Parliamentary Reform

Who could vote before 1832?

• 13% of the population could vote

• 203 boroughs

  • 29 used the burgage borough system where those who owned certain homes or land through ancestry had the right to vote - very small voter base and people often bought specific plots of land for the vote

  • In 27 the corporation simply selected the 2 MPs 

  • 37 used the scot and lot system - paying local taxes (like contributing to the poor relief) gave you the vote

  • 16 boroughs restricted voters to potwallopers (those with a hearth wide enough for a cauldron)

  • In 92 boroughs the vote was eligible for freemen and brought a large electorate (7,000 in London) - the corporations decided who had the freedom of the boroughs

What was a rotten borough?

Low number of voters but still sent back 2 MPs

How did pre-1832 elections work?

• No secret ballot

• Candidates were often bought or born in

  • Peel's father bought the Irish pocket borough County Tipperary for him

  • Charles James Fox was voted in at his aristocratic family's county

• There were no prescribed political parties

• Because of pocket boroughs, elections rarely against the King's expectations

How did states overseas influence the reform act?

USA and France both enfranchised every man who paid tax

How did Pitt try to influence reform?

• 1785

• Staunchly against the idolisation of the constitution and believed it had defects

• His proposal was to buy 36 boroughs with the Electors' consent and redistribute the 72 seats to the important trading cities

• The proposal was defeated at 248 to 174

Why did calls to reform parliament fail between 1780 and 1830?

• Parliament and propertied classes were alarmed by the French Revolution and staunchly opposed any proposal for change

• Legislation for reform was often accompanied by other ideas such as lower taxes and currency reform

• Those who supported reform were often those who were considered eccentric

• Parliament was hesitant

Whigs and the reform bill

• 1793

• Earl Grey believed in the system the revolutionary states had implemented of tax giving one the vote

  • Linked the Whig party with supporting the increasingly unpopular French Revolution

• Bill was defeated 282 to 41

Tories and parliamentary reform

Peel was against the reform bill, although he believed that the old system was absurd it allowed MPs to be independent thinkers and not tied to the wishes of those who elected them

Thomas Attwood

• 1783-1856

• Banker and economist with radical ideas

• Campaign for paper currency not tied to the price of gold

• Founded the Birmingham political union (BPU)

• Represented Birmingham in parliament from 1832 to 1839

• He presented the first national chartist petition

• Demanded there to be an MP salary, all men who paid taxes to have the vote, and the end of property qualifications to become an MP

Why was there such a demand for reform 1828-30

• Changing nature of parliament due to Catholic Emancipation

• Under-representation of the major industrial cities

Importance of popular discontent 1830-32

• After Napoleonic wars most unrest was in industrial and urban areas but in 1830-31 there was popular rural unrest

• Swing riots hit many rural areas in this time

  • Demanding higher wages, abolition of tithes (payment to CofE), threatening employers, and destruction of threshing machines

Dorset riot

• 1831

• Supporters of the tory candidate, Lord Ashley, were attacked

• Caused by poverty and loss of winter jobs because of the new threshing machines

• 2,000 tried

• 19 hanged

• 252 given death sentence but reprieved

• 481 were transported to Australia

Bristol Riots

• 1831

• Triggered by arrival of Sir Wetherall who was the judge for Bristol to begin the sittings of local court

• He was an outspoken opponent of reform

• 500-600 people attacked Bristol's mansion house and gaol

• Bishops' palace was burned down

• Troops did not act for fear of further agitation until eventually they attacked with sabres

• Riots lasted three days

Nottingham Unrest

• 1831

• Provoked by the rejection of the reform bill

• A crowd attacked municipal buildings

• Military dispersed the crowd but not before they ransacked Colwick Hall

• They then went to Nottingham castle, which was owned by Tory MP, the Duke of Newcastle

  • Uninhabited at the time but it was burned (not burned down) before soldiers regained control

Political Unions

• Growth of the BPU placed even more pressure for a reform bill

• Meeting in Birmingham in support of parliamentary reform was attended by 15,000 people

• Attwood gave a speech that circulated nationwide

• Political unions based around the country and around the ideas of the BPU

How important was middle-class protest?

• Far more extensive than any other protest movement since 1783

• Organised and might threaten Britain's vital trade and financial trade

• Danger of a link between popular and middle-class protest

• Vigorous and committed leaders

Downsides of middle-class protest

• No clear agreement on the form or the extent of reform

• The links between working-class and middle-class reform were limited

• Political unions were indifferent to the plight of agricultural workers and condemned the riots in Bristol and Nottingham

Other reasons for the passing of the Reform Bill

• Wellington was not able to form a government in May 1832

• William IV disliked the bill but did not block it

• Peel refused to form a government and be forced to pass the reform like he was forced to pass Catholic emancipation

What did the GRA do

• 56 rotten and pocket boroughs were disenfranchised

• 30 boroughs could now only return 1 MP

• 143 seats redistributed

• Counties gained 65 seats

• Scotland gained 8 seats and Ireland gained 5

How many could vote in 1833

• Electorate raised from 516,000 to 813,000 out of 24 million by 1833

What did not change?

• Still no secret ballot

• Parliament remained 7 year-long terms

• MPs still had no salary

• House of Lords retained its powers