The Reform Acts of 1832 and 1867

After studying this section you should be able to:

• explain the structure of British politics in the early 19th century
• assess how far this structure was change by the Great Reform Act
• explain why the Second Reform Act was passed in 1867

The British political system in 1830

Political power in the early 19th century was largely in the hands of the landowning class. They dominated parliament. The heads of the most important landowning families formed the House of Lords. The landed aristocracy controlled the election of many of the 658 MPs in the House of Commons. In the counties, with open voting and widespread bribery, voters followed the wishes of the great landowners. Many of the boroughs had only a handful of voters and were controlled by patrons, who were usually local landowners. Most boroughs were in the agricultural south. These were known as pocket boroughs.

The landed aristocracy also dominated the government. All but four members of Grey’s cabinet in 1830 were in the House of Lords. Through the patronage system the government controlled the House of Commons. No government resigned as a result of losing a vote in the Commons between 1783 and 1830.

The two political parties – Whigs and Tories – were really rival factions within the ruling class. They had no political organisation outside parliament. They did not set out rival programmes at elections. There was no party discipline in the modern sense. Many MPs regarded themselves as independent.

The political system reflected the social structure of 18th-century Britain. By 1830 social changes resulting from the industrial revolution, above all the rise of the industrial middle class, brought pressure for change. The demand for reform came from both the middle class and the working class, particularly in the years 1815–21 and again in 1830–32. It was led by the radicals, who derived their ideas from the American and French revolutions. In the Reform Crisis of 1830–32, radicals, middle classes and working classes came together in Thomas Attwood’s Birmingham Political Union. Many large industrial towns, such as Birmingham and Manchester, were unrepresented.

By 1830 the Whig leaders had reached the conclusion that limited reform was necessary. Giving the middle classes a share in political power was not only justified by their growing economic power but would make it possible to deny the claims of the working classes, which the Whig aristocrats viewed with as much horror as the Tories. Note that the Whigs intended reform to preserve privilege by extending it to the middle classes.

The Tories, however, opposed reform. William Pitt the Younger entered Parliament at 21.They argued that the existing system worked well: why change it? They claimed that nomination boroughs allowed promising young men to enter parliament at an early age and that all the important ‘interests’ in the country – landowners, merchants, the professions – were represented. The industrial middle class countered that industry was grossly under-represented and the landed interest over-represented. Of course the landed classes wanted to retain their privileged position and the Tories had no wish to change a system that worked to their advantage.

KEY POINT - The split in the Tory party over catholic emancipation in 1829 allowed the Whigs into office and thus led to the Reform Crisis.

The effects of the Great Reform Act

The main effect of the changes in the franchise was to give the vote to the middle classes in the boroughs. The redistribution of seats gave greater representation to the industrial north and midlands. Thus, as the Whigs intended, the Act restored the balance of the constitution by giving proper representation to a class which had previously been under-represented.

KEY POINT- The Reform Act maintained the principle that political influence should be confined to those who had a ‘stake in the country’, i.e. property.

In practice the political domination of the landed classes was little affected. Electorates were still tiny and open voting and bribery continued. Consequently voters, especially in the counties, still followed the lead of the local landowners. The agricultural south was still over-represented. Most MPs were still from the landed classes, though a few businessmen and industrialists joined them. Governments therefore were still overwhelmingly aristocratic.

The Act was important in the development of the political parties. For the first time registers of voters had to be drawn up. The parties therefore set up registration committees to ensure that as many as possible of their supporters were registered. These formed the basis for local party organisations. At the same time the establishment of the Tory Carlton Club and the Whig Reform Club marked the beginnings of central party organisation.

At the national level the parties became more responsive to the needs of the new electorate. The Whig reforms of the 1830s followed the example of the Reform Act itself in responding to pressures for reform. Peel’s Tamworth Manifesto of 1835 had the clear aim of adapting the Tory Party to the needs of the new electorate – hence the adoption of the name ‘Conservative Party’. Perhaps the outstanding example of the importance of the shifting political balance between the landed classes and the industrial middle class was the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. The Corn Laws were introduced in 1815 to protect agriculture. The campaign of the Anti-Corn Law League from 1839 was spearheaded by two industrialists, Cobden and Bright, both of whom became MPs. They argued that the Corn Laws not only caused high bread prices but hindered the growth of the economy and particularly the manufacturing sector.

KEY POINT - The repeal of the Corn Laws led to a realignment of the political parties. The Peelites, who supported the repeal, eventually joined the Whigs to form the Liberal Party.

The working classes were disappointed by the Reform Act. They had played an important part in the agitation for reform in 1831–32, but the Reform Act denied them any share in political power. This resulted in the rise of the Chartist movement in the years 1838–48.  See the Chartism sector here. The aim of the Chartists was to establish a democratic parliament, which they hoped would then address working-class grievances. The demands of the Charter, particularly the demand for universal male suffrage, were unacceptable to both the landed and the industrial middle classes.

KEY POINT - The Chartists failed to achieve any of their objectives in their own time, but by 1918 all the points of the Charter except the demand for annual parliaments had been met.

The Second Reform Act, 1867

Pressure for further reform developed in the 1860s:

• The formation of New Model Trade Unions from 1851 onwards was a sign of the growing capacity for organisation of the skilled working class.
• The Radicals had never ceased to press for further reform and their voice became stronger under the leadership of John Bright, who made a series of great speeches on the subject in 1858–9.
• They gained an important ally in 1864 when Gladstone declared himself in favour of reform. He had been particularly impressed by the support of the Lancashire cotton workers for the North in the American Civil War. He said in 1864, ‘Every man … is entitled to come within the pale of the constitution’.
• The death of Palmerston in 1865 removed a major obstacle to reform.
• His successor, Russell, favoured reform and along with Gladstone introduced a Reform Bill in 1865. This Bill was defeated by a combination of the Conservatives and a section of the Liberals led by Robert Lowe, who believed that the working classes were too ignorant to be entrusted with the vote. These Liberals were known as the ‘Adullamites’.
• Pressure from outside parliament was mounting. There were mass meetings and a disturbance in London when a meeting planned for Hyde Park was banned.
• The incoming Conservative government, led by Derby and Disraeli, introduced another Reform Bill. Disraeli thought reform was inevitable and therefore wanted the Conservatives to get the credit.