English Reform Bill of 1832 Passes

This series has five easy 5 minute installments. This first installment: Early Efforts at Reform.

Introduction
In the history of democracies, there are bills and then there are Bills. The Reform Bill of 1832 was a threshold moment. With this bill, Great Britain changed direction from government by aristocrat towards government by the common man. From the revolution of 1688, which put an end to the autocratic pretensions of the Crown, the Government was that of an aristocratic Parliament, in which none but privileged classes were represented. With the operation of the Reform Bill the Constitution and Government became in some measure democratic, and they have grown more so ever since.

This measure, closely following upon Catholic emancipation, not only readjusted the basis of parliamentary representation and extended the suffrage, but by suppression of bribery and the abolition of “rotten boroughs ” went far toward securing honest elections.

No authority on this subject is to be placed above Sir Thomas Erskine May, the eminent English historian and jurist, whose various historical works, as well as his legal writings, are noted for their learning and impartiality.

This selection is from The Constitutional History of England snce the Accession of George III by Sir Thomas Erskine May published in 1863. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Sir Thomas Erskine May (1815-1886) was Clerk of the House of Commons and an authority on the British Constitution.

Time: 1832
Place: London

In 1809 the question of reform was revived in Parliament. Pitt and Fox, who had first fought together in support of the same principles, and afterward on opposite sides, were both no more; Mr. Grey and Mr. Erskine had been called to the House of Peers; and the cause was in other hands. Sir Francis Burdett was now its advocate, less able and influential than his predecessors, and an eccentric politician, but a thoroughbred English gentleman. His scheme was such as to repel the support of the few remaining reformers. He proposed that every county should be divided into electoral districts; that each district should return one member; and that the franchise should be vested in the taxed male population. So wild a project found no more than fifteen supporters.

On June 13, 1810, Earl Grey, in moving an address on the state of the nation, renewed his public connection with the cause of reform, avowed his adherence to the sentiments he had always expressed, and promised his future support to any temperate and judicious plan for the correction of abuses in the representation. He was followed by Lord Erskine, in the same honorable avowal.

In 1818 Sir Francis Burdett, now chairman of the Hampden Club of London, proposed resolutions in favor of universal male suffrage, equal electoral districts, vote by ballot, and annual Parliaments. His motion was seconded by Lord Cochrane, but found not another supporter in the House of Commons. At this time there were numerous public meetings in favor of universal suffrage; and reform associations, not only of men, but of women, were engaged in advancing the same cause. And as many of these were advocating female suffrage, Sir Francis Burdett, to avoid misconstruction, referred to male suffrage only.

In 1819 Sir Francis Burdett again brought forward a motion on the subject. He proposed that the House should, early in the next session, take into consideration the state of the representation. In the debate Lord John Russell, who had recently been admitted to Parliament, expressed his opinion in favor of disfranchising such boroughs as were notoriously corrupt. The motion was superseded by reading the orders of the day.

At the beginning of the following session Lord John Russell, whose name has ever since been honorably associated with the cause of reform, proposed his first motion on the subject. In the preceding session he had brought under the notice of the House scandalous proceedings at Grampound. He now took broader ground, and embraced the general evils of the electoral system. The time was not favorable to moderate counsels.

On one side were the intemperate advocates of universal suffrage; on the other the stubborn opponents of all change in the representation. But such was the moderation of Lord John’s scheme of reform that it might have claimed the support of the wiser men of all parties. He showed, in a most promising speech, that in former times decayed boroughs had been discharged from sending Members, and populous places summoned by writ to return them; he described the wonderful increase of the great manufacturing towns which were unrepresented ; and the corruption of the smaller boroughs which sold their franchise. He concluded by moving resolutions :

1. That boroughs in which notorious bribery and corruption should be proved to prevail should cease to return Members; the electors not proved guilty being allowed to vote for the county.
2. That the right thus taken from corrupt boroughs should be given to great towns with a population of not less than fifteen thousand, or to some of the largest counties.
3. That further means should be taken to detect corruption; and lastly, that the borough of Grampound should cease to send Members.

As the motion was met by the Government in a conciliatory manner, and as Lord Castlereagh was ready to concur in the disfranchisement of Grampound, Lord John Russell consented to withdraw his resolutions and gave notice of a bill for disfranchising Grampound. The progress of this bill was interrupted by the death of the King; but it was renewed in the following session, and reached the House of Lords, where, after evidence being taken at the bar, it dropped by reason of the prorogation. Again it was passed by the Commons, in 1821. That Househad given the two vacant seats to the great town of Leeds; but the Lords still avoided the recognition of such a principle, by assigning two additional Members to the county of York, in which form the bill was at length agreed to.

In 1821 two motions were made relating to Parliamentary reform, the one by Mr. Lambton, and the other by Lord John Russell. On April 17th the former explained his scheme. In lieu of the borough representation he proposed to divide counties into districts containing twenty-five thousand inhabitants, each returning a Member; to extend the franchise for such districts to all householders paying taxes; to facilitate polling by means of numerous polling-booths and by enabling overseers to receive votes; and to charge the necessary expenses of every election upon the poor-rates. To the county constituencies he proposed to add copyholders, and leaseholders for terms of years. After a debate of two days his motion was negatived by a majority of twelve. On May 9th Lord John Russell moved resolutions with a view to the discovery of bribery, the disfranchisement of corrupt boroughs, and the transfer of the right of returning Members to places which had increased in wealth and population. His resolutions were superseded by the previous question, which was carried by a majority of thirty-one.

In 1822 Lord John Russell, having, as he said, “served an apprenticeship in the cause of reform, ” again pressed the matter upon the notice of the House. The cry for universal suffrage had now subsided, tranquility prevailed throughout the country, and no circumstance could be urged as unfavorable to its fair con sideration. After showing the great increase of the wealth and intelligence of the country, he proposed the addition of sixty Members to the counties and forty to the great towns; and, not to increase the total number of the House of Commons, he suggested that one hundred of the smallest boroughs should each lose one of their two Members. His motion, reduced to a modest resolution, “that the present state of representation required serious consideration,” was rejected by a majority of one hundred five.

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