Electoral Reform
-
Marrying for the vote: the freedom-by-marriage franchise before 1832
Of all the bizarre voting qualifications in operation before 1832 – from potwallopers to burgage holders – one of the…
-
Reappraising England’s reformed electoral map, 1832-1868: the impact of the 1832 Reform Act
Dr Martin Spychal, Senior Research Fellow on our House of Commons 1832-1868 Commons project, discuses the impact of the 1832…
-
Votes for women before and after 1832
Continuing our series on the practical workings of the UK’s historic voting system, Philip Salmon of our House of Commons, 1832-1868…
-
How many people could vote in the UK after the 1832 Reform Act?
As part of our series of ‘explainer’ articles, aimed at clarifying the workings of the United Kingdom’s historic political system,…
-
The Speakers and the Suffragettes
At the IHR Parliaments, Politics and People seminar on Tuesday 28 October, Dr Mari Takayanagi will be discussing ‘The Speakers…
-
The 1832 Reform Act
‘Was the 1832 Reform Act “Great”?’ may not be the standard exam question it once was, but ongoing research about…
-
House of Lords reform: a Victorian perspective
Unlike the House of Commons, which underwent major ‘democratic’ reform in the 19th century, the Lords remained virtually unchanged during…
-
The 1872 Secret Ballot and Multiple Member Seats
In this post about the introduction of the ballot in UK elections, based on a seminar talk (click here to…
-
‘Damn the secret ballot’: the UK’s public voting system before 1872
Today (18 July) marks another anniversary of the 1872 Secret Ballot Act, a topic we examined in more detail in…
-
Harriet Grote (1792-1878) and the first reformed Parliament, 1833-34: a woman at Westminster
In the third of his articles on Harriet Grote (1792-1878), our research fellow Dr Martin Spychal looks at Harriet’s introduction…
-
The evolving electoral system: the 1835 and 1865 general elections compared
This year marks the 190th anniversary of the 1835 general election and the 160th anniversary of the 1865 general election.…
-
Oliver Cromwell’s ‘Other House’ and the perils of Lords ‘reform’
In this guest post, Dr Jonathan Fitzgibbons of Lincoln University, looks at a constitutional issue from the 1650s with obvious…