British Parliamentary Reform

When was Habeas corpus suspended and what is it?

1794, the right to a fair trial

Peterloo Massacre

1819, 60,000 people were there to listen to Henry Hunt, it was a peaceful crowd until the militia arrested Hunt, 11 were killed and 400 injured

When was the Representation of the People’s Act / First Reform Act / Great Reform Act passed?

1832

Newport Rising

November 1839, inspired by the arrest of Henry Vincent, it was led by John Frost and there were 10,000 people, we do not know who fired first but 22 men were killed and over 50 injured, this rising made the government worried so they did not execute the imprisoned leaders but transported them

Liberal Party

Formed in 1859 and derived from the Whigs and other liberal groups, they set up working men’s clubs in urban areas during the Victorian period, by the 1920s, the wartime split within the Liberals between Asquithian Liberals and Lloyd George’s coalition had damaged party unity

When was the Second Reform Act passed?

1867

Secret Ballot Act

1872 under Gladstone’s government

When was the Third Reform Act passed?

1884

Redistribution of Seats Act

1885, 142 seats were redistributed with London going from 22 to 55 MPs and Cornwall went from 22 to 55 MPs

Labour Party

Formed in 1893, in 1906 it gained 29 seats, then 42 seats in 1910, in 1915 it had 3 MPs in office under Asquith’s coalition government in 1923 it had 191 seats which led to Ramsay MacDonald becoming PM in 1924 under and Labour and Liberal joint government

When was the Woman’s Social and Political Union Formed?

1903

When was the Parliament Act passed?

1911

When was the Glasgow Rent Strike?

1915

When was the Fourth Reform Act passed?

1918

When were the Black Friday riots in Glasgow?

1919

When was the General Strike?

1926

When was the Trades Disputes Act passed?

1927

When was the Contagious Disease Act passed?

1864

When was the Contagious Diseases Act repealed?

1886

When was the Equal Franchise Act passed?

1928

What percentage of the population could vote in 1780 and what were the qualifications?

5%, men over the age of 21 who either owned a large amount of property or met a complex requirement of living in a borough

When did the French Revolution outbreak?

1789

Siditious Meetings Act

1795, meant that no more than 50 people could gather at one time unless it was approved in advance

Lord Liverpool’s government

1812-27, he was highly successful as he held together a government of reformers and conservatives

Wellington’s government

1828-30

When does Earl Grey become Prime Minister?

1830

When does Palmerston die?

1865

When and what were the Hyde Park riots?

1866, they were a response to the dismissal of the second reform bill, it had 200,000 people causing police to call for support from the life guards

When does Derby become Prime Minister?

1866

Corrupt and Illegal Practices Act

1883, it set a maximum amount of money that could be spent on an election, outlawed parties booking up available transport, it led to fines / imprisonment and removal of seat if the candidate broke the law

When does Gladstone become Prime Minister for the second time?

1880

When was Disraeli Prime Minister?

1868 and then 1874-80

What was the average number of voters per borough before the first reform act?

Fewer than 100

What were the qualifications to vote in a potwalloper borough?

Men who possessed a hearth where they could boil pots

Rotten boroughs

They kept a disproportionate amount of power within parliament due to their previous height of economic activity when had now ended, for example Old Sarum still had the vote but had been eroded into the sea

How many voters were there in 1780?

214,000 / 8,000,000

Society for Constitutional Information

1780, Major Cartwright, it promoted parliamentary reform by educating citizens, it faded under the government crackdown in the 1890s

London Corresponding Society

Founded in 1792, in 1794 its leaders were put on trial

When and what was the Friends of the People?

1792, founded by Whig politicians and it aimed to control the pace of reform by promoting modest changed to the electoral system

When and what was the Corresponding Societies Act?

1799, it outlawed the London Corresponding Society and its provincial groups

Corn Law

1815, aimed to protect the economic interests of the landed class through the imposition of a duty to buy imported corn which would make the price of bread rise

Spa Fields

1816 in London, it was a reform meeting which turned into a riot and had to be supressed with military support by the authorities

Earl Grey

1830-34

Why was the 1832 Reform Act introduced?

French Revolution, William Corbett’s ‘Weekly Political Register’ allowed for working people to become involved in politics, political meetings such as Spa Fields and Peterloo, Tory party unity was fragmented and the 1828-30 harvests were poor which led to the Swing Riots of 1830

Birmingham Political Union

1830, Thomas Atwood which intended to bring together the middle class and skilled workers into one group fighting for parliamentary reform

How was the 1832 Reform Act passed?

The bill was rejected once by the House of Commons and then twice by the House of Lords, this led to Grey asking William IV if there could be more pro-reform peers in the House of Lords which he refused, this led to the Days of May which were national protests, this encouraged William IV to agree to the extra peers

What did the 1832 Reform Act do (positives)?

Enfranchised male householders with a house worth £10 a year, this was standard throughout the country, this caused the electorate to increase by 55% from 240,000 voters to 370,000

What did the 1832 Reform Act do (negatives)?

Electors had to have lived in their house for a year and had to pay poor rates, this new property qualification meant that there were far more voters in the south than the north with some boroughs seeing a reduction in voting

When and what was the Reform Union introduced?

1864, it promoted a moderate extension of the franchise and the introduction of a secret ballot, introduced by Liberals

Reform League

1865, much larger than the Reform Union but they worked together, it wanted universal manhood suffrage, it had a strong following from trade unionists and the skilled working class

Why did the Tories want the Second Reform Act?

The Tories had lost most of their power since 1832 so as they knew that the people wanted reform they used it to gain support

Why was the second reform act passed?

Since 1860, there had been a dramatic rise in the circulation of popular press, Reform Union and Reform League organised mass demonstrations, economic distress - particularly because of a cotton famine in the north, conservative party wanted reform

What were the threats to the passing of the Second Reform Act?

Conservative Liberals (adullamites), offered strong resistance in parliament to any reform measure, not all Conservatives supported reform, Cranborne didn’t and the landed gentry feared a dilution of their power

Who introduced the Second Reform Act?

Disraeli

Conservatives

In the late 1830s, Peel improved its organisation by putting Bonham in charge who encouraged growth of Conservative associations in constituencies, in 1867 the National Union of Conservative Constituency Associations was set up by Gorst to organise local associations under one national, central associations, after Disraeli’s death in 1881 the Primrose League was set up to allow men and women to promote conservative ideas, by the 1920s it attracted both middle and lower class voters