Britain - 1867 & 1885 Reform Acts

Question 1

How did Britain reach a point in the 1850s where they deemed reform necessary?

Answer 1

Parliament and the public were becoming out of sync:

• Parliament still influenced by landed interest and patronage
• Society ‘modernised’

Reduction of social tension and the long period of social boom created a climate of optimism

Question 2

What factors in the 1860s helped push for reform?

Answer 2

• Organisations
• People and politics
• International events
• Economic matters

Question 3

What was the National Reform Union?

Answer 3

Formed in 1864
Led by wealthy Manchester merchants, industrials and radical MPs.
Mainly supported by Middle class Liberals.
Aimed to persuade the government to extend the franchise to household suffrage, distribute seats more evenly and bring in secret voting.

Question 4

What was the Reform League?

Answer 4

Formed in 1865
Pressed for complete manhood suffrage.
Attracted trade unionists and ex-Chartists
Predominantly a working class organisation.
Supported by various left-wing organisations

Question 5

What were organisations doing by 1867 to push for reform?

Answer 5

The Reform League (with the membership) and the Reform Union (with the money) were working together to persuade the government

Question 6

How did the death of Palmerston effect the likelihood of reform?

Answer 6

He had conducted a popular foreign policy which gave him the prestige to block measures he didn’t like.
He was never in favour of reform; saw no reasons for it in the 1860s, saying democracy would ‘bring the scum to the top’.
Within weeks of his death, Lord John Russell had taken over as Liberal Prime Minister and brought forward a parliamentary Reform Bill.

Question 7

How did international events help to push for reform?

Answer 7

• Movements in Italy for unification
• American Civil war

Both interpreted by the British radicals as popular struggles for freedom, which helped to fuel demand for reform.

Question 8

How did economic matters help push for reform?

Answer 8

• Harvest of 1865 was bad, forcing hundreds of people to claim poor relief.
• Cholera epidemic 1866-67

Question 9

Why did Gladstone propose the Representation of the People Bill 1866?

Answer 9

It would increase the electorate by about 400,000 (largely working class). The Liberals knew that those working classes that already had the vote were voting for them, so they knew it was worth the risk to enfranchise more skilled working classes.

Question 10

How was the Representation of the People Bill 1866 received in Parliament?

Answer 10

Right-wing liberals, Adullmites, (led by Robert Lowe) opposed the bill and allied with the Conservatives. This led Russell to resign, making the Earl of Derby form a Conservative administration (which was what Disraeli wanted.

Question 11

What was the public reaction to the rejection of the Representation of the People Bill 1866?

Answer 11

Hyde Park riots 23 July
League rallies got out of hand. Violence continued for a couple of days before it was contained and controlled by the police and troops.
Not very violent though; no more than the violence that accompanied most elections.

Question 12

What was the effect of the Hyde Park riots on the Conservative government?

Answer 12

Convinced Disraeli and Derby to reform parliament.
The Conservatives would have a better chance of getting the bill through the Lords and would add political delight to the beating of the Liberals at their own game

Question 13

What were the events of the Representation of the People Bill 1867?

Answer 13

Initially introduced as more moderate than the Liberal’s bill.
Disraeli got it through the Conservative minority House of Commons with skill, political deception and hypocrisy.

Gladstone criticised Disraeli’s bill, but this gained him more Conservative support. The Liberals were worried, fearing that the attack would bring down the government and there would be no Reform Bill again.

Disraeli abandoned his alliance with the Adullmites and allied with the left-wing, radical Liberals. He was willing to accept any amendments by them in order to ensure the bill wasn’t lost.

He accepted Hodgkinson’s Amendment because he realised the controversy surrounding it was delaying the Reform Bill.

Met few problems in the House of Lords and became law on 15 August 1867

Question 14

What were the Adullmite’s opinions regarding the 1867 Reform Bill

Answer 14

Resented Disraeli and the Conservatives, realising it would have been wiser for them to have backed Russell’s 1866 more moderate bill

Question 15

What was the Hodgkinson’s Amendment?

Answer 15

Moderate Liberals believed that compounders should not be given to vote because they were seen as poorer, less well-established and more likely to ‘flit’ when in debt than those who paid their rates personally.
The Hodgkinson’s Amendment enfranchised compounders, causing controversy

Question 16

What was said about the concept of female enfranchisement?

Answer 16

John Stuart Mill suggested 20 May 1867 in an amendment that the word ‘person’ should be used instead of ‘man’ in the bill.
This was defeated.

Question 17

What four areas did the 1867 Bill Impact?

Answer 17

• The electorate
• Elections
• Party politics
• Education

Question 18

How did the 1867 Bill impact the electorate?

Answer 18

It was enlarged (almost doubled) from one in 5 to one in 3. Most significant difference in the boroughs:

Boroughs: Working classes (skilled), for the first time, dominated the borough electorate. (e.g in Birmingham it rose from 8,000 voters to 43,000).

Counties: constituencies remained largely middle class. Patronage (until the secret ballot) still existed.

Question 19

What was the impact of the 1867 Bill on elections?

Answer 19

Disraeli’s minimal redistribution reduced the impact of a working class dominated electorate. Rural areas were still over represented.

Question 20

What was the impact of the 1867 Bill on Party politics?

