Theme 1

Question 1

How did the 1832 Great Reform Act extend the franchise?

Answer 1

Boroughs required men to own or occupy a residence of £10

Question 2

What impact did 1832 have on the franchise?

Answer 2

Increased electorate from 4% of adult males to 20%

Question 3

How did the 1832 Great Reform Act change representation (borough and counties)?

Answer 3

• 56 rotten boroughs removed
• 22 new two member boroughs

Question 4

What pressure from above lead to the 1832 Reform Act?

Answer 4

Whigs and Political expediency (practicality) - Whigs saw county seats and rotten boroughs as benefitting Tories so wanted to remove them

Question 5

What pressure from below lead to the 1832 Reform Act?

Answer 5

• Swing movement 1830 - rising rural discontent to poverty & use of threshing machines
• Widespread riots - after Lords rejected 2nd bill in October 1831 there were riots in Nottingham, Derby and Bristol

Question 6

What were the impacts of the 1832 Reform Act on the make up of parliament?

Answer 6

• Property qualification of £600 (county) and £300 (borough) meant that landed and their interests dominated parliament
• Aristocratic government

Question 7

What were the impacts of the 1832 Reform Act on equal constituency representation?

Answer 7

London and other cities were widely under represented

Question 8

How did the 1867 Reform Act extend the franchise?

Answer 8

Boroughs
- Any adult male who owned or occupied a house for 12 months
Counties
- Men owning or leasing land over £5

Question 9

How did the 1867 Reform Act change representation ?

Answer 9

• 45 seats taken from boroughs with less than 10,000 peoples
• Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester got third MPs

Question 10

Evidence of pressure from above for the Second Reform Acts

Answer 10

• Liberals wanted to reform boroughs where their power was strongest
• Conservatives felt that the GRA had favoured boroughs where they were less powerful, but when they gain power but are in a minority of 70 MPs

Question 11

Evidence of pressure from below for the Second Reform Acts

Answer 11

• Very little compared to that of 1832
• Population was 5 million higher but representation to industrial areas hadn’t occurred
• Economy began to dramatically decline in 1866 leading to collapse of banks and then companies, crops failed, meat prices shot up, cotton famine in the North

Question 12

What were the impacts of the 1867 Reform Act on the franchise?

Answer 12

• 1 in 3 men could vote
• Those on poor relief still couldn’t vote

Question 13

What were the impacts of the 1867 Reform Act on the make up of parliament?

Answer 13

• Less than 1/4 came from industrial or commercial backgrounds in 1874
• More contested seats

Question 14

What were the impacts of the 1867 Reform Act on equal constituency representation?

Answer 14

• Overrepresentation still occurred in south

Question 15

What did the Third Reform Act in 1884 do?

Answer 15

Household suffrage and lodger franchise was extended to the counties

Question 16

What pressure from above was there to pass the 1884 Reform Act?

Answer 16

Gladstone wanted to restore his decreasing popularity

Question 17

What pressure from below was there to pass the 1884 Reform Act?

Answer 17

There was none

Question 18

What did the 1884 Reform Act do for the franchise?

Answer 18

• 2/3 of adult males could vote
• Plural voting still carried on
• Those on poor relief, living in employers residence or had no permanent residence were still disenfranchised

Question 19

What did the 1884 Reform Act do to the make up of Parliament?

Answer 19

The redistribution of rural seats means that the influence of the landed decreased drastically

Question 20

What were the impacts of the 1885 Reform Act on equal constituency representation?

Answer 20

• 150 seats redistributed to more densely populated areas
• Nearly all constituencies were single member and similar in population size

Question 21

What did the Representation of the People Act of 1918 do?

Answer 21

• Women over the age of 30 could vote if they or their husband owned homes or rented property over £5 per annum
• Men over the age of 21 could vote if they had been a resident for 6 months

Question 22

What pressure from above was there for the Representation of the People Act?

Answer 22

• Lloyd George as PM was supportive of votes as were new MPS
• Asquith was gradually more supportive if women suffrage after the end of the Suffragette movement

Question 23

What were the impacts of the Representation of the People Act on the franchise?

Answer 23

• The number of voters was raised from 7.7 million to 21.4 million - most significant extension

Question 24

What were the impacts of the Representation of the People Act on the make up of parliament

Answer 24

• Lead to separate act allowing women over 30 to become MPs
• Significant boost for Labour Party - enfranchisement lead to working class male vote