Reform Acts

The transition from the unreformed system of 1830 to full democracy in the 20th cent. was effected by seven franchise measures—the Acts of 1832, 1867, 1884, 1918, 1928, 1948, and 1969—supported by a number of other reforms.

Grey's Reform Act introduced a standard franchise of £10 householders in the towns and augmented the franchise in the counties by allowing tenants at will to vote—the Chandos clause. Most of the new voters were middle-class citizens and many of the working classes were disappointed to find themselves excluded. By the second Reform Act of 1867, introduced by Disraeli after Lord John Russell's measure had foundered on party disunity, the vote was extended to working-class urban electors on the basis of household suffrage, adding some 938, 000 to the existing electorate of 1, 056, 000. By 1884 natural increase had raised the UK electorate to some 3 million. Gladstone's Act of that year raised it to 5 million, bringing in large numbers of county voters. With the majority of adult males now enfranchised, the total exclusion of women became more prominent. The First World War did not so much change attitudes as enable politicians to climb down with some dignity and the 1918 measure went through with little disagreement. Even so, the vote was restricted to women over 30, so that they should not form a majority in the electorate, bearing in mind the heavy male casualties during the war. Three more measures brought about almost complete adult suffrage. In 1928 the age limit for women voters was brought down to 21, giving the vote to 5 million extra ‘flappers’. The Labour government's Act of 1948 ended plural voting by taking away the business vote and the special university representation. In 1969, with little controversy, the voting age was lowered to 18, bringing in another 3 million voters.

Of equal importance were accompanying redistribution measures, legislation against undue influence and corruption, and the introduction of democracy into local government. The redistributive clauses of the Great Reform Act of 1832 were probably its most dramatic feature, with the total abolition of 56 ‘Schedule A’ boroughs, including Old Sarum and Dunwich, and the award for the first time of parliamentary representation to great industrial towns like Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, and Wolverhampton. Further redistribution was effected by the 1867 Act, which deprived 38 small boroughs like Honiton and Dorchester of one of their two seats; brought in Burnley, Middlesbrough, Gravesend, and seven other boroughs with one seat (two for Chelsea); and gave an extra third seat to Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, and Manchester. An even more drastic redistribution accompanied the 1884 Act. Seventy-nine towns with less than 15, 000 population lost both members, and a further 36 with less than 50, 000 lost one.

The struggle for purity of elections was laborious throughout the 19th cent. The introduction of the secret ballot in 1872 did not solve the problem. The Corrupt Practices Act of 1883 made more impact by tightening up control of election expenses.

Local government reform was effected by the Municipal Corporations Act of 1834, which set up elected councils in the larger towns; by the County Councils Act of 1888, which replaced the old government in the shires by justices of the peace by 62 elected councils; and by the Parish Councils Act of 1894, hailed as a great measure of local democracy, but hamstrung by financial limits and watered down by 20th-cent. legislation.

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Representation of the People Act 1884

William Gladstone in 1884.

In the United Kingdom, the Representation of the People Act 1884 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 3, also known as the Third Reform Act) and the Redistribution Act of the following year were a response to the inequality in the electoral system left by the Disraeli Government's Reform Act 1867. Taken together, these measures extended the same voting qualifications as existed in the towns to the countryside, and essentially established the modern one member constituency as the normal pattern for Parliamentary representation.

The act extended the 1867 concessions from the boroughs to the countryside. All men paying an annual rental of £10 or all those holding land valued at £10 now had the vote. The British electorate now totalled over 5,500,000. An Act a year later redistributed constituencies, giving more representation to urban areas (especially London).

The 1884 Reform Act did not establish universal suffrage: although the size of the electorate was widened considerably, all women and 40% of adult males were still without the vote at the time.

Key sections of the act

Section 2: This extended a uniform household and lodger franchise, to all boroughs and counties in the United Kingdom.

Section 3: Men inhabiting a dwelling-house as an employee, whose employer did not live there, were to be treated as if they were occupying as tenants for franchise purposes.

Section 4: Prohibition of multiplicity of votes. This was not to stop people acquiring multiple votes in different constituencies (plural voting was still permitted), but to restrict sub-division of one property to qualify multiple voters (so called fagot voters).

Section 5: A man who was a £10 occupier in a county or borough was to be a voter in that county or borough. This assimilated the previous county occupation franchise and borough occupation franchise into a uniform occupation franchise.

Section 6: Occupation in a borough was not to confer a county franchise.

See also

• The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918

References

• The Statutes: Second Revised Edition, Vol. XVI 1884-1886, (printed by authority 1900)

v • d • e Electoral reform in the United Kingdom Reform Acts Parliamentary England 1832 · Scotland 1832 · Ireland 1832 · England 1867 · Scotland 1868 · Ireland 1868 Municipal Scotland 1833 · England 1835 · Ireland 1840 Representation of the People Acts 1884 · 1918 · 1928 · 1948 · 1949 · 1969 · 1981 · 1983 · 1985 · 1989 · 1990 · 1991 · 1993 · 2000 Other related Acts Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 · Ballot Act 1872 · Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act 1883 · Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 · Electoral Administration Act 2006 Related topics Unreformed House of Commons · Reform Club · Carlton Club · Rotten borough · Women's suffrage

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