✅History of the franchise

suffrage/ the franchise=

the ability or right to vote in public elections. In the present day, all adults over the age of 18 have this right, provided they have registered to vote

What rights do British + Irish citizens have to vote in each others countries

reciprocal rights

re. people who don’t live in the country, who can vote?

• Commonwealth citizens are allowed to vote, as are UK nationals who have lived abroad for less than 15 years.

people who are excluded form taking part in parliamentary elections are:

• Under 18s

• Members of the HOL

• Prisoners

• Those convicted of a corrupt or illegal electoral practice, who are barred for 5 years

• People who are compulsorily detained in a psychiatric hospital

Reform between the late Middle Ages + 19th century:

• no major reform of the electoral system occurred + so there were numerous anomalies:

The numerous anomalies in the electoral system between the late Middle Ages + the early 19th century

• There were 2 types of constituency: the counties + the boroughs which varied in size, in the counties right to vote for owners of property  + voting in boroughs varied

• The distribution of parliamentary seats had not kept pace w economic growth + population movement, so some tiny boroughs retained a historic right to return MPs while emerging industrial towns didn't have one

• Plural voting allowed wealthy men, who owned property in more than 1 constituency to vote more than once

• By custom, women were excluded from voting, although there were some women who owned property exercising the franchise

How big was the electorate by the early of the 19th century

• about 400k

The great reform act 1832

• Brought about the 1st major change by:

  • Abolishing the 'rotten borough's' + creating seats for urban areas e.g. Manchester

  • Granting the vote to some new categories including tenant farmers + smaller property owners

  • Creating a standard qualification for the franchise in the boroughs so it applied to all male householders living in properties who paid a yearly rental of £10+

  • The electorate increased to 650k (5% of adult population)

Other acts following the 1832 great reform act

1867 second reform act

1884 third reform act

1918 representation of the people act

1928 equal franchise act

1969 representation of the people act

2014 Scotland

2020 Wales

1867 second reform act:

• Borough householders enfranchised, creating a substantial working-class franchise for the 1st time. The electorate rose to 1-2 million (13% of adult population)

1884 third reform act

• Rural householders enfranchised. Electorate now over 5 million (25% of adults)

1918 representation of the people act

• Widened suffrage by abolishing almost all property qualifications for men over 21 + enfranchised women over 30 who met a minimum property qualification. The electorate was over 21mil w 41% of them women

1928 equal franchise act

• Legal voting age for women was reduced from 30 to 21 + abolished all property qualifications, creating universal suffrage for the UK

1969 representation of the people act

• Lowered voting age from 21 to 18, enfranchising 18-20 y/os

2014 Scotland

• Scottish independence ref allowed 16 y/os to vote, + the Scottish parl approved the proposal to reduce voting age from 18 to 16 for Scottish parl + local elections

2020 Wales

• Welsh parliament lowered the voting age in Wales to 16 in Welsh parliament elections

Suffragette march in London 1911

• Franchise being extended to include more men in the 2nd half of the 19th century led to a growing sense of injustice + a movement campaigning for the right to vote for women

• 2 factions dominated the movement:

  • The suffragettes and the suffragists

The suffragists:

• In 1897, the national union of women's suffrage societies (suffragists) was formed, led by Millicent Fawcett. They believed in making change happen through peaceful means + to raise the issue in debates in the HOC

The suffragettes

• In 1903, angered by the lack of progress in parliament, Emmeline Pankhurst + others formed the women's social + political union (suffragettes) w the motto 'deeds not words'.

• They believed that peaceful, parliamentary means of achieving change had been exhausted + the committed to direct action + civil disobedience to achieve the vote

• In 1918, the representation of the people act was passed

What was the right to vote for women a massive shift from?

• 1868 when MP Mill's bill to extend suffrage to women was laughed at in the HOC

• The 1st emphasis of how women’s right to vote changed tends to fall on?

• the suffragist movement + the unsung groundwork that they did: petitioning, letter writing, producing pamphlets w their arguments + peaceful demonstrations, their aim was to garner public support as well as the support of Mps to make change inevitable

The suffragettes became increasingly frustrated w What?

• the slow progress of change and saw the suffragists as being way too optimistic about the liberal govt bringing about universal suffrage. This led some to argue that it was the militant tactics adopted by the suffragettes, including destroying letterboxes, smashing windows, cutting telephone wires, burning down properties owned by politicians + carving slogans into golf courses, which forced change.

The tactics adopted by the suffragettes included

• The tactics adopted, including the most high profile when Emily Davison chose to throw herself under the king's horse at the derby

• Emily Davison choosing to throw herself under the king's horse at the derby, lived up to Pankhurst's view that?

• 'you have to make yourself more obtrusive than anybody else, fill all the papers more than anybody else if you are really going to get your reform realised.'

• The fear of the return of this sort of activism after ww1 may well have?

• persuaded MPs to grant women's suffrage. Even if that is the case, questions still remained over the conflict between their aim of achieving votes under the law + their tactics of breaking the law.

• Critics of the suffragettes believed what?

• this approach was counterproductive because it alienated public + private support, and many MPs thought it showed women were unfit to have the vote. Finally, the arrival of ww1 saw the campaign put on the backburner as women from the movement committed to war work w great achievements in many areas, such as science + engineering. Many felt it was inevitable in light of the contribution of women that the vote would be granted after the war