Reform Act 1832
On the 1st of January 1801, the Acts of Union became law and created a House of Commons with 658 members. Of these, 513 represented England and Wales. The system relied on two types of constituencies: counties and boroughs. County members were known as knights of the shire and were supposed to represent landholders. Borough members were meant to represent mercantile and trading interests.
Parliamentary boroughs in England ranged from small hamlets to large cities. They had evolved haphazardly since the Middle Ages when county sheriffs chose them. Some early boroughs like Winchelsea and Dunwich were substantial settlements at their enfranchisement but later declined. By the early 19th century some had only a few electors yet still elected two MPs. These were often called rotten boroughs.
Of the 70 English boroughs that Tudor monarchs enfranchised, 31 were later disfranchised. Grampound was one of the 31 boroughs disenfranchised but it happened in 1821 prior to the Reform Act 1832. After Newark was enfranchised in 1661 no additional boroughs were enfranchised until the Reform Act 1832. Most English boroughs elected two MPs but five boroughs elected only one MP including Abingdon, Banbury, Bewdley, Higham Ferrers and Monmouth.
The largest borough Westminster had about 12,000 voters while many smallest known as rotten boroughs had fewer than 100 each. Old Sarum was the most famous rotten borough with 13 burgage plots that could be used to manufacture electors if necessary. Other examples included Dunwich with 32 voters Camelford with 25 and Gatton with just 7.
Support for parliamentary reform in Britain plummeted following the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789. The revolution led many British politicians to become steadfastly opposed to major political change. Despite this several radical groups were established in Britain to agitate for reform. A group of Whigs led by the Earl of Lauderdale and Charles Grey founded an organisation advocating parliamentary reform in 1792.
This group known as the Society of the Friends of the People included 28 MPs. In 1793 Grey presented to the House of Commons a petition from the Friends of the People outlining abuses of the system and demanding change. Parliament's reaction to the French Revolution was so negative that even this request for an inquiry was rejected by a margin of almost 200 votes. Grey tried to raise the subject again in 1797 but the House again rebuffed him by a majority of over 150.
Other notable pro-reform organisations included the Hampden Clubs named after John Hampden and the London Corresponding Society which consisted of workers and artisans. But the Radical reforms supported by these organisations found even less support in Parliament. For example when Sir Francis Burdett proposed universal suffrage his motion found only one other supporter Lord Cochrane in the entire House.
In 1819 a large pro-reform rally was held in Birmingham although the city was not entitled to any seats in the Commons. Between 20,000 and 60,000 people attended the event according to different estimates. The protesters were ordered to disband and when they did not the Manchester Yeomanry suppressed the meeting by force. Eighteen people were killed and several hundred injured in what later became known as the Peterloo Massacre.
The death of King George IV on the 26th of June 1830 dissolved Parliament by law and a general election was held. Electoral reform which had been frequently discussed during the preceding parliament became a major campaign issue. Across the country several pro-reform political unions were formed made up of both middle and working class individuals. The most influential of these was the Birmingham Political Union led by Thomas Attwood.
Charles Grey 2nd Earl Grey became prime minister in 1830 and his first announcement as prime minister was a pledge to carry out parliamentary reform. On the 1st of March 1831 Lord John Russell brought forward the Reform Bill in the House of Commons on the government's behalf. The bill disfranchised 60 of the smallest boroughs and reduced the representation of 47 others. Some seats were completely abolished while others were redistributed to London suburbs large cities counties Scotland and Ireland.
On the 22nd of March the vote on the second reading attracted a record 608 members including the non-voting Speaker. Despite the high attendance the second reading was approved by only one vote and further progress on the Reform Bill was difficult. During the committee stage Isaac Gascoyne put forward a motion objecting to provisions of the bill that reduced the total number of seats in the House of Commons. This motion was carried against the government's wishes by 8 votes.
The Bill was then sent up to the House of Lords where a majority was known to be hostile to it. When the Lords voted on the second reading after a memorable series of debates many Tory peers did refrain from voting. However the Lords Spiritual mustered in unusually large numbers and of 22 present 21 voted against the Bill in October 1831. It failed to pass by 41 votes.
The Reform Act's chief objective was the reduction of the number of nomination boroughs election districts. There were 203 boroughs in England before the Act. The 56 smallest of these as measured by their housing stock and tax assessments were completely abolished. The next 30 smallest boroughs each lost one of their two MPs. In addition Weymouth and Melcombe Regis's four members were reduced to two.
