British Democratic Politics 1815-1850: Parliamentary Reformers | History Optional for UPSC (Notes) PDF Download

Parliamentary Reform in Britain

During the 18th century, England, Scotland, and Wales underwent significant changes due to economic growth, the Industrial Revolution, and population expansion. These factors contributed to rapid urbanization and the emergence of a new social order dominated by the middle and working classes, replacing the traditional dominance of the clergy, landowners, and agricultural workers.

Acceptance of hierarchical differences was declining, and the political scene was characterized by:

• Growth of informed public opinion
• Increase in the number of newspapers
• Rise of various associations and pressure groups focused on electoral reforms, fiscal discipline, abolition of slavery, and other public causes.

The reign of King George III (1760-1820) was marked by arrogance, and the struggle for liberal rights during this period, led by figures like Wilkes, was further fueled by the issues raised by the liberation of British colonies in America after 1776. Britain had a tradition of liberal thought, with thinkers like John Locke highlighting the shortcomings of Parliament in the latter half of the 18th century. Locke’s theory emphasized the state’s role in safeguarding individuals and their property.

In 1780, Charles Fox advocated for uniformity in franchise and voting by ballot. The formation of the Society of the Defence of Bill of Rights in 1769 and the Society for Constitutional Information in 1780 organized the struggle for civic rights in Britain.

Early failed attempts at reform

• The issue of parliamentary reform was revived in the 1760s by the Whig Prime Minister Pitt the Elder, who criticized borough representation as the “rotten part of our Constitution.” However, he did not advocate for the immediate disfranchisement of rotten boroughs.
• In 1783, William Pitt the Younger became Prime Minister but was unable to achieve reform. Despite proposing a reform bill in 1786, it was rejected by the House of Commons. Support for parliamentary reform declined after the onset of the French Revolution in 1789. In reaction to the excesses of the revolution, many English politicians became opposed to major political changes. Despite this, several Radical Movement groups were formed to advocate for reform.
• Despite setbacks, popular pressure for reform remained strong. In 1819, a large pro-reform rally was held in Birmingham, where participants decided to elect Birmingham’s “legislatorial representative,” despite the city not being entitled to any seats in the Commons. Following this example, reformers in Manchester held a similar meeting and election, which was suppressed by force. In response, the government passed Acts aimed at quelling further political agitation, such as the Seditious Meetings Act, which prohibited assemblies of more than 50 people discussing political subjects without prior permission.

Reform during the 1820s

• After 1820, there was a shift in the state’s attitude. A new group of ministers, including Canning and Robert Peel, initiated reforms in state finances, tariffs, police, and courts. Support for reform came from an unexpected source—a faction of the Tory Party in 1829. The Tory government under Arthur Wellesley, responding to the potential for civil strife in predominantly Roman Catholic Ireland, introduced the Catholic Relief Act 1829. This legislation repealed various laws that imposed political disabilities on Roman Catholics, particularly those preventing them from becoming members of Parliament.
• Catholic Emancipation allowed Catholics to hold positions in Parliament and other offices, and they subsequently supported further parliamentary reform. Disenchanted Tories, perceiving a threat to the established religion, came to favor parliamentary reform, especially the enfranchisement of cities like Manchester and Leeds.
• Between 1829 and 1830, economic downturns and poor harvests led to increased bread prices, unemployment, and distress among the working classes, reviving the parliamentary reform movement. A pressure group called the ‘General Political Union between the Lower and Middle Classes of the People’ (BPU) emerged, fostering cooperation between the middle and working classes, which the Tories feared.
• The reform movement gained further momentum with the July 1830 revolution in France. The Reform Act of 1832 was passed as the culmination of a two-year period of intense political tension and excitement both within Parliament and outside. Many MPs believed that unless parliamentary reform was enacted by spring 1832, Britain would face violent revolution, similar to the chaos and bloodshed experienced during the French Revolution forty years earlier.

Reform Act of 1832

The Representation of the People Act 1832, commonly known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act, or First Reform Act, was a significant piece of legislation passed by the British Parliament that brought about extensive changes to the electoral system in Britain.

The Inevitability of the Reform Act of 1832

The Reform Act of 1832 was seen as unavoidable due to the profound changes in British society brought about by rapid industrialization and urbanization. This transformation led to a new social order where the middle and working classes became more prominent, replacing the traditional power held by the clergy and landlords. Despite their growing influence and numbers, the middle and working classes had significantly less political power.

• The new industrial towns and cities that emerged during this period had no representation in Parliament, while some declining rural areas retained their parliamentary seats.
• Election processes were tightly controlled by landlords, and the right to vote was limited to a small number of people.
• These conditions fueled a strong demand for parliamentary reform from the middle and working classes.

