Liverpool’s government 1829 – Catholic introduces the
Society Relief Act first reform bill
 Reform of parliament, c1780–1928 3.1

At the same time, new social classes were growing in number – middle-class manufacturers and
traders, along with a large working class that manned the factories. By the 1820s, many leading
politicians recognised that change was necessary and would have to be managed carefully.
In 1832, after two years of parliamentary debate, accompanied by extra-parliamentary protests, the
First Reform Act passed into law. Contemporaries dubbed it the ‘Great Reform Act’, but many were
key term
disappointed by its provisions, which excluded the bulk of working-class men from the franchise.
Nonetheless, the Act set a valuable precedent for further change. In 1867, the Conservative Party’s Franchise
leading minister in the House of Commons, Disraeli, managed the passing of the Second Reform The right to vote, also known as
Act, which to the surprise of many, enfranchised large numbers of the urban working classes. The the suffrage.
Liberal leader, Gladstone, continued this process in 1884 with a third Act, which extended the vote to
many agricultural labourers in the counties.
Despite all these changes, there were still some 40 percent of adult males who had not received the
vote. At that time, the franchise was not given to men unconditionally, but only to those who had
a stake in the country through the ownership or tenancy of property. The First World War would
undermine this principle, while at the same time bringing about a dramatic change in the status of
women.
By 1916, all political parties agreed that it was indefensible that young men could be sent to fight
and to die in the war, but did not have the right to vote. This injustice was remedied with the Reform
Act 1918, which finally ended the system of property qualifications and established universal
U rP

male suffrage. The Act also took the first tentative steps in the direction of female suffrage by
ne l

enfranchising women over the age of 30. General elections over the next decade showed that there
Fo

had been no dramatic changes to the voting system, and the 1928 Act finally conceded universal
nd an

suffrage for all men and women aged 21 or over.

or nin

While the change over time from a small number of male voters in 1780 to universal suffrage by 1928
se g

was an important development in parliamentary reform, the simultaneous changes in the distribution
of parliamentary seats have sometimes been overlooked. A major alteration to the distribution
d Pu

of seats, which is still in operation today, came with the Redistribution Act 1885. Two-member
Pr rp

constituencies had been established as early as 1430, but in 1885 most of these were swept away
oo os

with the creation of single-member seats, which remain recognisable today. This change proved to
be very beneficial to the Conservative Party through the creation of suburban seats around the large
fs es

cities, which insulated these areas from both the Liberal and, later, the Labour parties in the cities.
O
nl
y

1866 – Government’s reform bill defeated

Hyde Park riots 1884 – Third Reform 1916 – Speaker’s
Derby takes office at the head of a 1883 – Corrupt Act becomes law Conference considers 1928 – Fifth
minority Conservative government Practices Act parliamentary reform Reform Act
becomes law

1860 1870 1880 1890 1910 1920 1930

1867 – Second 1872 – 1880 – Gladstone 1918 – Fourth

1865 – Death Reform Act Ballot Act becomes prime 1885 – Redistribution Reform Act
of Palmerston becomes law minister again Act becomes law
3.1 Protest, agitation and parliamentary reform, c1780–1928

How effective were pressures for change to

the franchise in the years c1780–1928?
The franchise c1780 and its significance for representation
of the people
The right to vote in elections held in Britain today belongs to all men and women aged 18 and over
whose names are included on the electoral register, which is drawn up each year. An exception to this
rule was made in 2014, when young people in Scotland aged 16 and 17 were allowed to vote in the
referendum on independence. In 1780, however, only adult males could vote. The county franchise
was uniform across the country, but in the boroughs the right to vote varied from one constituency to
another.

The county franchise

key terms In the English and Welsh counties, the right to vote had been established during the reign of
Henry VI in 1430, giving the vote to all freeholders of property worth 40 shillings (£2) a year. This
Freeholder
simple qualification had established a uniform county franchise that remained unchanged for 400
A male who owned land or
property outright.
years. Over time, however, inflation and the rising price of land had increased the number of men
qualified for the franchise.
Borough
A town or small city that
U rP

had once been given special The borough franchise

ne l

privileges by royal charter. Historian Eric Evans described pre-reform elections as a ‘haphazard business’, and this description
Fo

certainly applied to voting rights in the boroughs. Unlike the county franchise, the right to vote in the
nd an

Constituency
One of the areas into which English boroughs was not uniform, with very wide variations from one seat to another.
or nin

the country was divided for At one extreme were open boroughs, where the vote was exercised by many men who met various
se g

election purposes. These varied

qualifications, such as the direct payment of the local poor rates. Preston, in Lancashire, was one
considerably in geographical
d Pu

size and population. of the most open boroughs in the country. Here, the vote was given to all men, whether resident or
not, who were in the constituency at the time of the election. The electorate in open boroughs ran
Pr rp

Self-perpetuating clique
into thousands. Around 20 boroughs had large electorates of over 1,000 men, notably Westminster,
oo os

A small group of individuals who

had the power to maintain their
with its 11,000 voters. These boroughs were noted for their sturdy independence, and were not very
susceptible to influence.
fs es

position indefinitely.
Scot and lot boroughs gave the vote to males who paid their local tax, or scot; while in potwalloper
boroughs the vote could be exercised by those who possessed a hearth where they could boil, or
wallop, their pots. These boroughs also had electorates of at least several hundred men.
Seats with large numbers of voters were the exception rather than the rule. Many boroughs had very
O

small electorates, rarely exceeding 100 voters.

nl

In burgage boroughs, the right to vote belonged to men who owned various properties, and
y

ownership of these votes was carefully protected. Sometimes the inhabitants of a town would
challenge the burgage owners, but to no avail.
Corporation boroughs were towns where the only voters were members of the town council. These
councils were self-perpetuating cliques who filled vacant seats on the council by nomination rather
than election. Most corporation boroughs were, by modern-day standards, extremely corrupt, and
the electors of several towns were quite content to sell their votes to the highest bidder. The Suffolk
town of Sudbury was notoriously corrupt in this respect: in the 1761 election, the town advertised its
two seats for sale to the highest bidder. Sudbury was so corrupt that it was disfranchised in 1844.
Treasury boroughs were parliamentary seats that came under the control of government
departments, which were the chief employers in a town. Many ports along the south coast of
England, such as Portsmouth and Plymouth, were under the influence of the Admiralty, and returned
MPs who would give unswerving support to the government of the day.
Finally, many constituencies were described as pocket or rotten boroughs. Most of the property in a
pocket borough was owned by one person, who therefore was able to nominate his chosen candidates
for election to parliament. Rotten boroughs had once been areas of economic activity, but over time
had become depopulated, but still retained their parliamentary representation. In the late Middle Ages,
Dunwich in Suffolk had been a well-known international port with substantial trade to and from Europe.

12
 Reform of parliament, c1780–1928 3.1

Frequent heavy storms and coastal erosion meant that the port had long ago been claimed by the
sea, but the tiny village which remained still retained two MPs. Old Sarum in Hampshire had been a
thriving community in the Middle Ages, but its inhabitants moved to what is now Salisbury. By 1780,
Old Sarum was little more than a heap of mossy stones frequently visited by people curious to see
one of the most corrupted boroughs in the country, and perhaps to glimpse one of its seven electors.

The size of the electorate

It is impossible to assess with any accuracy the size of the electorate in 1780 because the registration
of electors was not established until the Reform Act 1832. However, a survey carried out in 1780
estimated that in England and Wales there were 214,000 electors out of a population of eight million.
As late as 1831 in Scotland, where the right to vote was much more restricted, just 4,500 men in a
population of 2.6 million qualified for the vote.

Elections and ‘interests’

To a modern observer, the old representative system appears hopelessly corrupt and in need of
long-overdue and radical reform, but this was not how it appeared to contemporaries. Indeed, until
the 1790s, there was no significant pressure for parliamentary reform from any section of society.
Eighteenth-century opinion was broadly content with an electoral system that was not concerned
with a system based on population, but rather was able to represent various national ‘interests’, such
as agriculture, trade and banking.
U rP

General elections today witness contests in virtually every parliamentary seat between a number of
ne l
Fo

political parties with different ideologies and programmes. This was not the case in the 18th century.
nd an

In the election of 1784, for example, there were only 72 contests, and in several constituencies there
were no contested elections at all throughout the 18th century. Elections could be very expensive
or nin

affairs, as rival candidates sought to persuade electors to vote in their favour, often accompanied by
se g

substantial bribes. ‘Treating’, which included the provision of large quantities of food and beer to
voters and non-voters alike, was an accepted practice.
d Pu
Pr rp

Source

1 The Election, Chairing the Member, 1755. This painting, by the famous painter
oo os

and engraver William Hogarth, illustrates the boisterous involvement of many

different classes in elections in the middle of the 18th century. The painting shows
fs es

a victorious candidate for the Oxfordshire constituency being carried through the
streets in a traditional, though chaotic, celebration of his election.
O
nl
y

13
3.1 Protest, agitation and parliamentary reform, c1780–1928

Although the electorate was small in 1780, elections were often ACTIVITY
very colourful affairs, with thousands of people turning up to KNOWLEDGE CHECK
watch the progress of the poll. The county of Hertfordshire Old Corruption
experienced many contested elections in the 18th century, and Many contemporaries referred to the electoral system in the late
the extent of popular involvement in the election is shown in 18th century as ‘old corruption’. They, and several later historians,
Source 2. condemned the representative system as hopelessly out of date
and in need of drastic reform.
Source 1 Write down four points that agree with this viewpoint, and four

2 Ipswich Journal, 1 May 1784, describing local involvement

and campaigning in a Hertfordshire election.
points that challenge it.
2 What overall conclusion can you draw?
Thursday the election for Hertfordshire came on at the county
town. Mr Plumer rode in from Ware, at the head of a most numerous
cavalcade of freeholders, attended with a band of music. Lord
Grimston’s party then appeared, and made a respectable show, Pressures for change and reasons for
though their numbers were nothing like equal to Mr. Plumer’s. His
Lordship had his band of music likewise. Mr. Plumer’s flags were
resistance
simply decorated with the words ‘Plumer and independence’, while The impact of the French Revolution
those of Lord Grimston held out ‘Grimston, and the rights of the King Before 1830, parties and governments were not deeply concerned
and of the people’. After the two parties had occupied the ground with trying to change the electoral system. In 1785, the prime
for a full hour, Mr Halsey rode in at the head of his friends, and a very minister, William Pitt, introduced a modest proposal to buy out
creditable figure they made. His flags bore the words ‘Halsey and 36 small boroughs and transfer their seats to the counties and to
Plumer, independence and no aristocracy’. At length all the three
U rP

parties adjourned to the town-hall, and the poll began. At the close
London, but he was defeated on the issue and did not return to
ne l

reform thereafter.
Fo

the numbers stood as follows: For Mr. Plumer, 1900. Lord Grimston,
nd an

1297, Mr. Halsey, 1073. It was the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, and its
impact on British politics and society, that sparked a serious
or nin

