Reform Act of 1832

• Positive – the Great Reform Act was a huge step forward for democracy:

  56 rotten and pocket boroughs abolished – allowed for seats to be redistributed

  Southern England loses seats to the midlands and north – more representative

  Less corruption

  More uniform voting system

  More voters created – 516,000 in 1831 to 813,000 in 1833

  More representation for urban areas – Manchester, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Dudley…

  Middle class gain the vote

  Shows that the system is open to change
• Negative – the Great Reform Act did little in terms of reforming parliament

  Some people lose the right to vote – pottwallopers, freemen, and women

  Some people have more than one vote

  Voting is still based on owning property

  Still different requirements for boroughs and counties

  House of Lords still has veto – undemocratic
• Fee to sign up to electoral register

  Voting is still public – this could lead to intimidation and bribery

  Working class still can’t vote – splits alliance with middle class – also damaged working class relations with the Whigs

  Parliaments are still 7 years long

  1832 74% of constituencies were contested but after only 60% were – so there was reduced competition, suggests limited choice for voters

  Parliament is still dominated by the wealthy landed classes
• The reform act was passed in 1832 because of:

  • whig reform proposal
  • popular pressure from organised radical groups
  • fear of violence and riots by landowners
  • Grey's tactics of resigning and demanding Whig peers
• Terms of the Reform Act 1832: seat redistributed

  • 56 rotten boroughs or pocket boroughs were abolished
  • 30 small boroughs (<4000 people) lost 1 of their 2 MPs
  • 2 boroughs had their allocation of MPs reduced to 2 from 4
  • 143 seats redistributed
  • counties gained 65 seats, 22 large towns (Birmingham and Leeds) gained 4 MP's
  • 21 other towns (Wolverhampton and Dudley) gained 1 seat
  • Scotland and Ireland gained 8 and 4 respectively
• Terms of the Reform Act 1832: who could vote

  • in boroughs -> men who owned or rented a house worth £10 per year could vote --> voter had to be head of the household and resident for 1 year
  • counties --> freeholders, had the deed to the land -> who owned the land worth £2 or more per annum, copyholders -> occupied land worth £10 per year could vote and tenants who rented land worth £50 per year could vote
  • all potential voters had to sign up to the electoral register -> a fee
• Terms of the Reform Act 1832: what were the main changes

  • uniform, simple voting system
  • abolition of may rotten boroughs and pocket boroughs
  • electorate grew by around 250 000 -> 1831 -> 5% of adult men had the vote --> 1833 -> 7% of adult men had the vote
  • some lost the right to vote -> Potwallopers, scot and lot payers, freemen and women
  • redistribution of seats
• Terms of the Reform Act 1832: what did not change

  • public voting
  • different qualifications to vote in town and country
  • some individuals qualifies for more than 1 vote
  • still 7 year Parliaments
  • no payment for MPs
  • voting still based on property
  • House of Lords could still veto property
• Consequences:

  • Huge Whig majority in 1832 -> 479 Whigs to 179 Tories
  • wealthy middle-class individuals now had the opportunity to participate in political life -> as voters and MPs without buying their way
  • corruption was reduced
  • threat of revolution was diminished --> Separated the middle and wealthy
  • Whigs were able to embark on a substantial reforming programme during the 1830s
• The First Bill:

  • Wellington's government was defeated over the Civil List in November 1830 -> anger over the parties recent decisions --> Corn Laws and Catholic Emancipation
  • Grey became prime minister -> Whig government --> Lord John Russell to prepare Parliamentary Reform
  • presented this to the House of Commons in March 1831
  • passed through the commons but didn't get through all the required stages of the committee
  • second bill prepared
• The Second Bill:

  • parliament reconvened in the autumn -> Russell introduced a second Bill
  • passed the commons but was defeated in the Lords -> 8th October 1831
  • not surprising -> Lords didn't want to dilute their power to decide who sat in the Commons
• Whig uncertainty and popular unrest:

  • being defeated twice --> Grey was not sure whether to keep trying to get reform
  • outside of parliament others wanted him to continue
  • Thomas Attwood --> national movement
  • National Political Union --> chatter in October 1831 demanding that the nation should act together to prevent the aristocracy from blocking political reform --> outbreaks of civil disorder
• The Third Bill:

  • co-ordination of the pro-reform movement and violence -> Grey acted
  • Grey tried to diffuse the situation by introducing the third bill
  • Passed the commons and went to the house of lords March 1832 ->> The lords wanted to reject the Bill and he couldn't bring in Whigs to the HoL => Grey resigned and there was no support for the alternative (under the Tory Wellington)
  • King reluctantly asked Grey to come back -> BPU and other unions met in London to coordinate against the King's decision --> "Run on the Banks"
  • 100 tory Lords abstained from voting -> leading to the bill being passed
• Run on the Banks:

  • means that protesters who had paper money would go to banks and demand the cash equivalent in Gold -> causing a cash crisis
  • Thomas Attwood was at the centre of this
• Terms of the Act:

  • Constituencies --> 143 seats taken from the south and given to areas where the population was growing
  • the vote --> uniform qualification, owned or rented land work £10 a year, in the countryside had to have property worth £2 or rented at a worth of £50
• Impact of the Reform Act:

  • the whigs -> separated the middle and working classes, the new middle classes support the Whigs
  • the working class -> there was no change for them, infact they started Chartism for inclusion in voting
  • the middle class -> used political power to help themselves, increasing division between the House of Commons and Lord
  • the electorate -> 657 000 voters after the act, still highly aristocratic but more middle classes could vote