The Unreformed House of Commons

Composition

• The unreformed House of Commons consisted of 658 members, with 513 representing England and Wales.
• Members were elected from two types of constituencies:counties and boroughs.
• County members were expected to represent landowners, while borough members were meant to represent the mercantile and trading interests of the kingdom.
• In Wales, each county elected one member of Parliament, while in England, most counties elected two members (with Yorkshire electing four).
• Some boroughs, known as rotten boroughs, had declined significantly since their original enfranchisement but still elected two MPs due to historical privileges.
• The reigning monarch had significant power in deciding which settlements were enfranchised, often without considering their current merits.
• New industrial towns that emerged during the Industrial Revolution were not given the right to send representatives to Parliament, while some depopulated areas retained their representation.

Franchise

The franchise in the unreformed House of Commons was highly restrictive, with a very small number of voters. Many middle-class businessmen and industrialists were denied the right to vote.

Counties:

• Voters in counties had to meet standardized property qualifications. All (male) owners of freehold property or land worth at least forty shillings were entitled to vote in that county.
• The vast majority of the population was excluded from voting, and the sizes of individual county constituencies varied widely. Some of the smallest counties had fewer than 1,000 voters each.
• Individuals who owned property in multiple constituencies could vote in each of those constituencies.

Boroughs:

• In boroughs, the franchise was more varied and complex. Most boroughs had specific rules and exceptions, leading to unique forms of franchise in different boroughs.
• The largest borough, Westminster, had about 12,000 voters, while many of the smallest boroughs, often referred to as rotten boroughs, had fewer than 100 voters each.

Electoral Corruption

Electoral corruption was widespread in the period leading up to the Great Reform Act. Many constituencies, particularly those with small electorates, were under the control of wealthy landowners, known as nomination boroughs or pocket boroughs.

• These patrons, often noblemen or members of the landed gentry, used their local influence, prestige, and wealth to control the election process.
• Some noblemen even controlled multiple constituencies. Members of Parliament representing these pocket boroughs were expected to vote according to their patron's wishes, or risk losing their seat at the next election.
• While some voters resisted the outright domination of powerful landlords, many were still susceptible to corruption.
• Bribery was common in certain boroughs, and individuals known as nabobs, who had made fortunes in the British colonies, were particularly notorious for their corrupt practices.
• The absence of a secret ballot allowed landlords to intimidate voters into voting in their favor.

Classes Favoring Reform

Several social classes and groups supported the Reform Act of 1832, each with their own motivations and grievances:

Industrial and Commercial Middle Classes:

• The industrial and commercial middle classes felt that Parliament did not represent their interests
• They believed that the existing aristocratic parliament and government were mismanaging the country.
• These classes resented their exclusion from the borough franchise and the lack of representation for industrial towns like Birmingham and Manchester, which were vital to the economy, particularly in industries like cotton manufacturing.
• Influenced by Jeremy Bentham’s philosophy of Utilitarianism, they sought the enfranchisement of individuals like themselves—‘responsible citizens’ with property ownership and an economic stake in the country.
• Despite their discontent, they feared violent revolution and its accompanying destruction, preferring reform.

The Working Class:

• The working class had numerous grievances, including poverty, insecurity, and poor working and living conditions.
• They were becoming increasingly aware of their exploitation and were developing a stronger political consciousness.
• Many in the working class believed that parliamentary reform would lead to essential social and economic improvements.

Protestants Outside the Established Church of England:
This group was growing rapidly in numbers, constituting 30% of the population by 1820. In some towns, they were in the majority.

• Protestants outside the Established Church were denied full civil rights, being excluded from corporations, universities, and certain state offices.
• Like everyone else, they were also taxed to support the Established Church.
• For them, parliamentary reform meant better representation and the opportunity to remove these disabilities.
• Members of this group were noted in Parliament as having been “the life of the agitation” for the Reform Bill.

Women:

• The call for women’s suffrage began with Jeremy Bentham in 1817 and was later taken up by William Thompson and Anna Wheeler in 1825.
• When the 1832 Act enfranchised “male persons,” it was significant because it explicitly barred women from voting for the first time.
• This exclusion became a source of resentment and fueled the women’s suffrage movement in the years to come.

Provisions of the 1832 Reform Act

The Reform Act of 1832 made significant changes to the electoral system in Britain. It aimed to address the disparities caused by the Industrial Revolution by giving representation to new industrial cities and removing seats from "Rotten Boroughs," which had small electorates often controlled by wealthy patrons. The act not only created new seats in England and Wales but also played a crucial role in expanding the right to vote.

Abolition of Seats:

• The main goal of the Reform Act was to reduce the number of nomination boroughs, also known as pocket boroughs.
• There were 203 boroughs in England, out of which 65 boroughs with populations less than 2,000 lost their right to send representatives, vacating 111 seats.
• Additionally, 30 boroughs with populations less than 4,000 were allowed to send only one representative instead of two.
• One borough was required to send two representatives instead of four.
• In total, the Act abolished 143 borough seats in England.