Some historians, notably Frank O’Gorman, have analysed the interest in reform and widespread demands for change. The
se g

unreformed electoral system, and have concluded that in many various movements for reform, however, were divided on aims
and methods. At one extreme were several radical movements
d Pu

ways it actually worked quite well. O’Gorman argued that an

important feature of the system was that it was concerned, demanding extensive reform. The Society for Constitutional
Pr rp

not with numerical, but with virtual representation. MPs sat Information, which championed full universal suffrage, had been
oo os

at Westminster, not as representatives of the voters who had founded in 1780 by Major Cartwright, but made little headway in
put them there, but in order to champion those interests that its early years. The London Corresponding Society, founded in
fs es

made up the economic and political life of the nation. This 1792, promoted the rights of the skilled working class, and gained
explains why there were so many seats in the south of England, wide support among northern towns and cities.
representing the great agricultural interests of the day, along with Other groups supported ideas that were much less radical.
the government’s control of the royal dockyard towns such as Alarmed by the spread of radical and democratic ideas, a number
Plymouth and Portsmouth on the south coast. Men purchased of leading Whig politicians formed the Friends of the People in
O

boroughs, not to represent themselves, but rather to champion 1792. They hoped to control the pace of change by promoting
nl

a powerful interest such as trade, shipping, banks or brewing. In modest amendments to the electoral system: their stated objective
y

1820, the Alexander brothers purchased Old Sarum in order to was simply to obtain ‘a more equal representation of the people in
further their interests in the East India Company and in merchant Westminster’. Their support of reform in the House of Commons
banking in Calcutta. Even the slaves of the West Indies sugar in 1793 came at an unfortunate time for the Whigs. The French
plantations had an indirect voice through the election of anti- king, Louis XVI, had been executed, Britain was now at war with
slavery MPs such as William Wilberforce. France, and Pitt’s government was more concerned with the
As long as the electoral system represented the overall interests successful prosecution of the war than with considering domestic
of the nation, it continued to enjoy broad support. However, from reform. Whig motions for reform were heavily defeated, and the
the second half of the 18th century new forces were coming to Friends of the People disbanded. Thereafter, the government
bear on industry and the economy. The industrialisation of parts moved rapidly to suppress reform activity. Habeas corpus was
of the Midlands, Lancashire and the north-east of the country led suspended in 1794, and the Seditious Meetings Act 1795
to a gradual change in the balance of the economy, away from the led to a significant decline in the influence and activities of
agricultural south and east and towards the growing and densely reform groups. Leading members of the London Corresponding
populated towns further north. Industrialisation also changed
the social structure of the country, with the emergence of a new key term
middle class of factory owners, managers and bankers, and of
an even larger urban working class. Industrial interests were not Habeas corpus
strongly represented in the parliaments of the late 18th century, A writ that can be issued by any court, requiring prison officials to
provide legal proof that they have the power to detain a prisoner. If
and pressure began to grow for these new forces to be represented
this proof is not provided, the prisoner will be released.
within parliament.
14
 Reform of parliament, c1780–1928 3.1

Society were charged with sedition, and the society, along with and conservatives. This period of relative tranquillity was
its provincial groups, was outlawed under the Corresponding shattered following Liverpool’s death in 1827, when, after the brief
Societies Act 1799. administrations of Canning and Goderich, the Duke of Wellington
became prime minister in 1828. Over the next few years, the
unity of the Tory Party would be shattered, and its long political
key term
supremacy, dating back to Pitt’s administration formed in 1783,
Sedition would come to an end. The end of Tory dominance came, not so
Open activities, whether through speeches, demonstrations or much through the growing confidence of their political opponents,
organisations, which are deliberately intended to provoke violence or but through internal divisions, especially over religious issues.
rebellion against the established government of a country.

extend your knowledge

Post-war unrest, 1815–30 Lord Liverpool (1770–1828)

The work and influence of the radical reformers in the 1790s, and Liverpool was prime minister during the period 1812–27, and was
in the years 1815–20, are covered in detail in Chapter 3 (pages the longest-serving prime minister of the 19th century. He steered
the country through many domestic and foreign crises, but was
64–83). The French wars ended in 1815, but Britain did not enjoy
associated in the public mind with the repressive policies of 1815–20.
a post-war period of domestic peace. Growing unemployment, During the 1820s, Liverpool was able to support a number of liberal
economic distress and the impact of industrialisation produced measures. He was a talented politician, and managed to hold his
a toxic mixture of grievances. Matters were made worse by the government together despite extra-parliamentary pressure for
Corn Law 1815. The law was aimed at protecting the economic change. He was also able to keep a number of talented ministers in
interests of the landed class through the imposition of a duty on the government, even though a number of them, such as Peel, Home
U rP

imported corn. Working people feared that the price of bread Secretary between 1822 and 1827, and Canning, foreign secretary
ne l

during the same time, held widely different political views.

Fo

would rise as a result, while manufacturers feared that their

nd an

workers would demand higher wages to protect themselves and

their families. There was widespread opposition to the Corn Law, Many Tory backbenchers were strong supporters of the Anglican
or nin

which was intensified thanks to a bad harvest in 1816. A number Church and of its dominant role in national life, and were opposed
se g

of extra-parliamentary protests were organised throughout the to measures which might weaken its supremacy. In 1828, the
country under the general watchword of ‘reform’. In the short Whig leader, Lord John Russell, challenged the Anglican Church
d Pu

term, popular protests failed in the face of determined opposition with his proposal to repeal the Test and Corporation Acts.
Pr rp

by the government and local authorities, who were not afraid to These Acts dated back to the reign of Charles II and prevented
Protestant dissenters such as Baptists and Congregationalists
oo os

use military force against radical agitation. A reform meeting, held

at Spa Fields in London in 1816, developed into a riot which was from holding government offices. By the 1820s, the Acts were not
fs es

suppressed by the city authorities with military support; and in rigorously enforced, and were largely symbolic. At first, Wellington
1819, volunteer yeomanry were responsible for the deaths of 11 opposed repeal, but then gave his reluctant support, despite some
people in the famous ‘Peterloo Massacre’ (see Chapter 3, pages opposition from his own backbenchers.
68–70). In the long term, however, the events of the post-war A further measure of religious reform, the Catholic Relief Act
years led to a revival of interest in parliamentary reform, which 1829, had far more serious implications for the unity of the Tory
O

became more organised and effective in the late 1820s. Party. In 1828, Vesey Fitzgerald was appointed to the Board
nl

of Trade, and had to seek re-election in his Irish constituency

y

extend your knowledge of County Clare. It was assumed that his election would be a
formality. However, the leader of the Catholic Association in
The Corn Laws Ireland, Daniel O’Connell, decided to challenge existing anti-
The Corn Laws were introduced at the end of the Napoleonic Wars Catholic laws by standing against Fitzgerald. O’Connell defeated
to counter the threat of cheap foreign imports flooding the British Fitzgerald easily, but was unable to take his seat because he would
market. The laws, introduced by Liverpool’s government, imposed
not swear the oath of allegiance to the Crown. Wellington was
duties on imports in order to protect farmers’ profits. The Corn Laws
were modified in 1828 and abolished altogether in 1846. They were
a long-standing opponent of Catholic relief, but he recognised
regarded by middle-class industrialists and by the working class that to deny O’Connell his seat could lead to widespread and
as an example of parliament protecting the interests of the large destabilising unrest throughout Ireland. His views were confirmed
landowners. by his colleague Sir Robert Peel (Source 3).

By 1820, the government had neutralised most radical activity key term
and the pressure for political reform had subsided. In part, this Catholic Association
was due to a general revival in the economy and the decline Founded in 1823 by the Irish politician Daniel O’Connell, with the
of distress, which seemed to confirm the belief of the radical single aim of ending all political and religious disabilities for Catholics,
journalist William Cobbett: ‘I defy you to agitate any fellow with in Ireland and throughout Britain. The association charged a
a full stomach’. Another reason for the political calm in the years membership fee of just one penny a month. It therefore attracted
after Peterloo was the expert leadership of the prime minister, a huge membership throughout Ireland, and was the first political
organisation which mobilised mass support for its cause.
Lord Liverpool, who held together a government of reformers
15
3.1 Protest, agitation and parliamentary reform, c1780–1928

Source
Representation of the People Act 1832
3 Sir Robert Peel, in a memorandum to the Duke of
Wellington in 1829 on the large military presence in Ireland. The fall of Wellington’s government, 1830
In June 1830, George IV died. The general election that followed
In the course of the last six months, England, being at peace with saw Wellington returned to office, but his standing within the Tory
the whole world, has had five-sixths of the infantry force of the Party was damaged by the return of several MPs who supported
United Kingdom occupied in maintaining the peace and in police
parliamentary reform. Wellington, who had tried to resist the
duties in Ireland. I consider the state of things which requires such an
application of military force much worse than open rebellion.
religious changes of 1828–29, was not prepared to support any
reform measure, and made this clear in an unwise speech in the
The state of society in Ireland will soon become perfectly House of Lords in November (Source 4).
incompatible with trial by jury in any political cases. The Roman
Catholics have discovered their strength in respect to the elective Source
franchise. Let us beware that we do not teach them how easy it will
be to paralyse the Government and the law, unless we are prepared
to substitute some other system of criminal jurisprudence for the
4 Wellington speaking in the House of Lords, 2 November
1831. His speech was recorded in the Lords’ official record,
using the formal ‘third-party’ language of the day.
present system.
He had never read or heard of any measure up to the present
Wellington, therefore, reluctantly supported the Catholic Relief moment which could in any degree satisfy his mind that the state
of the representation could be improved, or be rendered more
Act 1829, which repealed most anti-Catholic legislation. The
satisfactory to the country at large than at the present moment.
electoral power of Irish Catholics was limited by a further Act He was fully convinced that the country possessed at the present
which raised the Irish franchise qualification from 40 shillings to moment a Legislature which answered all the good purposes of
£10. After a further by-election, O’Connell took his seat in the legislation, and this to a greater degree than any Legislature ever had
U rP

House of Commons in 1830. answered in any country whatever. He would go further and say, that
ne l

the Legislature and the system of representation possessed the full

Fo

and entire confidence of the country.

nd an

extend your knowledge

or nin

Duke of Wellington (1769–1852)

Soon afterwards, the government was defeated on a vote in the
se g

Wellington’s successful campaigns against Napoleon had established House of Commons and Wellington resigned. The Whig leader,
his position as a national hero by 1815. Yet his political career was Earl Grey, formed a government of Whigs and other reforming
d Pu

much less successful. He was prime minister during the period groups – the first Whig government since the Ministry of All the
Pr rp

1828–30, when his profound conservatism led him to oppose Talents in 1806–7. The new ministry would change the course of
any measures of parliamentary reform, and led to the fall of his
oo os

British politics dramatically.

government in 1830. He was succeeded as Tory leader in 1833 by
fs es

Peel, and did not serve in government again. His prestige and national
popularity only recovered after he retired from political life in 1846. Pressure for franchise reform in 1830
The fall of Wellington’s government in November 1830 removed
the most important barrier to political reform. When Grey
While many Tory MPs were prepared grudgingly to accept the
took office at the end of 1830, most people, inside and outside
repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, they bitterly criticised
parliament, expected that he would address the issue of franchise
Wellington for passing Catholic relief. Some of the more extreme
O

reform. Extra-parliamentary pressure had become so intense

Tories, known as the ultras, now began to give their support to
nl

that some sort of reform was almost inevitable.

parliamentary reform. They believed that MPs in a reformed
y

parliament would have to take account of widespread anti-

Catholic feeling in the country, and would not have supported key terms
Catholic relief. General election
The election of representatives to the House of Commons from
ACTIVITY constituencies throughout the UK.
KNOWLEDGE CHECK
Extra-parliamentary pressure
Forces making for parliamentary reform Agitation for change or reform that originated from outside parliament.
1 Examine the importance of each of the following factors in
promoting the cause of parliamentary reform:
There were several conditional (long-term) and contingent (short-
a) The French Revolution and its impact on British domestic
term) factors that promoted the cause of reform.
politics.
b) Post-war economic and social distress. Conditional factors
c) The government’s response to religious issues, 1828–30. •• The French revolution had a profound influence on British
political life. Reformist ideals, especially those promoting
2 In your opinion, which of these factors was the most significant in
liberty and equality, had become widespread and were strongly
driving the cause of reform?
supported by many sections of society, particularly those who
were excluded from the franchise.

