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Britain History > Reform Acts c1780-1928 > Flashcards

Reform Acts c1780-1928 Flashcards

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1
Q

When was the Great Reform Act?

A

1832

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2
Q

What was the content of the GRA regarding franchise?

A

Boroughs
-adult males owning or occupying property worth £10 in rent (resident for 1 year and pay poor rates)

Counties
-adult males owning property worth £2 pa (same as before) or rent land worth £50 pa (Tory amendment-Chandos Clause) could now vote

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3
Q

What was the content of the GRA regarding representation?

A
  • 56 rotten/pocket boroughs removed
  • 145 borough seats abolished
  • 22 new member boroughs created (14 London)
  • 64 new county seats created so more populous counties gained more seats
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4
Q

Why was the GRA passed (above)?

A

-Collapse of Tories (Catholic E. and p. reform)
led to King W IV inviting Grey (Whig) to form ministry

  • Actions of Grey-persuades King to call election for majority following fail of 1st bill 1831, resigns 1832 May as K refused to ensure bill passed Lords
  • Whigs and p. expediency-in opposition since 1807-rotten boroughs benefitted Tories-also consider Greys aim of reforming to preserve aristocratic gov
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5
Q

Why was the GRA passed (below)?

A
  • Long term factors-(French Rev, politicisation of people in towns due to Cobbett’s Weekly Political Register)
  • Swing Movement 1830-(rising rural discontent to poverty and use of threshing machines)
  • Atwood’s Political Unions-(mediate success of O’Con and unite m/c to skilled w/c, 100,000 attending BPU meetings, despite different PU aims did fuel P reform support-allow m/c to engage politically and demonstrate power of legal protest-fear of rev)
  • Days of May 1832-(PUs met in London after Grey’s resignation and Wellington’s ministry, Rothschild warned only recalling Grey would stop economic collapse)
  • popular pressure less dominant than often assume-popular was in support of gov-not v radical, agitation used by Whigs to pressure King
  • main features of bill settled well before popular pressure reached peak
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6
Q

What was the impact of the GRA on the franchise?

A
  • rise of approx 60% of electorate
  • 1/5 of all adult males had the vote
  • most m/c and some skilled craftsmen had the vote (mostly shop keepers)
  • new electors did not want further reform-successful in detaching from w/c as new electors were property owners and more interested in gaining privileges than further reform
  • £10 borough franchise did not lead to w/c vote-majority still excluded
  • Grey succeeded in aim of preserving aristocratic gov -all PMs except Peel from HoL
  • newly enfranchised £50 tenant framers expected to support dominant landowners as voting done in open
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7
Q

What was the impact of the GRA on representation?

A

-uniform borough franchise replaced variety of confusing franchises (potwaller/compound)

  • still differences between borough and county voting qualifications
  • industrial North still under-represented as well as large industrial towns
  • rural South and small country towns over-represented

-new seats reflected economic interests rather than population size

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8
Q

Why was the CPA passed (below)?

A

desire for respectability

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9
Q

Why was the Property Qualification Act passed?

A

Catalyst for reform was imprisonment of Edward Glover MP sentenced to 4 months for failing to meet property qualifications-both judge and press showed him sympathy as his property was heavily mortgage

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10
Q

When was the Redistribution Act?

A

1885

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11
Q

What was the content of the SRA regarding franchise?

A

Boroughs

  • men could vote if owned or occupied house for 1 year (household franchise)
  • men who paid £10/year in rent and lived there for over 12 months

Counties

  • men owning or leasing land worth £5/year
  • men occupying land with rateable value of £12/year and paid poor rates
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12
Q

What was the content of the SRA regarding representation?

A
  • 45 seats taken from boroughs with pop <10,000
  • 7 seats taken from towns disenfranchised for corruption

-25 seats given to counties-Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool & Manchester get 3rd MP

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13
Q

Why was the SRA passed (above)?

