Summary of each Reform Act from 1832 to 85, considering each of the following:
- Causes
- Passage through Parliament
- Measures
- Changes and limitations to franchise, seats, conduct of elections
1832 Great Reform Act Measures
- Uniform rules for voting
- Borough qualification - men owning/occupying properties
Causes
valued at >£10 and £50 leaseholders gained the vote
1. Pressure from the m/class - County qualification - land worth 40 shillings
- Recognised the limitations of protectionism - Voters had to register formally
- Wanted free trade
2. W/class discontent
Changes
- Int’l events, e.g. French Revolution, threatened the position of
Franchise
the aristocracy
3. Political unions - Number of voters increased from 435,000 to 813,000 → 20%
- Landed elite feared that this would bring tgt w + m/class adult males (before = 4%)
discontent and create a revolution Boroughs:
4. Economic context - Uniform property qualification enfranchised £10 householders
- Trade slumps Counties:
- Swing riots in rural areas - esp important b/c of switch from - 40 Shilling Freeholders were joined by the tenants who paid a
apathy to action from rural areas min. of £50/annum
5. Trade union activity - Clauses were intended to exclude the w/class from voting
- Development of General Unionism
6. Instability in gov’t Redistribution of seats
- Wellington divided the R-wing after supporting the passage of - 56 rotten boroughs lost both seats in Parliament
the Act of Catholic Emancipation 1829 - 30 small boroughs lost 1 MP
- 22 new 2-member boroughs were created, mainly industrial
Passage through Parliament towns
1st Reform Bill March 1831 - 20 new boroughs w/ 1 MP were created, older industrial towns
- Introduced in HoC by Lord John Russell and spa towns
- Was not passed through Commons - Small disenfranchised boroughs redistributed to counties
2nd Reform Bill July 1831 Conduct of elections
- Passed through Commons - Voters had to be registered
- Rejected by the HoL (mostly Tories) - Contested elections rose from before 1832 = 30%, after 1832 =
59%
3rd Reform Bill December 1831
- Bill struggled to pass through HoL Limitations
- Extreme rioting (‘Days of May’) followed Franchise
- Actions of the campaigners helped the Bill pass through - W/class excluded from vote → landownership exclusive,
- King allowed Grey to invite more Whig peers into HoL to pass borough franchise only extended to artisans
the bill - Abolition of potwalloper and scot and lot franchises, which
held many w/class voters
, Party message:
Redistribution of seats - Didn’t immediately form a distinctive party due to the
- Many small towns retained representation, e.g. >600 heterogeneity of the Lichfield House Compact
constituencies had <300 voters - Passed important legislation to retain reputation as party of
- Many large towns, e.g. Doncaster, had no separate reform
representation
- Industrial areas still underrepresented → English and Welsh Party and constituency organisation
counties had 50% pop but only 32% of seats - Concentrated efforts on building up in the boroughs
- Uni seats of Oxford and Cambridge kept separate - Adopted a central organisation, the reform club, with Joseph
representation (until 1950) Parkes
- Fielded both Whig and radical candidates in many
Conduct of elections constituencies
- No secret ballot - Municipal Corporations Act 1835 stimulated m/class support
- Bribery and corruption still prevalent
- No limit on election expenses Party strongholds
- Tradition of patronage survived w/ high no. seats - Manufacturing-based constituencies
- Larger boroughs in Midlands and North
Party Political Changes
Tory/Conservative Party 1867 Second Reform Act
Party message
- Tamworth Manifesto → Peel committed party to a policy of Causes
moderate reform correcting - Death of Palmerston → previously a major obstacle to reform
- New name ‘Conservative’ implied stability and lack of rapid - Gladstone’s views on parliamentary reform → firmly believed
change in enfranchising the w/class
- Still firmly attached to Constitution in Church and State - Conservatives’ electoral position → reform would possibly
give the Conservatives more seats
Party and constituency organisation - Party political considerations → Conservatives wanted to split
- Professional agents appointed to work the register and
the liberals over the matter of reform
publicise candidates
- Local clubs - Popular agitation → Nat’l Reform Union and Reform League
- New central org. w/ creation of Carlton Club and Francis - Developments abroad → Italy and US undergoing democratic
Bonham civil wars
Party strongholds: Passage Through Parliament
- Strongest in the counties - 136/154 county seats Lord Russell’s 1866 Bill
- Won small boroughs in some large urban areas, e.g. Bristol - Lower the borough qualification for householders to £7
- Enfranchise lodgers in boroughs who paid >£10/yr
Whig/Liberal Party - Lower county qualifications for tenants to £14
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