16
 Reform of parliament, c1780–1928 3.1

•• Many working people, especially those in industrial towns,

EXTEND YOUR KNOWLEDGE
were becoming increasingly politicised. A large number of
pamphlets and newspapers spread radical political ideas to a The Swing Riots (1830)
wide and receptive audience. The most influential journal of all Since the late 18th century, major changes had taken place in the
was William Cobbett’s Weekly Political Register. countryside. The growth in the rural population created a surplus
of agricultural labourers, which led to a decline in wages. Matters
•• The early 19th century saw the growth of large political were made worse by the introduction of agricultural machinery,
meetings in many parts of the country. Some of these focused especially the threshing machine. A succession of poor harvests
on a single issue, such as opposition to the Corn Laws, from 1828 sparked the Swing Riots in 1830 (so-called because many
but many others, including the Peterloo meeting of 1819, farmers were sent threatening letters signed by the fictitious Captain
demanded a comprehensive reform of parliament. Swing). The riots, centred on southern England and East Anglia,
were characterised by arson on a large scale and the destruction of
threshing machines. They were suppressed in 1831: 19 men were
Contingent factors executed, 500 were transported and a further 600 were imprisoned.
•• The Tory Party had been in power since 1812. During the The scale of the riots was a factor in persuading the government to
late 1820s, party unity began to fragment, mostly because of introduce parliamentary reform.
religious issues, but also because of Wellington’s unbending Agricultural unrest continued on a small scale after 1831. There were
opposition to change. several attempts to form trade unions for farm workers, but these
were ended with the Tolpuddle Martyrs case (see Chapter 4, page
•• The country faced severe economic crises in the late 1820s. 86).
The harvests of 1828–30 were poor, resulting in higher food
prices in the towns.
The reform bills of 1831–32
U rP

•• Agricultural distress was widespread in the southern and

ne l

eastern counties of England. The hardship experienced by farm timeline: The crisis of reform, 1830–32
Fo

workers was so severe that in 1830 it sparked the Swing Riots.

nd an

1830
•• Extra-parliamentary protests became increasingly organised,
or nin

Revolution in France
notably with the creation in 1830 of the Birmingham Political
se g

Outbreak of the Swing Riots

Union by the banker Thomas Attwood. Attwood intended to
Fall of Wellington’s
d Pu

bring together into one single organisation the new industrial

middle classes and the skilled working class, united by the government
Pr rp

single aim of parliamentary reform. Earl Grey appointed prime

oo os

minister at the head 1831

•• Events in France once again influenced reform activity in of a Whig-dominated March: Russell introduces
fs es

Britain in the early 1830s. The 1830 July revolution in Paris government the first reform bill
swept the Bourbon king, Charles X, from the throne and
replaced him with Louis Philippe, who was more acceptable to April: Government defeated
in the House of Lords;
the French middle classes.
general election called
•• In 1830, working people were prepared to take up the issue of June: Whigs return with a
O

franchise reform. They saw reform, not as an end in itself, but as 1832 substantial majority; second
nl

a means of ensuring a better life for themselves and their families. March: Third reform bill reform bill introduced
y

Cobbett sums up their hopes and ambitions in 1831 in Source 5. passed in the House of
Commons October: House of Lords
Source rejects the second reform

5 From Cobbett’s Weekly Political Register, 1 April 1831.

Cobbett was a radical journalist whose Weekly Political
Register reached a national audience. He was a vigorous
May: Lords attempt to wreck
the bill; government resigns;
the Days of May; Whigs
bill; rioting breaks out
throughout the country

champion of the poor, especially agricultural labourers. return to power

Rural Rides, recounting his tours of southern and eastern
June: Third reform bill
England in the mid-1820s, remains in print today.
becomes law
Will a reform of Parliament give the labouring man a cow or a pig; December: First election
will it put bread and cheese into his satchel instead of infernal cold under the Reform Act;
potatoes; will it give him a bottle of beer to carry to the field instead Whigs take 441 seats, the
of making him lie down to drink out of the brook; will it put upon his Tories 175
back a Sunday coat and send him to church, instead of leaving him
shivering with an unshaven face and a carcass half covered with a
ragged smock-frock? Will parliamentary reform put an end to the
harnessing of men and women by a hired overseer to draw carts like
beasts of burden; will it put an end to the system which caused the
honest labourer to be fed worse than the felons in the jails?... The
enemies of reform jeeringly ask us, whether reform would do these
things for us; and I answer distinctly that IT WOULD DO THEM ALL!

17
3.1 Protest, agitation and parliamentary reform, c1780–1928

Grey decided on a comprehensive reform which he hoped would settle the issue once and for all. In
his instructions to the committee, formed to draw up a reform measure, he wrote that he wanted it to
be substantial enough to satisfy public opinion and to remove the possibility of further innovations.
key term
In March 1831, Lord John Russell presented the first reform bill (the third version of which later
Representation of the passed as the Representation of the People Act 1832) to the House of Commons. MPs on
People Act all sides were stunned by the radicalism of the measure. Russell proposed to retain the historic
Between 1832 and 1928, county franchise, the 40-shilling freeholder, but his proposals for the borough franchises appeared
there were five parliamentary
to be almost revolutionary in their scope. Under the terms of his bill, Russell intended to sweep
reform Acts. They were officially
entitled Representation of away all existing voting qualifications in the boroughs and replace them with a uniform franchise of
the People Acts, but almost £10 householders, i.e. those who occupied property with an annual value of £10.
all contemporaries and later
historians have referred to
extend your knowledge
the first three measures as
the Reform Act 1832, the
Lord John Russell (1792–1878)
Second Reform Act 1867, and
Russell’s strong support for individual liberties led him to support the repeal of the Test and Corporation
the Third Reform Act 1884.
Acts in 1828. His role was vital in steering reform through parliament in 1831–32. During the 1830s,
Russell expressed the view that the Reform Act was a final settlement, but a further reform bill which he
supported as prime minister in 1866 was unsuccessful.

Sir Robert Inglis was one of the leading opponents of reform. A leading Tory backbencher, Inglis
U rP

came to prominence through his bitter opposition to measures which he believed would weaken the
ne l

position of the Church of England within national life.

Fo

nd an

Source

6 Sir Robert Inglis speaking in the House of Commons, 1 March 1831.

or nin
se g

This House is not a collection of Deputies... We are not sent here day by day to represent the opinions of
d Pu

our constituents. We are sent here to legislate, not for the wishes of any set of men, but for the wants and
Pr rp

the rights of all…

oo os

Our constitution is not the work of a code-maker; it is the growth of time and events beyond the design
or the calculation of man… There is no evidence that our house was ever elected upon any principle of
fs es

a representation of population... [the House of Commons] is the most complete representation of the
interests of the people, which was ever assembled in any age or country. It is the only constituent body
that ever existed, which includes within itself, those who can urge the wants and defend the claims of
the landed, the commercial, the professional classes of the country; those who are bound to uphold the
prerogatives of the Crown, the privileges of nobility, the interests of the lower classes, the rights and
liberties of all people. How far, under any other than the present circumstances, the rights of the distant
O

dependencies, of the East Indies, of the West Indies, of the colonies, of the great corporations, of the
nl

commercial interests generally… could find their just support in this house, I know not.
y

ACTIVITY
KNOWLEDGE CHECK
Differing views on the reform bill
1 Read Source 6. In your own words, outline the argument that Inglis makes against the reform bill.
2 To what extent is Inglis’ argument more persuasive than Wellington’s in Source 4?

Debates on the proposals revealed great divisions between the supporters and opponents of reform,
and on 22 March the bill passed its second reading by just one vote (302–301). The narrowness of the
government’s victory meant that the bill was unlikely to pass into law. When Grey was defeated on an
amendment, the government resigned and William IV dissolved parliament, calling a general election.
The last general election to the unreformed parliament returned the Whigs and their allies with a
majority of more than 130 seats over the Tories. A second reform bill was introduced that passed easily
through the House of Commons. A significant amendment to the county franchise came with the
Chandos Clause. Proposed by the Marquis of Chandos, the amendment would extend the electorate
in the counties beyond the 40-shilling freeholders by enfranchising tenant farmers who paid a rent of
£50 a year for their land. The proposal would lead to a significant increase in the county electorate, and
would grant the vote to a number of tenant farmers.
18
 Reform of parliament, c1780–1928 3.1

The bill was sent to the House of Lords in October 1831, where the peers, who were not influenced
by popular pressure throughout the country, rejected the measure by 41 votes. The peers’ action
led to violent rioting in many towns and cities. The disturbances in Bristol were especially serious.
Several hundred young men assembled in Queen Square and rioted for three days, during which they
burned down the Bishop of Bristol’s palace and attacked several homes and businesses.
Grey and his colleagues spent the winter of 1831–32 trying to win over sufficient peers to allow
the bill to pass. A third reform bill passed through the House of Commons in March 1832, and the
House of Lords passed the second reading by just nine votes. However, on 7 May, the House of
Lords tried to wreck the bill by voting to postpone discussions on the redistribution of seats. Grey
believed that the only way to secure the third reform bill’s passage through the House of Lords was if
William IV would create a large number of pro-reform peers. When the king refused Grey’s request,
the government resigned.
The action of the peers led to the Days of May, when national protests were organised in favour of
the bill and against the Lords. Attwood and the Birmingham Political Union played a prominent role
in the protests, which were aimed at preventing the return of Wellington as prime minister. In the
end, Wellington was unable to form a government, largely because Peel would not support him, Grey
returned to office, and William IV agreed to the creation of sufficient peers to allow the bill to pass.
Faced with this unprecedented threat, the Lords gave way and passed the third reform bill in June
1832.
U rP
ne l

extend your knowledge

Fo

nd an

The Days of May (1832)

The Days of May was a period of large-scale extra-parliamentary protest aimed at preventing Wellington
or nin

becoming prime minister. Trade came to a standstill in some cities, large public demonstrations were
se g

held, and many petitions were presented to parliament protesting the action of the House of Lords. The
Birmingham Political Union and other organisations urged people to take their money out of the banks,
d Pu

and London was placarded with the slogan ‘to stop the duke, go for gold’. Many contemporary observers
Pr rp

believed that a revolutionary situation was developing, and it was only halted with Grey’s return to office.
oo os

The impact of the Reform Act on the franchise

fs es

In the counties, the old 40-shilling franchise was retained, and the Chandos amendment gave the
vote to tenant farmers who rented property worth £50 a year.
The Reform Act swept away the confusing number of borough qualifications. For the first time, a
standard borough franchise was established, enfranchising male householders with a house worth
£10 a year.
O

In the English counties the electorate was increased by 55 percent, from 240,000 voters to 370,000.
nl

The borough electorate rose from c200,000 to 280,000 men, an increase of 40 percent. The most
y

dramatic changes came in Scotland, where the pre-reform electorate of 4,500 soared to over 64,000
voters.
The uniform borough franchise appeared to be a radical measure, but it was hedged round with key term
qualifications. Electors had to have been resident in their home for at least one year, and had to pay
the poor rates. Many men in industrial towns moved house very often in search of work, and thus Poor rate
did not qualify for the vote. Equally, a uniform national franchise of £10 enfranchised many men in An annual charge made on
towns where rents were high, such as London, but its impact was much less in the northern towns every property in a parish.
The money raised was used
such as Manchester and Leeds, where rents were much lower.
exclusively to relieve the poor.
Several boroughs actually saw a reduction over time in the size of the pre-reform electorate. Those
men who already had the vote in 1832 were allowed to retain their right to vote, but over time their
numbers inevitably dwindled, and some boroughs saw a significant fall in the size of their electorate
in the years to 1867.
Many people were bitterly disappointed with the Reform Act. The skilled working classes had high
hopes of being admitted to the franchise, but the borough franchise of £10 was too high a hurdle
for most of them. One way in which they expressed their grievances was to support the Chartist
movement (see Chapter 4, pages 84–105), which flourished in the late 1830s and 1840s.