Answer 20

Disraeli gambled on the newly enfranchised working classes in the boroughs voting Conservative, but the Liberals won the 1868 election.
The Conservatives, however, won the 1874 elections, potentially due to the increase in party organisation (National Union of Conservative Associations)

Question 21

What was the impact of the 1867 Bill on education?

Answer 21

Direct link between the 1867 Reform Act and the 1870 Elementary Education Act

Question 22

What was the 1870 Education Act?

Answer 22

Created a system of school boards to provide basic education to fill the gaps left by the voluntary system. Aimed to provide basic literacy and numeracy to children aged 5-13.

Question 23

What was the Ballot Act of 1872?

Answer 23

Reformers believed that a truly representative system of government was only possible if electors were able to vote for their candidate of choice, free from patronage.
Those who opposed it were the Conservatives and most peers who believed it to be non-English and furtive to vote in secret.

Question 24

What was the self interest surrounding the Secret ballot?

Answer 24

Radicals: wanted the secret ballot so that people would feel free to vote for them without others knowing where their political interests really lie.
Conservatives: Didn’t want it because they were unsure as to what outcome secret ballots would have and preferred a system where employers and landowners had more control over voting.

Question 25

What were the 2 reasons why the matter of a secret ballot was addressed in the early 1870s?

Answer 25

• Liberal administration elected. Gladstone included John Bright in his government (a radical) and Gladstone wanted to show again that the Liberals were the party of reform.
• The report about the way in which the general election of 1868 was conducted in Blackburn was published, which recommended the introduction of the Secret Ballot.

Question 26

What was the impact of the Secret Ballot?

Answer 26

It limited the rowdiness of elections.
In the short term there was still fear among agricultural workers that somehow,t heir landlord would get to know how they voted. 
However, once working-class voters had confidence in the secrecy of the system, the long term effect was big as it reduced the power that could be exerted by the aristocracy and enabled the growth of political pressure groups.

Question 27

How did candidates get around the secret ballot act?

Answer 27

They employed local people on a temporary basis in order to get their votes, and by ostentatiously buying local goods in order to display their commitment to the constituency. Election expenses soared for politicians.

Question 28

What was the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act 1883?

Answer 28

Put a limit on the maximum sum of money that could be paid out in election expenses.

Question 29

What was the impact of the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act 1883?

Answer 29

Candidates found ways around the laws: the law only applied when an election had been called, so they could be involved in corrupt practices in between elections, gaining support.
But it was an improvement: enabled electors to make up their own minds about who they voted for, not based on bribery

Question 30

What was the effect of the the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Act and the Ballot act on candidates?

Answer 30

Allowed lower class candidates to be elected, providing they had sufficient funds to last them while as MP.
Voluntary work was vital to gain support.
Emphasis on party organisation - Secret ballot meant parties had to be clearer in their policies to attract voters morally.

Question 31

What did the third reform act consist of?

Answer 31

• The Franchise Act 1884

- The Redistribution Act 1885

Question 32

What were the 2 reasons for the necessity of the third reform act?

Answer 32

• Town householders in boroughs had been enfranchised in 1867, but not householders in rural areas. Old argument was that agricultural labourers were less literate than town factory workers, but not the case after Education Act. Householders in rural areas should now be enfranchised.
• Redistribution in 1867 was mild and left a large number of seats in the south and west, and not the manufacturing areas of the Midlands.

Question 33

What did Gladstone’s initial Liberal Reform Bill in 1884 propose?

Answer 33

Extending the principals of 1867 to the counties; every male householder was to be entitles to vote.

Question 34

What was Lord Salisbury’s response to Gladstone’s Bill in 1884?

Answer 34

He believed that to extend the franchise would lead to an electoral advantage for the Liberals as the newly enfranchised working classes were likely to vote Liberal.
Salisbury refused to support Gladstone’s Bill unless it was accompanied by the redistribution of seats.

Question 35

Why was Lord Salisbury’s proposed compromise to Gladstone’s bill a risk?

Answer 35

• Hinted at blackmail, leading to Gladstone not letting the Franchise Bill through.
• By delaying reform that most people approved he could upset opinions in parliament and in the country, losing Conservative support.

Question 36

What was the compromise regarding the 1885 Reform Bill?

Answer 36

Urged by Queen Victoria, secret meetings took place between Gladstone and Salisbury. Salisbury pressed for radical redistribution, re-drawing constituency boundaries on more of less class lines. This would hopefully lead to minority representation in cities like Birmingham.

Question 37

What was the Arlington Street Compact?

Answer 37

The agreement between Salisbury and Gladstone whereby Salisbury got the redistribution he wanted and Gladstone got the extension of the franchise to rural areas.

Question 38

What was the result of the Franchise Act 1884?

Answer 38

2 in 3 men could now vote.

Still left out soldiers, domestic servants and women.

Question 39

What was the the result of the Redistribution of Seats Act

Answer 39

142 seats freed up from small borough constituencies losing their 2 seats, which were redistributed more fairly to represent the UK population distribution.
e.g London’s constituencies were increased from 22 to 55

Question 40

What was the long term impact of the 1885 Reform acts?

Answer 40

• Political power and influence of the aristocracy gone forever.
• Number of aristocratic ministers declined
• End of old constituencies meant election emphasis was on national rather than local minutes
• Boost in position of middle classes; after 1885 general election the middle class outnumbered the landowners in the Commons for the first time.
• Party organisation became more important.