Creation of New Seats:

• The Act created 130 new seats in England and Wales to replace the abolished ones.
• This included 65 new county seats and 65 new borough seats.
• The total number of English members decreased by 17, while the number in Wales increased by four.
• The boundaries for the new divisions and parliamentary boroughs were defined in a separate legislation, the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832.

Extension of the Franchise:

• In county constituencies, the franchise was extended to owners of land worth £10 and tenants-at-will paying an annual rent of £50, in addition to forty-shilling freeholders.
• In borough constituencies, all male householders living in properties worth at least £10 a year were given the right to vote, introducing a standardized form of franchise for the first time.
• It is important to note that the Reform Act did not impact constituencies in Scotland or Ireland. However, reforms in these regions were carried out by the Scottish Reform Act and the Irish Reform Act, which standardized voter qualifications and expanded the electorate without disfranchising any constituencies.
• The Act also introduced a system of voter registration and established special courts to review disputes related to voter qualifications.
• It authorized the use of multiple polling places within the same constituency and limited the duration of polling to two days, a significant reduction from the previous maximum of forty days.

Significance of the Reform Act 1832

• The Reform Act of 1832 was not just a routine constitutional adjustment; it emerged as a compromise during a period of crisis.
• Despite its shortcomings, it served the government's purpose by alleviating the immediate threat to state security.
• Before the Act, only 400,000 English subjects had the right to vote, but this number surged to 650,000 post-implementation, marking a significant increase of over 60%.
• Many major commercial and industrial cities gained separate parliamentary borough status under the Act.
• It represented a pivotal effort to redefine the political landscape and determine who should have the right to vote.
• The 1832 Act was the first parliamentary reform to effectively shift sovereignty from the aristocracy to the middle class, diminishing the House of Lords' influence and elevating the House of Commons.
• More middle-class individuals became Members of Parliament (MPs), and the right to vote motivated many men to engage more actively in political, economic, and social matters.
• From a contemporary viewpoint, 1832 marked a crucial initial step toward achieving full representative parliamentary democracy.
• The passing of the Reform Act signaled the true beginning of modern party organization in England, fundamentally shaping the present political system.
• Although the 1832 Reform Act was not the final resolution of a significant constitutional issue, it laid the groundwork for further reforms.
• There was considerable public demand for broader electoral expansion, particularly through the Chartist movement.
• However, the Tories opposed further reform, and the Liberal Party (successor to the Whigs) did not pursue a comprehensive revision of the electoral system until 1852.
• Ultimately, substantial reforms did not occur until the Second Reform Act of 1867, extending the vote to adult male householders.
• The Third Reform Act of 1884 further expanded the male franchise in rural areas, granting the vote to humble miners and agricultural laborers.
• By 1918, all men who had not previously qualified for the vote were granted suffrage, along with some women.
• Full female suffrage was achieved in 1928.
• Alongside extended voting rights, measures were implemented to enhance the fairness and integrity of elections.
• Secret voting was introduced in 1872, and after 1885, parliamentary constituencies were required to be roughly equal in size.
• After 1948, every voter was restricted to a single vote in a single constituency.
• The Reform Act of 1832 opened the door to a new political era, granting the aristocracy an additional half-century of control over Parliament.
• However, it also raised constitutional questions that would be further explored in subsequent reforms.
• It was the 1832 Act, rather than the later reforms of 1867, 1884, or 1918, that played a decisive role in establishing representative democracy in Britain.

Criticism of the Reform Act 1832

• The Reform Act of 1832 fell short of fulfilling the aspirations of the working classes.
• Voters were required to possess property worth £10, excluding the working class from the franchise.
• This exclusion caused a rift between the working class and the middle class, leading to the emergence of the Chartist Movement among the working class.
• Philosophical Liberals were also left dissatisfied by the Act.
• While it eliminated certain abuses, it failed to address numerous anomalies.
• It undermined the principle of aristocracy without embracing the concept of democracy, as representation should not have been based solely on numbers, wealth, or education.
• The Act made no effort to ensure representation for minorities, nor did it provide for the franchise and representation of women.
• Though the Act removed many rotten boroughs, a few still persisted.
• Bribery and the influence of landlords remained prevalent issues.
• Despite most pocket boroughs being abolished by the Reform Act, voting rights were extended to tenants-at-will paying an annual rent of £50.
• These enfranchised tenants typically voted according to their landlords' instructions.
• While the Reform Act diminished the number of nomination boroughs controlled by peers, it did not significantly reduce the influence of the House of Lords.
• The subsequent history of Parliament demonstrated that the House of Lords retained considerable influence.
• For instance, the House of Lords compelled the House of Commons to accept significant amendments to the Municipal Reform Bill in 1835 and successfully resisted several other bills supported by the public.
• The traditional landed interest experienced minimal suffering, as they continued to dominate the House of Commons, albeit with a slight reduction in their power to enact laws prioritizing their parochial interests.
• In contrast, the 1867 Reform Act caused a significant erosion of their legislative authority.
• Despite the changes brought about by the Reform Act, the total number of franchise remained relatively low.