19
3.1 Protest, agitation and parliamentary reform, c1780–1928

EXTEND YOUR KNOWLEDGE

ACTIVITY Historians and the Reform Act 1832
KNOWLEDGE CHECK
Historians have interpreted the Reform Act in different ways. J.R.M. Butler, in The Passing of the Great
The extent of reform in 1832 Reform Bill (1914), suggested that the Act moved the UK towards a fully democratic system, and Stephen
1 The Representation of Farrell’s article in History Today (July 2010) is entitled Reform Act: A First Step Towards Democracy. Other
the People Act 1832 is historians have been less complimentary. Norman Gash, writing in Aristocracy and People (1979), asserted
popularly referred to as that the Act was ‘no more than a clumsy but vigorous hacking at the old structure to make it roughly more
‘The Great Reform Act’. acceptable’. On the other hand, Eric Evans, in The Forging of the Modern State (1983), suggests that, while
Study the factors that led the Reform Act can be seen as an aristocratic measure, designed to preserve as much of the old system as
to reform, and the changes possible, it nonetheless paved the way for further change, and ‘opened the door on a new political world’.
that the 1832 Act made to
Politicians realised that, if parliament could be subject to a fundamental reform, the whole philosophy of
the franchise. reform could be extended to other areas of national life. The 1830s and 1840s would witness a flurry of
2 In your opinion, does the reforms, to the Poor Law and to local government, as well as the growing regulation of mines, factories and
Act deserve to be known as banks. Moreover, the Act of 1832 marked the beginning, not the end, of parliamentary reform. The history
‘The Great Reform Act’? of parliament during the succeeding century was punctuated by further electoral reform.

Representation of the People Act 1867

The revival of interest in parliamentary reform
In 1834, the Tory leader and future prime minister, Sir Robert Peel, declared his belief that the
U rP

Reform Act was ‘a final and irrevocable settlement of a great constitutional question’, and most
ne l

politicians agreed that further changes to the constitution were not necessary. Even Russell, the
Fo

champion of reform in 1831–32, spoke in 1837 against further electoral changes, thus earning for
nd an

himself the nickname of ‘Finality Jack’. The Chartist movement of the 1830s and 1840s revived
interest in the issue for a while (see Chapter 4, pages 84–105), but thereafter it appeared that the
or nin

public became indifferent to further political change. Reform bills were introduced by the Liberals in
se g

1859 and 1860, but evoked very little interest or enthusiasm.

d Pu

One major obstacle to reform was removed in October 1865, with the death of the prime minister,
Pr rp

Viscount Palmerston. Palmerston had agreed with Peel that parliamentary reform was a settled
issue and he vigorously opposed those members of his government who were prepared to take
oo os

up the issue. The most prominent Liberal minister who came out in favour of reform was William
fs es

Gladstone, who declared in 1864 that ‘every man who is not presumably incapacitated by some
consideration of personal fitness or of political danger is morally entitled to come within the pale
of the constitution’. On Palmerston’s death in 1865, Russell, who had steered the 1832 Act through
parliament, became prime minister, and reform was once again placed on the political agenda.
O

extend your knowledge

nl

William Gladstone (1809–98)

y

Gladstone was elected to parliament in 1832 and soon made his mark as a ‘stern, unbending Tory’. He held
minor offices in the 1830s and 1840s, but left the Tory Party when it split in 1846 (see Chapter 2, page 50).
In 1859, Gladstone was one of a number of leading politicians who came together to form the Liberal Party.
Between 1868 and 1894, he held office as prime minister on four occasions, more than any other politician
before or since. His later years in office were dominated by his unsuccessful attempts to grant Home Rule
to Ireland.
Gladstone’s Liberalism encompassed gradual political reforms, financial orthodoxy and a strong sense of
moral duty, which stemmed from his deeply held religious beliefs. He stamped his political views on the
Liberal Party for a generation.

Unlike 1831–32, there was no substantial pressure from outside parliament for reform before 1865.
The economic distress of the late 1840s had gradually declined, and was followed by sustained
growth as the Industrial Revolution drove Britain to a position of economic pre-eminence in the
world. With no real grievances to drive demands for reform, the 1850s and early 1860s were largely
free from political agitation.

20
 Reform of parliament, c1780–1928 3.1

By 1865, however, developments at home and abroad had reawakened interest in parliamentary
reform, and pressure for franchise reform grew. The growth of mass-circulation newspapers allowed
people to follow the unification struggle in Italy of 1859–60, and the Polish revolt of 1863, with great
interest. The American Civil War (1861–65) had a major impact on public opinion. The war, and
the naval blockade of the south, meant that the southern states were unable to export raw cotton
to the textile mills of Lancashire. The subsequent cotton famine was accompanied by widespread
unemployment and distress in northern towns and cities. Nonetheless, the mill workers were
unwavering in their support for Lincoln and the northern states, and against the southern institution
of slavery. Their attitude persuaded many, especially leading Liberals and radicals, that a limited
extension of the franchise to ‘the respectable working classes’ would not pose a serious threat to the
existing political order.
The demand for reform was driven by a number of organised groups, similar to Attwood’s
Birmingham Political Union of the early 1830s. The Reform Union, formed in 1864, gained
support among the prosperous middle classes, who saw reform as a means of furthering their own
commercial interests, as well as challenging what they regarded as the inefficiency and waste of
national government. Newspaper reports on the Crimean War (1854–56) had demonstrated the
incompetence of the military and civilian leadership, which had caused a large number of deaths in
the armed forces. The National Reform Union believed that franchise reform would lead to a more
efficient and effective government. At home, the Northcote–Trevelyan report of 1854 condemned
the inefficiency of the civil service and recommended that entry to the service should be based on
U rP

merit rather than class. The Reform Union supported institutional as well as parliamentary reform: it
ne l

promoted a moderate extension of the franchise and the introduction of a secret ballot.
Fo

nd an

The Reform League, formed in 1865, was a much larger and more formidable body. It differed from
the Reform Union because of its commitment to universal manhood suffrage rather than the more
or nin

modest household suffrage favoured by the Reform Union. The league had a strong following among
se g

trade unionists and the skilled working class, who hoped that parliamentary reform would lead to
improved trade union rights as well as more extensive labour laws. Although the league was far more
d Pu

radical than the Reform Union, both organisations agreed to work together to promote parliamentary
Pr rp

reform.
oo os

By the end of 1865, the Reform Union and the Reform League had developed strong national
fs es

organisations that could call on widespread backing to pressure MPs into supporting franchise
reform.

The Tories and the Second Reform Act

Russell had become prime minister in October 1865, with Gladstone as his Chancellor of the
O

Exchequer. In March 1866, Gladstone introduced a reform bill in the House of Commons. This
was a modest affair, which would reduce the borough franchise from £10 to £7, and extend the
nl

county franchise to tenants paying an annual rent of £14 or more. Gladstone’s proposals would add
y

around 200,000 voters in the boroughs and 170,000 voters in the counties. Vigorous opposition from key term
Disraeli and the Conservatives, and from many uncompromising Whigs, led by Robert Lowe and
the Adullamites, caused the bill to fail and led to the government’s resignation in June. A minority Adullamite
An anti-reform faction within
Conservative government took office, with Lord Derby as prime minister and Benjamin Disraeli as
the Liberal Party whose
Chancellor of the Exchequer. members were opposed to any
change to the electoral system.
extend your knowledge Robert Lowe was the leading
Adullamite: his speeches could
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) not conceal his hatred of the
The son of a Jewish Italian father, Disraeli was elected as a Tory MP in 1837. He became a bitter opponent working classes, describing
of Peel in the 1840s because the latter did not promote him to high office. Disraeli played a pivotal role in them as ‘unreflective and
bringing down Peel’s government in 1846 over the repeal of the Corn Laws. He served briefly as Chancellor violent people’.
of the Exchequer in 1852 and 1858–59, and it was as chancellor for a third time that he steered the
Second Reform Act through parliament in 1866–67.
Unlike Gladstone, Disraeli was keen to attack social injustice, and passed several important social reforms
during his ministry of 1874–80, which appealed to the new mass electorate. He promoted ideas of ‘one-
nation Conservatism’, which influenced the development of the Conservative Party long after his death. His
importance is described in Chapter 2 on page 51.

21
3.1 Protest, agitation and parliamentary reform, c1780–1928

Few people expected the Conservatives to take up the issue of franchise reform, but Derby and
Disraeli had several reasons for doing so. The Conservative Party had been in the political wilderness
for 20 years, ever since they split over the issue of the Corn Laws in 1846. Derby and Disraeli had
held office briefly in 1852, and in 1858–59. On both occasions their governments were little more
than holding operations, which ended once the Liberals had regrouped and were ready to return to
office. Derby and Disraeli were no longer prepared to govern simply at the pleasure of their political
opponents. Instead, they were keen to restore the image of the Tory Party to operate as a major
political force. Now that reform was on the political agenda, they decided to seize the initiative
and put forward their own proposals. Disraeli was even prepared to outflank the Liberals with a
substantial and radical measure.
The Tories’ decision to reform was also influenced by events outside parliament. The Reform League
organised meetings in Trafalgar Square in support of Gladstone’s reform bill and, following the defeat
of the bill, the league organised a number of mass protests and disturbances. A meeting of 200,000
people at Hyde Park in July became a riot, as railings were torn down and the police had to call for
support from the Life Guards. Despite these setbacks, the league continued to pressure parliament
over the winter of 1866–67.
The economic situation declined dramatically in 1866. In May, the financial house of Overend and
Gurney collapsed, leading to a run on the banks and the collapse of many companies. The rest of
1866 saw little improvement in the economic situation. Heavy rains had wiped out many crops, and
meat prices shot up as the virulent rinderpest disease wiped out many herds of cattle.
U rP
ne l

Thus, there were a number of factors pressuring for reform in 1865–67, as well as significant attempts
Fo

to resist change.
nd an
or nin

Factors promoting reform

se g

•• Since 1860, there had been a dramatic rise in the circulation of the popular press, a reflection of
growing interest in politics and reform.
d Pu

•• The Reform Union and the Reform League organised mass demonstrations, including the Hyde
Pr rp

Park riots, to put pressure on MPs to support parliamentary reform.

oo os

•• Economic distress was widespread, especially in the cotton towns of northern England as a result
fs es

of the cotton famine.