Thus in total the Act abolished 143 borough seats in England including Higham Ferrers which returned only a single MP. In their place the Act created new districts and 130 new seats in England and Wales. Twenty-six English counties were divided into two divisions with each division being represented by two members. Seven English counties and three Welsh counties each received an additional representative.
Yorkshire which was represented by four MPs before the Act was given an extra two MPs so that each of its three ridings was represented by two MPs. The Isle of Wight heretofore part of Hampshire received its own single representative member. Twenty-two large towns were given two MPs while another 21 towns of which two were in Wales were given one MP.
Thus 65 new county seats and 65 new borough seats were created in England and Wales. The total number of English members fell by 18 and the number in Wales increased by five. The boundaries of the new divisions and parliamentary boroughs were defined in a separate Act called the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832.
It is estimated that immediately before the Reform Act 1832, 400,000 English citizens were entitled to vote and after passage the number rose to 650,000. This represents an increase of more than 60 percent. Rodney Mace estimates that before only 1 per cent of the population could vote and that the Reform Act only extended the franchise to 7 per cent of the population.
The Scottish electorate overnight soared from 5,000 to 65,000 or 13 percent of adult men. Scotland's population was 2 million and its electorate had been only 0.2 percent of the population compared to 4 percent in England. The Scottish Reform Act revolutionised politics in Scotland making it no longer a private preserve of a few very rich families.
Tradesmen such as shoemakers mistakenly believed that the Reform Act had given them the vote. One example is the shoemakers of Duns Berwickshire who created a banner celebrating the Reform Act which declared The battle's won Britannia's sons are free. This banner is on display at People's History Museum in Manchester.
Many major commercial and industrial cities became separate parliamentary boroughs under the act. A study of elections in the medium-sized borough of Halifax 1832, 1852 concluded that party organisations and voters themselves depended heavily on local social relationships and local institutions. Having the vote encouraged many men to become much more active in the political economic and social sphere.
The property qualifications of the Reform Act were substantial at the time and barred most of the working class from the vote. This created division between the working class and middle class and led to the growth of the Chartist Movement. Although it did disenfranchise most rotten boroughs a few remained such as Totnes in Devon and Midhurst in Sussex.
Bribery of voters remained a problem. As Sir Thomas Erskine May observed it was too soon evident that as more votes had been created more votes were to be sold. The Reform Act strengthened the House of Commons by reducing the number of nomination boroughs controlled by peers but some aristocrats complained that future governments could compel them to pass any bill simply by threatening to swamp the House of Lords with new peerages.
During the ensuing years Parliament adopted several more minor reforms including the Parliamentary Elections Act 1835 for borough constituencies and the Parliamentary Elections No 2 Act 1836 for county constituencies. These increased the number of polling places in each constituency and thus reduced polling to a single day. Parliament also passed several laws aimed at combatting corruption including the Corrupt Practices Act 1854 though these measures proved largely ineffectual.
There was considerable public agitation for further expansion of the electorate however. In particular the Chartist movement which demanded universal suffrage for men equally sized electoral districts and voting by secret ballot gained a widespread following. However no proposal was successful until 1867 when Parliament adopted the Second Reform Act.
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Common questions
What was the Reform Act 1832 and when did it become law?
The Reform Act 1832 reduced the number of nomination boroughs and redistributed parliamentary seats to create new districts in England and Wales. The bill disfranchised 60 of the smallest boroughs and reduced the representation of 47 others before passing into law.
How many voters were eligible under the Reform Act 1832 compared to before?
Before the Reform Act 1832, approximately 400,000 English citizens were entitled to vote while the number rose to 650,000 after passage. This represents an increase of more than 60 percent according to estimates from Rodney Mace.
Which rotten boroughs were abolished by the Reform Act 1832?
The Reform Act 1832 completely abolished 56 of the smallest boroughs including Old Sarum which had only 13 burgage plots. Other examples like Dunwich with 32 voters and Camelford with 25 were also removed from the electoral system.
When did Charles Grey introduce the Reform Bill to Parliament?
Lord John Russell brought forward the Reform Bill on behalf of the government on the 1st of March 1831. Charles Grey became prime minister in 1830 and pledged to carry out parliamentary reform as his first announcement.
What was the impact of the Reform Act 1832 on the Scottish electorate?
The Scottish electorate overnight soared from 5,000 to 65,000 or 13 percent of adult men following the Reform Act 1832. Scotland's population was 2 million and its electorate had been only 0.2 percent of the population compared to 4 percent in England before the change.