Campaign for and resistance to the reform bill 1831-32

Question 1

The first reform bill

Answer 1

• March 1831
• bill deprived 60 boroughs of both their MPs and 47 of one of their MPs
• many new seats awarded to industrial towns
• established a uniform voting qualification in the boroughs - £10 householders

Question 2

The defeat of the first reform bill

Answer 2

• bill passed its second reading by one vote
• narrowness of gov victory meant bill unlikely to pass into law
• Lord Earl Grey asked the king to dissolve parliament calling a general election

Question 3

The second reform bill

Answer 3

• election saw Whigs back in power with a large majority
• bill slightly more moderate than the first
• whigs agreed to a tory ammendment that extended vote in counties to tenants who rented £50 p.year
• preserved a Britain dominated by landowning classes
• Attwood, BPU leader, organised march in support (100,000)

Question 4

Rejection of second reform bill

Answer 4

• rejected by 41 votes
• riots broke out in Nottingham, Derby and Bristol
• violence discredited reform movement
• strengthened Tory argument against reform

Question 5

The third reform bill

Answer 5

• passed commons with a 2 to 1 majority
• house of lords passed second reading by 9 votes
• lords committee rejected the bill
• Whigs resigned

Question 6

The ‘days of may’ 1832

Answer 6

• several tories refused to serve in gov led by Wellington - Catholic Emancipation
• Attwood and BPU encouraged ‘to stop the duke, go for gold’
• Wellington threatened to use force against political unions
• Civil war averted as Wellington couldn’t form a government

Question 7

The king recalls the whigs

Answer 7

• king forced to ask Whigs to return
• king’s secretary asked lords to drop their opposition
• bill finally passed in June