•• The Conservative Party was ready to take up the cause of reform.

Factors promoting resistance

•• The more conservative Liberals, known as the Adullamites, offered strong resistance in parliament
O

to any reform measure.

nl

•• Not all Conservatives were prepared to support reform. Their resistance was led by Cranborne,
y

later Lord Salisbury.

•• There was little genuine enthusiasm within parliament for reform.
•• The landed gentry, who had sided with the South in the American Civil War, feared a dilution of
their power and influence.
It was against a background of economic and social distress, as well as extra-parliamentary pressure,
that Disraeli introduced his reform proposals in February 1867. The very idea of reform led to splits
within the Tory Party, as three ministers, Cranborne, Carnarvon and General Peel, immediately
resigned. Disraeli withdrew his original proposals and decided on a far-reaching and radical measure,
which was introduced in March.
The Reform Act 1832 had resembled very closely Russell’s original proposals of 1831. However, the
Second Reform Act 1867 bore very little resemblance to Disraeli’s original proposals. What began
as a proposal to enlarge the borough electorate by 227,000 was changed dramatically as it passed
through the House of Commons, and ended up doubling the national electorate.

22
 Reform of parliament, c1780–1928 3.1

Source

7 The Hyde Park riots of 1866. Supporters of the Reform League are tearing down railings in the park,
while the police attempt to maintain order. From an engraving printed in the Illustrated London
News, 4 August 1866.

U rP
ne l
Fo

nd an
or nin
se g
d Pu
Pr rp
oo os
fs es

Disraeli’s bill of 18 March 1867 proposed to give the county franchise to those who rented land
worth £15 a year, a substantial reduction on the £50 rent level set in 1832. Disraeli also proposed to
extend the borough suffrage to all householders of two years’ residence who paid rates directly to key term
their local authority. However, this apparently radical measure was hedged around with qualifications.
O

Lodgers in towns would not qualify, nor would the large number of compounder tenants. To offset Compounder
nl

the new borough electorate, a number of ‘fancy franchises’ were proposed, granting the vote to A tenant who paid a
y

university graduates, members of ‘learned professions’ and those with £50 in the bank. combination of rent and
rates to the landlord of the
The leaders of the National Reform Union and the Reform League felt that the Tory proposals were property, who then paid the
too modest, and decided to put further pressure on parliament with demonstrations in London and rates separately to the local
authority.
throughout the country. Despite the government’s attempts to ban it, a meeting in Hyde Park was
arranged for 6 May. A crowd of 200,000 people turned up to listen to speeches demanding reform,
with 15,000 special constables, police and the armed forces held in reserve in case rioting broke
out. Contemporaries suggested that the era of mass political activity had returned, for such a huge
demonstration of popular feeling had not been seen since the Chartist demonstrations of the 1830s
and 1840s. However, it is not clear whether the meeting influenced either the government or the
House of Commons.
Disraeli’s strategy on the reform bill had been decided long before the Hyde Park meeting. He was
ready to accept substantial amendments to the bill as long as they were not proposed by the Liberal
front bench. He wanted to ensure that the final Act could not be claimed by the Liberals as reflecting
their own proposals, but that it was a Tory measure through and through. While he rejected some
measures, such as the proposal by John Stuart Mill to concede votes for women, he accepted some
very radical amendments that changed the bill almost beyond recognition.

23
3.1 Protest, agitation and parliamentary reform, c1780–1928

Disraeli’s intention to accept a number of amendments in order to save his bill led to dramatic
changes in the proposed borough franchise. The residency qualification of two years was reduced to
one year, and the vote was extended to lodgers, also of one year’s residency, who paid rent of £10
a year. A third amendment was the most important of all. Proposed by a Newark MP, Hodgkinson’s
amendment would abolish the distinction between compounders and those who paid their rates in
person. This measure alone would enfranchise 500,000 men. To universal astonishment, not least to
Hodgkinson himself, Disraeli accepted an amendment whose effect was to create household suffrage
as the basis of the borough franchise. Disraeli quietly dropped the ‘fancy franchises’ and the bill
passed into law in August 1867.

The impact of the Representation of the People Act 1867 on the franchise
Gladstone’s franchise proposals of 1866 would have extended the national franchise by around
370,000 men. Disraeli’s Act, in comparison, virtually doubled the electorate, to two million voters.
In the counties, the historic 40-shilling franchise was retained. The electorate was increased by giving
the vote to owners or leaseholders of land worth £5 a year, and landowners whose property had a
rateable value of £12 a year. The reform expanded the county electorate from 540,000 to 800,000.
The borough franchise was given to all householders who had lived in a property for 12 months, and
to lodgers, also of 12 months’ standing, who occupied lodgings worth £10 in rent. The extension of
the borough franchise was impressive. The borough electorate in 1866 numbered around 510,000
U rP

voters: the Second Reform Act created an urban electorate of 1,200,000. The number of working-
ne l

class voters rose significantly, and in many constituencies, such as Sheffield and several London
Fo

boroughs, the majority of the electorate was now drawn from the working class.
nd an

Despite the apparent radicalism of the Act, universal male suffrage had not been conceded. It is true
or nin

that one in three adult males could now vote, instead of one in five before 1867, and that, for the first
se g

time, the majority of electors were working class. However, the franchise remained, as it had always
been, based on property and a stake in the country. While householders were granted the vote, other
d Pu

male members of their family were not so fortunate. Moreover, the one-year residency qualification
Pr rp

effectively disqualified the large number of people who moved house or lodgings, even within the
same town, in search of employment.
oo os

There was little common ground between the bills introduced by Liberal and Conservative
fs es

governments in 1866–67, but they shared one characteristic: neither party was prepared to concede
the vote to what was known as the ‘residuum’. These were the very poorest urban classes, unskilled,
largely uneducated labourers, whose families lived in appalling conditions in slum properties. For
the residuum, life was a constant struggle simply to survive. Not only were they ignored by the
political parties, but the skilled working classes, who viewed themselves as the ‘aristocracy of labour’,
O

regarded the residuum with undisguised contempt.

nl
y

ACTIVITY
KNOWLEDGE CHECK
Similarities and differences
The following list of factors influenced the passing of both the Reform Act 1832 and the Second Reform
Act 1867:
• Influences from overseas • Party advantage
• The state of the economy • The press
• Extra-parliamentary pressure • The extension of the franchise.
1 List these factors in a table, with two further columns headed ‘Similarities’ and ‘Differences’. Complete
the table with one or two sentences highlighting similar and different ways in which each factor
influenced the two Acts. For example, although both Acts extended the franchise, you might decide
that the 1867 changes were more radical simply because the vote was given to far more people than
in 1832.
2 When you have completed your table, write a short paragraph on which of the two Acts was, in your
opinion, more far-reaching. Give reasons for your choice.

24
 Reform of parliament, c1780–1928 3.1

As the reform bill made its final passage through the House of Lords, Derby commented that ‘we
are making a great experiment’ and ‘taking a leap in the dark’. In 1832, the existing electorate had
increased by 50 percent to 650,000, but the Second Reform Act saw a doubling of those entitled to
vote to almost two million. The Reform Act 1867 marked the beginning of a clear shift of political
influence, away from the traditional agricultural interests in the south of England and towards the
manufacturing towns of the Midlands and the north.
The parties had to adjust to the new electoral landscape in many ways. Working-class voters
expected reforms that tackled their grievances. The 1830s and 1840s had seen a number of reforms
following the 1832 Act, and there was a similar burst of reform after 1867. Throughout the 1870s,
both Liberal and Conservative governments responded to the new political environment with a wide
range of reforms that tackled issues such as education, urban housing, public health and the rights
of trade unions. The parties also recognised that they had to win the support of the electorate, and
thus national party organisations were established to take the party’s messages to the new voters (see
Chapter 2, pages 56–57).

Representation of the People Act 1884

The election of 1880, which returned Gladstone to office for a second time, was the third to be
fought under the terms of the Reform Act 1867. Despite the gloomy predictions of many politicians,
such as Derby, who saw the Act as a ‘leap in the dark’, the elections of 1868, 1874 and 1880 saw no
fundamental shift away from the traditional contests between Tories and Liberals (though the rise of
U rP

the Irish Home Rule Party, which took 63 seats in 1880, marks the beginning of a new and difficult
ne l
Fo

phase in Anglo-Irish relations).

nd an

Extra-parliamentary pressure played a significant part in the reform crises of 1831–32 and 1866–67,
or nin

but there was no significant pressure from inside or outside parliament for further changes to the
se g

electoral system. However, Gladstone found it difficult to justify the maintenance of separate borough
and county franchises, with household suffrage in the boroughs, but a more restrictive £12 suffrage
d Pu

in the counties. The experience of living with the Second Reform Act suggested to Gladstone that it
Pr rp

would be safe to enfranchise agricultural labourers in the countryside. He may have been influenced
by partisan advantage, since many assumed that any new county voters, such as small tenant farmers
oo os

and agricultural labourers, would be likely to vote for the Liberals, and thus weaken the hold of the
fs es

Tories and the aristocratic landowners in the counties.

Although there was no pressure for a further extension to the franchise, Gladstone introduced
a reform bill in 1884. The measure proposed to replace the separate and unequal franchises for
counties and boroughs with a single national qualification granted to male householders and £10
lodgers. It passed easily through the House of Commons, but was blocked in the House of Lords,
O

thanks to the intervention of the Conservative leader Lord Salisbury. Salisbury was aware of the
nl

simple electoral fact that the Liberals’ strength came from the boroughs, while the Tories dominated
y

the county seats. Salisbury feared that the widening of the franchise would weaken the Conservative
Party dramatically and establish Liberal dominance over towns and countryside alike. The rejection
of the bill thus reflected the concerns of both Salisbury and his party.
In October 1884, Queen Victoria urged the parties to negotiate to end the deadlock. Party leaders
met at Salisbury’s London home and agreed the Arlington Street compact: the Tories would allow
the reform bill to pass as long as it was followed by a major redistribution of seats. Following the
Arlington Street compact, the Third Reform Act passed into law with little debate. For the first
time in British parliamentary history, there was a uniform national electoral qualification based on
household suffrage in towns and counties. Once again there was a dramatic increase in the size of
the electorate, which rose by 84 percent to 5.5 million: some 2.5 million new voters were admitted to
the franchise, a far greater numerical increase than in 1832 or 1867.
Contemporary observers, and many historians, believed that the Third Reform Act had established a
democratic electoral system in Britain, but this was far from the case. Household suffrage excluded
many adult males. The sons of householders, servants, members of the armed forces, as well as
most of the ‘residuum’, the many unskilled and casual labourers who did not meet the residency
qualification, and, of course, women – all these remained disfranchised. Recent research has
suggested that the Act excluded 40 percent of adult males from the franchise, an issue that was not
addressed until the First World War.