A
  • Palmerston’s death 1865
  • Liberals & p. expediency-(wish to reform boroughs-appeal is strongest/Bright support/initial reform bill raises expectations even when Libs fall from power)
  • Cons conversion-(party split 1846, Derby and Disraeli held office briefly 1850s-no longer prepared to govern at pleasure of p opponents)
  • Cons & p. expediency-(believed boroughs to be over-rep, 1832 favoured b where con vote weakest/when gain power minority of 70-so need to keep opposition divided
  • poor reception to cons initial proposal cause Disraeli to bring forward bill (only 14 days for bill)/ insufficient planning, confusing, weakness of minority gov & ensure no amendments accepted to Glads
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14
Q

Why was the SRA passed (below)?

A
  • Population Growth-(1832–>1867 +5m)-yet no franchise extension only 1/5 had vote, no further redistribution for growing areas-many workers supported N in US civil war-impressed Gladstone
  • Radicalism-Bright speaking tours, national organisations emerged-Reform Union-demand household suffrage, Reform League-demand uni male suff-TU & skilled w/c-sustain pressure through anti-suffrage speeches of Adullamite Lowe
  • Hyde Park-Reform League demonstration 1866-violent/huge crowd/collapse railings/army support/long term sig?
  • Economy-declined massively 1866/banks collapse/bad harvest/food prices rise/disease/cotton famine-due to US civil war
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15
Q

What was the impact of the SRA on franchise?

A
  • bigger increase than 1832
  • 1/3 adult males had vote
  • bigger electorate in n. towns/ cities eg Leeds-many were w/c
  • 85% adult pop had no vote (men without 1 year residence, lodgers paying rent below £10, those on poor relief and women!)
  • county electorate grows by 46% and mostly m/c-most labourers still excluded
  • urban liberal voters prevented from voting in county elections by boundary changes-lodgers struggle to get on electorate
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16
Q

What was the the impact SRA on representation?

A

-over rep continued eg SW Eng had 45 MPs whilst NE had 32 despite having x3 pop

  • 25 seats given to counties to strengthen landed interest
  • focus on retaining Cons dominance in affected areas-gave more seats to counties which tended to vote Tory
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17
Q

What was the impact of RA on representation?

A

Redistribution-London MPs increased 22-59

  • North still under represented
  • Ireland over-represented-Ire Nationalists held balance of power in 1885, 1892 and 1910
18
Q

Why was the SBA passed (above)?

A
  • Radicals–felt it would give voters greater freedom and increase radical share of vote
  • Bright campaigned for secret voting since 1840 & this was his price for continuing to serve in Gladstone’s cabinet
  • Libs–commitments to electoral reform-this proposal was originally included in 1832-G felt compelled to accept policy ideas from radicals in order to keep his coalition together
19
Q

Why was the SBA passed (below)?

A

-Conduct of 1868 election-widespread violence, corruption and intimidation were widely reported in media- little evidence that popular pressure helped secure this measure

20
Q

What was the impact of the SBA on franchise and representation?

A
  • short term-voters could still be bought and ‘treating’ of voters remained commonplace until 1883
  • in many areas voters chose to overlook the secrecy of ballot in deference to their landlords
  • act did not instantly lead to a reduction of employers influence over workers in urban areas
21
Q

Why was the CPA passed (above)?

A
  • SBA 1872 had not stopped bribery and corruption-increase in electorate since 1867 meant more people to bribe
  • Cost of elections deterred w/c and m/c from standing
  • Libs concerned this would mean P would be continued to be dominated by ‘idle landowners’
22
Q

What was the content of the RPA?

A
  • women over 30 win vote (if resident for 6 months)
  • men over 21 win vote (if resident for 6 months)
  • redistribution-70,000 pop as key unit for 1 member constituency
23
Q

Why was the RPA introduced (above)?

A
  • Lloyd George (PM)-supportive of female suffrage as were new MPs and cabinet members
  • Asquith-opens Commons debate praising war work of women and the absence of violence meant Parliament could now seriously consider female suffrage issue
24
Q

Why was the RPA introduced (below)?

