Western History 161: What parliamentary reforms were undertaken in Great Britain and Ireland during the 19th Century?

By the end of the Naploeonic Wars a mere one million people out of a total population of  20 million in all of Great Britain and Ireland could vote. A ground swell of popular sentiment demanded greater enfranchisement. On the 16^th of August 1819 at St Peter's Field in Lancashire, England  the cavalry charged into a demonstration of 60,000 who were demanding the right to vote resulting in the death of 18 individuals and injuries in excess of 400 souls. Ther demonstration was fueled by popular anger against the Corn Laws and other tariffs that elevated corn prices Steep unemployment  and the poor harvest that year that had worsened conditions for many. The events of this tragic day would go down as the Peterloo massacre and would prove to be a defining moment in the history of British political reforms.

The Peterloo Massacre source: The Guardian

One of the leaders of the movement agitating for reform that day was Henry Hunt. To his good fortune Hunt escaped death that day and although imprisoned for two years following the massacre would play an important role in the political drive that ultimately led to the 1832 Reform Act. 

The esteemed orator Henry Hunt source: Spartacus Educational

It was this Reform Act (essentially expansion of the franchise to the Middle Class) that abolished many of the rotten boroughs (seats in parliament representing boroughs with no or very little inhabitants),  gave representation to the cities and offered the vote to small landowners, tenant farmers, householders who paid a yearly rental of £10 or more. Shopkeepers and some lodger were also enfranchised. What it did not do was expand the vote to women. In fact it barred women from voting by defining a person as a male.  Nevertheless this represented a significant electoral reform. Between 400,000 to 650,000 were added to the Electorate in a single sweep. Although the Act pertained to England similar reforms occurred in Scotland and Ireland.

However popular agitation for expanded reform continued through the Chartist Movement (founded in 1837) which enjoyed working class support. Petitions with over a million signatures were sent to Parliament in 1839, 1842 and 1848. Worker agitation such as that witnessed at Tolpuddle in 1834 was also a recurring feature.

The Tolpuddle Martyrs of 1834 source: historyhome.co.uk. They were six Labours Agricultural Labourers who took a brave stance against their employers over the cutting of their wages. As a result of their action they were exiled to Australia but pardoned two years later (1836), The stance of the six was a defining moment in the history of worker and union rights.

While success was slow initially by 1867 a Second Reform Act (an expansion to the Lower Middle class) was passed. It would serve to double the number of men in England and Wales who could vote. The act removed rotten boroughs from the political landscape and extended the franchise to many households occupied by working class men. Despite its positive development that Act was initially championed by the Conservative Party, for purposes of political utility, as a way of increasing the voting base for the 1868 election which they ironically would still go on to lose. 

In 1872 a further reform act made voting secret and further reduced the powers of  the landlords. Another act in 1884 gave the vote to poor farmers and labourers establishing in principle the notion of ’one man one vote’ for all men above the age of 25.