25
3.1 Protest, agitation and parliamentary reform, c1780–1928

Representation of the People Act 1918 representatives of the main political parties drew up a number of
proposals for electoral reform.
Many Victorian politicians expressed alarm at successive
increases in the size of the electorate brought about by the The conference proposed two significant changes. Firstly, all
Reform Acts of 1832–84. The increase in numbers of a few adult males aged 21 and over were to be given the vote. The war
hundred thousand men in 1832, 700,000 in 1867, and even the service of younger men was also recognised with a proposal that
2.5 million enfranchised in 1884, pale into insignificance beside men aged 19–20 who had fought in the war would be entitled to
the Fourth Reform Act 1918, which tripled the electorate from vote in the post-war election. Universal male suffrage, the central
7,000,000 to 21,000,000 and, for the first time, gave the vote to demand by radical reformers for a century, was finally conceded in
over eight million women. the Fourth Reform Act 1918, and Britain had taken one of the last
steps towards becoming a fully fledged democracy.
In 1916, Britain had been at war for two years. An election had
been due in 1915, but was postponed until after the war. An The triumph of adult male suffrage, and the enfranchising of
election would have been impractical because, despite the work over five million adult males, however, has been overshadowed in
of the boundary commissioners, equal electoral districts had been the popular imagination by the proposals made to the Speaker’s
impossible to maintain, and the electoral registers were hopelessly Conference on women’s suffrage.
out of date. Moreover, an election fought under the 1884 franchise
The Speaker’s Conference decided that the issue of female
would have meant that hardly any soldiers fighting on the Western
suffrage could no longer be ignored. However, leading politicians
Front would have qualified to vote.
were reluctant to give the vote to women on the same terms as
The government addressed the issue of reform with the men. The huge loss of life on the Western Front would have made
appointment of the Speaker’s Conference of 1916, at which female voters the majority in the post-war electorate.
U rP
ne l

Source

8
Fo

The Labour Leader Keir Hardie addressing a large suffragette meeting in Trafalgar Square, 1908.
nd an
or nin
se g
d Pu
Pr rp
oo os
fs es
O
nl
y

26
 Reform of parliament, c1780–1928 3.1

As a result, the Speaker’s Conference moved towards female Labour struggled in areas where more women voted. Baldwin
suffrage in a very cautious fashion. The 1918 Act enfranchised supported equal franchise from 1924, and in 1927 his cabinet
women aged 30 and over, as long as they were householders or agreed to extend the franchise to women at the age of 21. They
the wives of householders, university graduates or rented property wanted to secure new women voters as Conservative supporters.
valued at £5 per annum. These restrictive terms meant that over
Despite this Conservative support for equal suffrage, in 1927
20 percent of women over 30 did not qualify for the vote because
opponents of equal suffrage mounted one last attempt to prevent
they were unable to meet the stringent qualifications.
the reform. The Daily Mail published several articles claiming
Women were now able to stand for election to parliament, and that reform meant giving the vote to ‘flappers’. The newspaper
several did so in the 1918 election. The first woman to be elected portrayed these women as young, single, sexually active and
was Countess Marckievicz, a member of the Irish party Sinn Fein, politically ignorant women. This stereotype was aimed at
but she never took her seat, since Sinn Fein’s 73 members had stirring up Conservative opposition to Baldwin’s extension of
agreed to boycott parliament. The first woman to sit in the House the franchise. Those opposed also claimed that the extension
of Commons, Nancy Astor, took her seat in 1919. would create a majority of women voters who would vote as a
single unified bloc, which would bring about the feminisation of
A commonly held view on the granting of votes for women in
political culture. Nevertheless, the 1928 equal franchise bill passed
1918 is that it rewarded women for their war work, whether in
comfortably in the Commons by 387 to 10 votes, becoming in
munitions, on farms or as nurses on the Western Front. However,
law the Representation of the People Act. This Act gave women
most women involved in these activities were under 30, and so
the vote on the same terms as men, adding a further 5.2 million
failed to qualify for the vote in 1918. The opponents of equal
women to the electorate. Within just ten years, women had gone
suffrage for men and women were perhaps influenced by the
from being completely unenfranchised to a majority position in
memory of the violent suffragette agitation which had clouded
U rP

the electorate, with 14.5 million women voters, compared with

politics in the years before 1914, and feared its revival in the
ne l

12.25 million men. Millicent Fawcett, a leading campaigner for the

Fo

difficult post-war era.

suffrage and for women’s rights, was present in parliament when
nd an

the bill completed its passage into law. She wrote: ‘It is almost
or nin

exactly 61 years ago since I heard John Stuart Mill introduce his
Representation of the People Act 1928 suffrage amendment to the reform bill on 20 May 1867. So I have
se g

The general elections in the years 1918–24 saw little change in had extraordinary good luck in having seen the struggle from the
d Pu

voting habits, and this persuaded political leaders that it would beginning’.
Pr rp

not be dangerous to introduce universal suffrage for both men

and women. However, providing equal voting rights to women
oo os

after 1918 was not without controversy. There has been historical A Level Exam-Style Question Section C
fs es

debate over how equal franchise rights were achieved in 1928. To what extent was reform of the franchise in the years 1780–1928
Feminist societies, notably the National Union of Societies influenced by extra-parliamentary pressure? (20 marks)
for Equal Citizenship (NUSEC), which had formed from the
National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) in 1918, Tip
You need to know when pressure from outside parliament influenced
continued to point out the inequalities between female and male
ministers and MPs, and you should reach a judgement on the
voters. Just 1 in 15 of employed women could vote as the majority
O

importance of the suffragettes in the making of the Acts of 1918 and

of professional women rented their accommodation and therefore
nl

1928. You should also analyse the significance of other relevant factors,
failed to meet the property qualifications to vote. such as the collapse of the Tory Party in 1830, the intention of most
y

The reform of 1918 kept working women disenfranchised. The politicians to secure some advantages for their party, and the
importance of other factors.
Labour Party’s failed 1919 women’s emancipation bill, which
would provide equal suffrage rights to women from the age of 21,
was followed by equal franchise bills almost every year in the early
ACTIVITY
1920s. The Labour government of 1924 fell before it had a chance KNOWLEDGE CHECK
to introduce any suffrage reform. Between 1918 and 1927, the Why did it take so long to achieve universal adult suffrage?
NUSEC kept the question of equal franchise open in parliament. 1 The transition from an aristocratic electoral system to one based
More important than public pressure or Labour’s efforts was the on universal adult suffrage took almost a century. Explain briefly
Conservative Party’s determination, under Prime Minister Stanley how each of the following points helped or hindered the process
Baldwin’s leadership, to attract women voters. Until 1927, the of change in the years 1832–1928:
majority of the party’s backbench MPs opposed equal franchise • The prevailing state of the economy
for women on reaching 21, but the party’s leadership believed
that women were the key to the party’s future. The women’s • The attitude of the working class to franchise reform
organisation in the party was the fastest growing element within • The campaign for women’s suffrage.
it, with more than a million female Conservative Party members
2 Which other factors, in your opinion, were of major importance
by 1928. Women were more likely than men in the 1920s to vote
either in promoting or hindering the process of change?
Conservative. The Conservative Party tended to do much better
in constituencies with higher proportions of female voters, while

27
3.1 Protest, agitation and parliamentary reform, c1780–1928

How significant were changes The problems of representation, c1780

in the distribution of seats in •• There were 558 parliamentary seats in England, Scotland and
Wales. This number rose to 658 after the Act of Union of 1800
the years c1780–1918? abolished the Irish parliament and provided 100 Irish seats for
Each of the Reform Acts passed in the years 1832–1918 included the Westminster parliament.
provisions for the redistribution of parliamentary seats to take
•• There were 122 county seats, with each county, regardless of
account of changes in the franchise. The national distribution of
size, represented by two MPs.
seats in 1780 became increasingly indefensible with the growth of
new areas of population in the Midlands and the north. Although •• The boroughs and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge
the Whig government’s reforms in 1832 did not attempt to make comprised a total of 436 seats. The number of electors in each
constituencies of fairly equal size in terms of population and the borough varied dramatically. Smaller boroughs consisting of
number of electors, MPs did try to create an electoral map that 500–1,000 voters were sometimes under the direct control of
was broadly acceptable to the new electorate. the government, notably naval bases along the south coast
of England.

Key
Areas of greatest population Sunderland N
increase since 1760, resulting
from the Industrial Revolution
and the movement of people
U rP

from the land to the towns

ne l
Fo

Large towns with no

nd an

Members of Parliament 0 50
Rotten boroughs km
or nin

All counties returned two

se g

Members of Parliament Bradford Leeds

regardless of their population Blackburn Halifax
d Pu

(except Yorkshire, which Bolton Oldham

Pr rp

returned four MPs) Manchester

Stockport
oo os

Sheffield
Macclesfield
fs es

Stoke

Wolverhampton Birmingham
O
nl
y

Cheltenham
Stroud

Greenwich

Old
Sarum
Portsmouth Brighton

Devonport

Figure 1.1 Parliamentary representation before 1832.

28
 Reform of parliament, c1780–1928 3.1

•• In many smaller boroughs, the electors were quite content Pitt’s suggestion that £1 million should be made available to
to sell their votes to the highest bidder. The Suffolk town of compensate the owners of seats. Fox and his supporters therefore
Sudbury was notoriously corrupt in this respect, and in 1844 it opposed the bill presented to parliament in April 1785.
lost both of its MPs.
In his speech proposing the reform bill, Pitt referred to the
•• The practice of sending two MPs to parliament to represent opponents of the measure, and the reasons why they could not
each county in the UK had been a consistent feature of the support reform (Source 9).
electoral system since the reign of Henry VI. The granting of
MPs to boroughs was a more haphazard affair. In many cases, SOURCE
seats were allocated to towns that possessed some economic
or religious significance. Although depopulation or economic 9 From the speech that Pitt made in the House of Commons
on 18 April 1785 in support of his reform proposals. Here,
Pitt identified the principal opponents of the bill, and the
decline reduced the population and the electorate in many reasons for their opposition.
boroughs, they retained the right to send one or two MPs to
parliament. Those who, with a sort of superstitious awe, reverence the
constitution so much as to be fearful of touching even its defects,
Figure 1.1 shows that the distribution of seats at the end of the had always reprobated every attempt to purify the representation.
18th century was heavily weighted towards the south and south- They acknowledged its inequality and corruption, but in their
west of England. To the south of a line drawn between Bristol enthusiasm for the grand fabric, they would not suffer a reformer,
and London were seats that returned 40 percent of all MPs to with unhallowed hands, to repair the injuries which it suffered from
Westminster. Cornwall returned 44 MPs in all, just one seat fewer time. Others who, perceiving the deficiencies that had arisen from
than the 45 MPs elected for the whole of Scotland. Moreover, the the circumstances, were solicitous of their amendment, yet resisted
the attempt, under the argument, that when once we had presumed
U rP

representative system did not take into account the changes in the
to touch the constitution in one point, the awe which had heretofore
ne l

distribution of population that had been taking place throughout kept us back from the daring enterprize of innovation might abate,
Fo

the 18th century. The growing populations of industrial areas, and there was no foreseeing to what alarming lengths we might
nd an

especially in the Midlands, Lancashire and Yorkshire, were not progressively go, under the mask of reformation. Others there were,
reflected in the electoral system. By 1780, Lancashire’s population but for these he confessed he had not the same respect, who
or nin

was four times that of Cornwall (1,300,000 compared with considered the present state of representation as pure and adequate
se g