A
  • Women and WW1-war efforts of women won much praise especially ‘canaries’-munitions workers (although these women did not benefit from Act)
  • Suffrage Activity-campaign for 50+ years, militancy during war stopped (maybe gov did not want it to return 1918), Suffragettes recruited women for war work and active in Red Cross
  • Political Activism-of workers during war (Red Clydeside) increased fears of industrial rev after war and explains why franchise extension was considered-fears of returning ex-servicemen could turn against politicians who failed to enfranchise them
  • Act received little attention due to initiatives of politicians
25
Q

What was the impact of the RPA on franchise?

A
  • all adult men and women 30+ receive vote- no. of voters raised from 7.7m 1910-21.4m 1918-most significant enlargement
  • separate act gave women over 30 right to run as MP
  • plural voting remains (30,000 people max 2 vote)-concession to Cons for supporting act
  • complex registration meant 5-7% of adult males were unregistered and therefore could not vote
26
Q

What was the impact of the RPA representation?

A
  • majority of constituencies were single member seats of roughly equal size
  • created more suburban m/c who tended to vote Cons
  • boosted number of seats in coal-mining constituencies which tended to vote Labour solidly
27
Q

When was the Second Reform Act introduced?

A

1867

28
Q

When was the Property Qualifications for MPs introduced?

A

1858

29
Q

When was the Secret Ballot Act passed and what did it do?

A

1872

introduced secret ballot

30
Q

What was the impact of the CPA?

A

Effective-petitions protesting illegal practices dropped

Spending on elections reduced significantly as partiesnow relied on volunteers

31
Q

What was the key content of the CPA?

A

Set a limit on spending and prohibited bribery and treating

Expenditure had to be accounted for and introduced penalties-fines/imprisonment of HoC expulsion if not followed

32
Q

When was the Third Reform Act introduced?

A

1884

33
Q

What was the content of the TRA?

A

Franchise given to all house holders in counties and lodgers who paid £10 rent

34
Q

Why was the TRA passed (above)?

A
  • Gladstone keen to restore his waning popularity and satisfy radical critics
  • Hartington-(Whig) prioritises Redistribution Bill to counter effects of any franchise extension
  • Chamberlain-(Radical)-needed radical measure to restore his cred-hoped electoral reform provide supporters in counties for radical reforms-improve lives
  • Salisbury (Cons leader)-f ext could benefit party-especially suburbs/might split Liberals/S drops opposition to G proposal
35
Q

Why was the TRA passed (below)?

A

-No significant popular demand for p reform existed 1884

36
Q

What was the impact of the TRA on franchise?

A
  • Biggest increase in electorate so far +2.5m
  • included agricultural labourers and miners who lived within county franchise
  • over 2/3 adult men qualified to vote
  • majority of electorate w/c
  • plural voting continued-7% pop vote in more than 1 constituency
  • women still no vote-60% adult population
  • complex registration and residential qualification disenfranchised many working men
  • domestic servants resident with employers, adults living with parents, soldiers, many on poor relief, those without residence could not vote
37
Q

When was the Redistribution Act passed?

A

1885

38
Q

What was the content of the RA?

A
  • Boroughs with pop below 15,000 lose their MP, pop below 50,000 lose 1 MP
  • 150 seats redistributed to more densely populated counties eg Yorkshire
  • nearly all constituencies single-member and in similar pop size
39
Q

Why was the RA passed (above)?

A
  • Salisbury influenced redrawing of constituency boundaries-many new distinctly suburban constituencies were created out of big towns/cities-‘Villa Toryism’
  • Arlington Street Compact was S price for Cons supporting Libs
40
Q

Why was the RA passed (below)?

A

-No significant popular demand for parliamentary redistribution existed 1885

41
Q

When was the Equal Franchise Act passed and what did it allow?

A

1928

Women over 21 to vote in general elections

42
Q

What was the effect of the EFA on franchise?

A

5m new voters added to electoral reg

women now majority of the electorate

Britain History (7 decks)

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