300,000), but Lancashire returned just 14 MPs to Cornwall’s 44. to all its purposes, and perfectly consistent with the first principles of
representation.
d Pu
Pr rp

The failure of Pitt’s proposals Pitt’s bill was defeated in the House of Commons by 248 votes to
oo os

174. He remained a supporter of parliamentary reform, but in the

Pitt had displayed his commitment to parliamentary reform before
years after 1785 he had more pressing issues to contend with. The
fs es

becoming prime minister in December 1783. He was following

French Revolution, and the explosive growth in radical activity and
in the footsteps of his father, Pitt the Elder, who had proposed
ideas, meant that Pitt never took up the issue again. In 1792, the
some measures of reform in the 1750s and 1760s, but without
Whig Charles Grey introduced a reform proposal that was almost
success. Pitt entered parliament in 1781 as member for the pocket
identical to that championed by Pitt. Pitt strongly opposed the
borough of Appleby in Westmorland, and soon made his mark
measure, which he claimed would lead to the overthrow of the
as a champion of parliamentary reform. He was influenced by
O

British constitution.
Christopher Wyvill, whose Yorkshire Association was founded in
nl

1780 with the aim of eliminating corruption in parliament. Early

y

in 1782, Pitt proposed the creation of a committee to address

several issues concerning parliamentary representation, but was Reasons for resistance to and key
easily defeated. In May 1783, he made a more specific proposal, changes brought about by reform
to disfranchise a number of corrupt boroughs and transfer their Representation of the People Act 1832
seats to the counties. Once again, his measure was defeated, Most extra-parliamentary pressure for reform in the years c1780–
though by a smaller margin than before. 1830 focused on demands for the extension of the franchise,
Pitt made a third attempt at reform in 1785. In April, he with redistribution being only a secondary issue. Concern over
introduced a detailed measure that would abolish 36 corrupt widespread corruption in the boroughs, and the ease with
boroughs and transfer their seats to London and to the counties. which their members could be dragooned into supporting the
Borough owners would be given financial compensation for the government of the day, were brought into sharp relief with the
loss of what was regarded as their personal property. Pitt hoped controversy over Catholic relief in the late 1820s.
that his personal standing as prime minister might gain him The decision made by Wellington’s government to pass a
support, especially from the independent MPs, though opposition Relief Act in 1829 was opposed in many areas, especially in the
to the measure remained strong. George III was openly hostile universities. Peel had served as MP for Oxford University since
to the measure, and there was no groundswell of opinion in the 1817. His support of Catholic relief led him to resign his seat in
country as a whole for reform. Fox, who was Pitt’s chief opponent January 1829 and force a by-election in an attempt to regain the
in the House of Commons, had long supported reform, and was support of the university’s electors. Anti-Catholic feeling in Oxford
ready to support Pitt on the issue. However, he refused to accept was so strong that Peel was defeated in February, just a few days
29
3.1 Protest, agitation and parliamentary reform, c1780–1928

before he was due to introduce the relief bill in the House of ACTIVITY
Commons. KNOWLEDGE CHECK
Pitt and Grey
A solution to Peel’s predicament came from the town of Westbury
Some historians have argued that it was the level of support in
in Wiltshire. Sir Manasseh Lopes, one of the town’s MPs, and parliament that explains the failure of Pitt’s proposals in the 1780s
owner of the borough, resigned his seat. Within a week, a by- and Grey’s success in 1832. Suggest two other reasons to explain
election was held and the town’s three electors awarded the seat the different outcomes of both men’s measures.
to Peel. Manoeuvres such as these influenced many people to
support demands for a more equitable distribution of seats.
In 1830, the prime minister, Earl Grey, ordered a comprehensive Representation of the People Act 1867
review of the whole electoral system that would inform the By the mid-1860s, organisations such as the Reform League
government’s proposals in the reform bill. The review’s findings began to campaign not only for universal suffrage, but also for
revealed the impact of industrialisation and population change, measures to remedy the imbalance in the distribution of seats.
and highlighted the widespread variations in the distribution of For instance, 334 borough MPs represented a total of 9.5 million
seats: people, while the 11.5 million people in the counties had just 162
•• Thirty-three English towns had a population of over 10,000 members. To many contemporaries, the most important feature
people, but returned no MPs. They included Manchester and of the Reform Act 1867 was the substantial increase in the size
Salford (133,788), Birmingham (85,416) and Leeds (83,796). of the electorate brought about by the introduction of household
suffrage in the boroughs. A measure of redistribution was
•• Twenty-seven English boroughs had had no contested elections undertaken, though it appeared to be less substantial or significant
in the previous 30 years. than the changes made in 1832.
U rP
ne l

The Reform Act 1832 introduced important changes to the Disraeli, however, believed that redistribution was ‘the very soul
Fo

franchise, which added the propertied middle classes to the of the question of reform’. He realised that extending the vote
nd an

electorate, but changes to the distribution of seats were in many to many of the working classes might, in the short term at least,
or nin

ways more radical: work to the disadvantage of the Conservatives, and tried to limit
its significance through changes to the electoral map.
se g

•• Fifty-six boroughs with a population below 2,000 lost both of

their parliamentary seats. The Act made changes to the number of seats in both boroughs
d Pu

and counties:
Pr rp

•• Thirty boroughs of between 2,000 and 4,000 people lost one

MP. •• Boroughs with a population below 10,000 lost one or both of
oo os

•• Forty-four new borough seats were created, with many of them their MPs.
fs es

going to the new industrial towns and cities in the Midlands •• Eleven new constituencies were created, and the number of
and the north. MPs for Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham was
•• The influence of the new borough seats was partially offset by increased from two to three.
the granting of 65 extra seats to the counties. •• The English and Welsh counties were allocated an extra 25
MPs.
O

The Whigs had been determined to remove the worst excesses

nl

of the old representative system, but did not intend to introduce •• Scotland was given five more seats, and three new university
any mathematical uniformity in the distribution of seats. The new
y

seats were created.

seats, especially in the boroughs, were created to reflect economic
interests rather than the populations of the towns. Salford in The most important feature of the 1867 redistribution was its
Lancashire had an electorate of 1,497, while Reigate in Surrey had impact, not in the new boroughs, but in the counties. Firstly,
just 153; both towns returned one MP. In the Scottish counties, a further 25 seats for the counties led to a strengthening of
Perthshire’s 3,180 electors returned one MP, as did Sutherland’s the landed interest, whose members tended to favour the
electorate of just 84. Conservatives rather than the Liberals. Secondly, the creation
of new borough seats meant that their electorates would not be
Figure 1.2 shows the extent to which redistribution gave large voting in the counties, where they might challenge the entrenched
towns separate representation in parliament after 1832. Anomalies power of the nobility and the large landowners.
remained, however: Tamworth in Staffordshire, for example,
remained under the control of Peel’s family. Peel’s father had The 1868 election result suggests that Disraeli had miscalculated
represented the seat since 1790, and on his death in 1830 Peel left the effects on the Conservatives of redistribution. Rather
Westbury to take control of the family seat. There were also many than increasing its representation, the party lost eight seats as
larger towns, especially in Yorkshire and Warwickshire, which Gladstone’s Liberals stormed to power with a substantial majority.
did not have separate representation. Although London and the In the longer term, however, the Conservatives established
counties gained several seats, they remained under-represented in themselves as a major force in British politics, partly as a result of
terms of population. the changes brought about by Lord Salisbury in 1885.

30
 Reform of parliament, c1780–1928 3.1

Key
Towns now with two
Members of Parliament

d
an
Towns now with one

erl
Member of Parliament

mb
Counties gaining two extra

hu
rt
Tynemouth Members of Parliament

No
South Shields Counties gaining one extra
Gateshead
Cumberland Sunderland Member of Parliament
Durham

Whitehaven
N
Kendal Whitby

Yorkshire
Lancashire 0 50
Blackburn Bradford Leeds km

Bury Halifax Wakefield

Bolton
Salford Huddersfield
Stockport Ashton Sheffield
Warrington
U rP

Manchester

ham
Macclesfield Lincoln
ne l

Cheshire
Fo

ting
Stoke
nd an

Derby

Not
Stafford
or nin

Norfolk
Shropshire Walsall Leicester
se g

Cam
Wolverhampton

on
Birmingham
d Pu

pt

b
Kidderminster Dudley k m

ridg
ic
Pr rp

Worcs. Warw
ha
Suffolk
rth

e
oo os

Hereford
No

Cheltenham
rd Essex
fs es

Ox
Buc

Merthyr
Tydfil
Stroud fo r tfo
er rd e
ks.

lo u cest Be
H Marylebone
G rks Tower Hamlets
hir Finsbury Greenwich
e
Lambeth
Wiltshire Chatham
Frome Surrey
O

Hampshire Kent
Somerset
nl

Sussex
y

Brighton
Devon Dorset
Isle of Wight
Devonport
Cornwall

Figure 1.2 Parliamentary representation after 1832.

Ballot Act 1872 secret ballot, which had been one of the points demanded by the
The year 1868 saw the first general election fought under the Chartist movement in the 1830s and 1840s.
Reform Act 1867, and Gladstone’s Liberal Party secured a strong Some MPs believed that the bill would reduce corrupt practices
parliamentary majority. Gladstone was concerned by the publicity and save many voters from their baser instincts. These members
given to the widespread corruption and intimidation that took believed many of the new electorates were open to bribery or
place before and during the poll, and therefore he proposed intimidation, which would be reduced by the secret ballot.
measures to tackle corruption and protect electoral secrecy
with the introduction of the secret ballot. The corrupt practice The bill was not controversial, and passed easily into law in 1872.
measures were dropped, but the government pressed on with the While it may have ended some of the worst forms of malpractice,
31
3.1 Protest, agitation and parliamentary reform, c1780–1928

its initial effects were not clear, and the influence of landlords in the counties and factory owners in
towns continued to affect some electors. Perhaps the most important short-term effect of the ballot
was seen in Ireland. Supporters of Irish Home Rule were now less open to intimidation, and the
Home Rule movement grew dramatically over the next 20 years.

Corrupt Practices Act 1883

Issues of parliamentary reform loomed large during Gladstone’s second ministry (1880–85). Many
MPs were scandalised by the widespread bribery and corruption that had taken place during the
1880 election, one of the most corrupt and expensive elections for many years, and the Liberals
prepared to tackle an issue of growing importance.
An unforeseen consequence of the redistribution of seats carried out in 1867 was that, once
borough seats were freed from the aristocratic influence that controlled the surrounding counties,
they became open to electoral competition. Many candidates, Liberal and Conservative, spent large
sums of money trying to secure the votes of the growing electorate. Their methods included simple
bribery, treating (the provision of free food and drink) and ‘colourable employment’ (the engaging of
voters in nominal jobs). Historian H.J. Hanham’s research suggested that, between 1865 and 1884, 64
English boroughs ‘possessed a corrupt element’, of which 21 were ‘extremely corrupt’.
Sudbury had been disfranchised for corruption on a large scale in 1844, but dubious practices
remained a prominent feature in electoral contests. A Royal Commission was appointed in 1880 to
investigate the 1880 election that took place in Sandwich in Kent (Source 10).
U rP
ne l

Source
Fo

10 Report of the Royal Commission on the election in Sandwich, 1881.

nd an
or nin

Observing the nature and manner of the bribery committed at the contest between Mr. Crompton Roberts
se g

and Sir Julian Goldsmid, the general expectation that money would be distributed in bribery, the almost
universal willingness and even avidity to accept bribes, the great proportion of the population implicated,
d Pu

the ease with which the most extensive bribery was carried out, the organisation for the purpose of bribery,
Pr rp

which was far too facile and complete to be inexperienced, the readiness on the part of many to accept
bribes from both sides, and the total absence of a voice to warn, condemn, or denounce, we cannot doubt
oo os

that electoral corruption had long and extensively prevailed in the borough of Sandwich.
fs es

The Corrupt Practices Act 1883 set stringent limits on campaign expenses. In England and Wales,
candidates could spend no more than £710 for the first 2,000 voters and £40 for each additional
1,000 voters. Candidates and their agents were required to keep detailed records of expenditure, and
stiff penalties could be imposed if malpractice was proved in the courts. Although there was some
evidence of illegal practices after 1883, the Act finally brought an end to the culture of electoral
O

corruption that had existed for centuries.

nl
y

Redistribution Act 1885

The Redistribution Act 1885 was the work of the Tory leader, the Marquess of Salisbury. This is
perhaps a little surprising, since, as Viscount Cranborne, he had resigned from Derby’s cabinet
in 1867 in opposition to Disraeli’s proposed reforms. However, the Conservative victory in 1874
convinced Salisbury that the extension of the franchise had not damaged the Tory Party, and that
franchise changes were in many ways less important than the national distribution of seats. In
1884–85, he worked on this issue with unusual energy.

extend your knowledge

Marquess of Salisbury (1830–1903)

Lord Salisbury was MP for Stamford in Lincolnshire from 1853 until 1868, when he was elevated to the
House of Lords on the death of his father. As an MP, he had opposed the Reform Act 1867, and resigned
from the government in protest. He was a member of Disraeli’s cabinet between 1874 and 1880, and as
foreign secretary played a leading role in European affairs. On Disraeli’s death in 1881, Salisbury became
Tory leader in the House of Lords, and was responsible for the terms of the Redistribution Act 1885.
Salisbury was prime minister on three occasions: 1885–86, 1886–92 and 1895–1902. He was largely
responsible for the development of ‘Villa Toryism’, which was widely supported by the suburban electorate,
but he was very reluctant to carry out large-scale social reforms promoted by radical members of his
cabinet. He embodied the traditional qualities of aristocratic conservatism.

32
 Reform of parliament, c1780–1928 3.1

One of the effects of the rising population in towns and cities was the development of the suburb.
These were areas outside the city centres where middle-class factory owners and managers settled,
free from the overcrowding and pollution of the centres of towns, but within easy reach by train or
tram. In electoral terms, the suburbs, whose residents were largely Conservative voters, possessed
only limited value to the Conservatives. If they voted within their county, they simply increased an
existing Conservative majority; if their homes were within the borough’s boundaries, their votes were
often insufficient to dent a healthy Liberal majority.
The Arlington Street compact favoured the creation of equal electoral districts (like the ballot, a
demand made by the Chartists). Salisbury went even further with his proposal to establish single-
member constituencies. This was a radical departure from the existing practice that dated back to the
15th century: in 1885, 70 percent of all MPs sat in multi-member constituencies. Salisbury believed
that equal electoral districts that would choose just one MP would provide significant electoral
benefits for the Tories. Many suburbs would become constituencies separate from the towns,
providing a possible inbuilt advantage for the Conservative Party.
In 1884, boundary commissioners were appointed to determine the new electoral geography.
They drew up proposals based on one parliamentary seat for a population of around 50,000. The
Redistribution Act 1885 saw 28 boroughs with populations of over 50,000 remain as two-member
constituencies, but in all other cases single-member seats were established. The number of seats
for each large city would now reflect population size. Liverpool, for example, had nine seats; Leeds
had five. There were substantial changes made in the counties, again dependent on population size.
U rP

Smaller counties such as Cumberland and Norfolk gained no extra MPs; the number of county seats
ne l
Fo

in Lancashire rose from eight to 23, and in Yorkshire from ten to 26.
nd an

Taken together, the changes brought by the reforms of 1883–85 transformed the electoral landscape.
or nin

Hanham believed that ‘the years 1880–86 marked a significant break in electoral politics’. The main
reason for this dramatic change is arguably down to redistribution rather than to the wider franchise
se g

established in 1884. Henceforth, political life was dominated by class rather than by interests. As
d Pu

Lang pointed out, ‘redistribution in effect, grouped constituencies by class: middle-class suburbs,
Pr rp

working-class inner-city areas, landed class counties and so on’. The general election of 1885
confirms this view: for the first time MPs drawn from industry and commerce outnumbered those
oo os

related to the aristocracy.

fs es

Salisbury proved justified in his view that the single-member suburban constituencies would become
Conservative strongholds and essential to the party’s success for many years. Indeed, Evans noted
that 1885 ‘provided what was probably the biggest single boost his party ever received. The electoral
hegemony of the Conservative Party in the years 1886–1997 owed more to the shrewd cynicism of
the Marquess of Salisbury than it did to the meretricious chicanery of the Earl of Beaconsfield’.
O
nl

Representation of the People Act 1918

y

The year 1918 saw no major redistribution of seats in England. Some major towns and cities gained
seats, a process which, like 1867, limited the growth of urban influence in the counties. The Easter
Rising in Ireland, in 1916, prompted a general rearrangement of Irish seats designed to increase the
influence of the Unionist Party, the Irish equivalent of the Conservatives.
Between 1832 and 1918, patterns of redistribution were designed to provide some advantage to the
party in power. The process was taken out of the hands of politicians in 1944, when independent
boundary commissions were established to monitor the size of each constituency’s electorate
and recommend boundary sizes where appropriate. Parliament may not amend the boundary
commission’s decisions; they must be accepted or rejected as a whole.

33
3.1 Protest, agitation and parliamentary reform, c1780–1928

A Level Exam-Style Question Cause and consequence (7a & b)

Section C

‘Redistribution of seats was Questions and answers

carried out mainly to reflect Questions that historians ask vary depending on what they think is important. It is the questions
changes in Britain’s economic that interest us that define the history that is written. These questions change with time and place.
landscape.’ How far do you Different historians will also come up with different answers to the same questions, depending on their
agree with this opinion on perspectives and methods of interpretation, as well as the evidence they use.
parliamentary redistribution in
Below are three historians who had different areas of interest.
the years 1780–1918?
(20 marks)
G.M. Trevelyan E.P. Thompson Michel Foucault
Tip A political historian who lived An economic and political A French philosopher and
You should analyse in the late 19th and early 20th historian who lived in the 20th historian of ideas who lived in
redistribution in the years 1780– centuries. century. the 20th century.
1918, focusing on the extent of
Was interested in the idea Was interested in the role of Was interested in how
change and the increasing
that humanity is constantly radical political movements governments control society
representation given to towns
advancing through history and how they contributed to and the techniques they
and cities. Then consider other towards democracy. historical change in the 19th adopted to maintain order.
relevant factors making for century.
redistribution, such as attempts Believed that Britain’s political Believed that the extension
to eliminate corruption, and the system was a triumphant Was politically left-wing, and of liberties to individuals was
aim of making the representative product of progressive historical worked to emphasise the part actually a way for governments
U rP

change. played by the working classes in to continue governing. Argued

system overall acceptable to the
ne l

English history. that extensions of political

Fo

growing electorate.
representation to the middle
nd an

and working classes were ways

of avoiding revolution and
or nin

maintaining the peace.

se g

These are some key events in the reform of parliament between 1780 and 1928:
d Pu

Reform Act 1832 Ballot Act 1872 Chartist movement of the

Pr rp

1830s and 1840s

oo os

French Revolution Second Reform Act 1867 Lack of political representation

for women in the 19th century
fs es

Women’s suffrage in 1918 Failure of reform bills in 1831 Third Reform Act 1884
and 1832
Work in groups of between three and six to answer these questions:
1 Which of these events would have been of most interest to each historian? Explain your answer.
O

2 Each take the role of one historian and devise a question that would interest them about each of the
nl

events.
y

3 Discuss each event in turn. Present the questions that have been devised for each historian and offer
some ideas about how they would have answered them.
4 For each event, decide as a group which question is the most interesting and worthwhile of the three.
Answer the following questions in pairs:
5 Identify the different ways that each historian would approach writing an account of the passing of
the Reform Act 1832?
6 In what ways would Trevelyan and Thompson differ in their explanations of the significance of the
Chartist movement of the 1830s and 1840s? What would be the focus of their arguments?
Answer the following questions individually:
7 All three historians may produce very different accounts and explanations of the same piece of
history. Of the three historians, whose account would you prefer to read first? Explain your answer.
8 Do the differences in these accounts mean that one is more valid than the others?
9 Explain why different historical explanations are written by different historians.
10 Explain why different explanations of the same event can be equally valid.

34
 Reform of parliament, c1780–1928 3.1

ACTIVITY
KNOWLEDGE CHECK
The Redistribution Act 1885
1 How far do you agree that the Redistribution Act was the most important change to the electoral
system in the years 1867–85?
2 Write three paragraphs in which you agree with the statement in question 1, focusing on the
Redistribution Act.
3 Write a further three or four paragraphs on the reforms passed in the years 1867–83, highlighting
one change that you think could be considered as more important than the Act of 1885. Explain your
reasons.

ACTIVITY
SUMMARY
Key turning points
1 The table below shows the changing size of the British electorate in the years 1780–1928.

1780 214,000
First Reform Act 1832 800,000
Second Reform Act 1867 2,000,000
U rP

Third Reform Act 1884 5,400,000

ne l
Fo

Fourth Reform Act 1918 21,400,000

nd an

Fifth Reform Act 1928 26,700,000

or nin

The figures suggest that the Fourth Reform Act 1918 was the most significant of the Reform Acts
se g

because of the substantial increase in the size of the electorate.

a) Give reasons to support the view that the 1918 Act was the most important of the Reform Acts.
d Pu
Pr rp

b) Choose one of the other Acts that might be considered the key turning point in the changes to the
franchise in these years. Explain your choice.
oo os

2 The Acts of 1832 and 1867, and the Redistribution Act 1885, saw major changes in the distribution of
fs es

seats across Britain. Which development do you think was more important in the creation of a more
representative electoral system in these years: the extension of the franchise or the redistribution of
seats? Explain your choice.
O

wider reading
nl

Briggs, A. The Age of Improvement, 1783–1867, Longman (1986)

y

Brown, R. Revolution, Radicalism and Reform, 1780–1846, Cambridge (2000)

Evans, E.J. Parliamentary Reform, c1770–1918, Pearson (2000)

Evans, E.J. The Forging of the Modern State, 1783–1870, Longman (1996)

Gash, N. Aristocracy and People, 1815–65, Arnold (1979)

Lang, S. Parliamentary Reform, 1785–1928, Routledge (2005)

O’Gorman, F. Voters, Patrons and Parties: The Unreformed Electoral System of Hanoverian England,
1734–1832, Oxford (1989)

Partridge, M. ‘Gladstone and parliamentary reform, 1832–94’, History Review (September 2003)

Pearse, R. ‘The Great Reform Act, 1832’, History Review (March 2007)

Whitfield, B. The Extension of the Franchise, 1832–1931, Heinemann (2001)

Woodall, R. ‘The Ballot Act of 1872’, History Today (July 1974)

35