knowledge test : Parliamentary reform 1851-1885

Question 1

How many unsuccessful attempts were made by governments in the 1850s to reform the parliamentary system?

Answer 1

5

Question 2

How many years were the Conservatives in government in the years 1852 to 1866 and what type of government did they run?

Answer 2

• 2 out of 14
• minority govts.

Question 3

What organisations of the skilled working classes had been set up by the 1860s which impressed Gladstone as organisations of working class self-help?

Answer 3

Model unions and Friendly Societies.

Question 4

What phrase did Gladstone use to say the responsible worker could be enfranchised and was it qualified in any way?

Answer 4

‘Pale of the Constitution’; qualified by not demanding radical change.

Question 5

Name two foreign events which led to greater public support for political reform in GB.

Answer 5

• US Civil War
• unification of Italy.

Question 6

Name the two pressure groups dedicated to parliamentary reform and identify briefly their demands.

Answer 6

• Reform League - demanded universal male suffrage
• the Reform Union - greater urban representation

Question 7

What individual and obstacle to parliamentary reform died in 1865?

Answer 7

Lord Palmerston

Question 8

To whom was the vote proposed to be extended to by the Liberal’s Parliamentary reform bill and how many voters would be added to the electorate by it?

Answer 8

• £7 urban rate-payers
• £14 county rate-payers
• 400,000 new voters.

Question 9

Who led the Liberal opposition to the Liberal bill and what was the name of the oppositional group that he led?

Answer 9

• Robert Lowe MP
• Adullamites of the ‘cave’.

Question 10

What happened to the Liberal bill?

Answer 10

Defeated by votes of Conservatives and Liberal opponents.

Question 11

What leaders replaced Russell and Gladstone in 1866

Answer 11

Lord Derby (PM) and Disraeli

Question 12

What public disturbances occurred in London in July 1866 and were they important?

Answer 12

• Hyde Park riots
• unnerved Queen Victoria
• but otherwise not vital to Conservatives
• reconfirmed Liberal radical support for reform.

Question 13

What is the name given to the first bill of the Conservative government and did it succeed?

Answer 13

• Ten Minute bill
• defeated in Commons.

Question 14

What was surprising about the provisions for householders in the Conservative government’s second bill?

Answer 14

Extended the vote to all male urban householders that had occupied their home for 2 yrs.

Question 15

What is meant by ‘steeple chasing after dark’?

Answer 15

Disraeli, fearful of losing governance by defeat of the bill, lost control of all of the bill as it went through parliament.

Question 16

What is meant by Hodgkinson’s amendment and how many new voters did it involve?

Answer 16

• Amendment by radical MP, Hodgkinson
• added 500,000 new voters.

Question 17

What is meant by the (i) Torrens amendment and (ii) the Aryton amendment?

Answer 17

• Aryton’s amendment reduced 2 years occupation to a requirement of 1 year occupation (adding more new voters)
• Torren’s amendment added £10 lodgers to franchise for the first time.

Question 18

What is meant by ‘dishing the Whigs’?

Answer 18

Defeating the Liberal government, taking credit for parliamentary reform by passing such an act and controlling the provisions of the act as much as possible in the circumstances of a minority Con. govt.

Question 19

How many new voters were added to the electorate by the second reform Act 1867?

Answer 19

• 830,000 new urban voters
• 290,000 new rural voters.

Question 20

From what class did the majority of the electorate come from?

Answer 20

Urban working class.

Question 21

Which sections of the British working classes was excluded from the franchise after the second reform Act 1867?

Answer 21

All rural workers and poorest urban workers.

Question 22

To what extent was fair representation of urban areas achieved by the second reform Act 1867?

Answer 22

• Only very partially
• rural areas still over-represented by MPs for (declining) rural population.

Question 23

Using an example, (i) identify the under-representation of the NE of England and (ii) explain briefly why this was present.

Answer 23

• SW England had 45 MPs but NE England with triple the population of the SW had only 32 MPs
• Rural areas voted Conservative especially as no secret ballot.

Question 24

Using percentages, explain what happened to the number of unexplained elections in 1859 and in 1868?

Answer 24

• 1859: 58% of elections of MPs were uncontested
• 1868: 32%.

Question 25

Why did Lord Derby call the second reform Act 1867 a ‘leap in the dark’?

Answer 25

All politicians were unsure how the electorate would vote from 1867.

Question 26

What (i) type of MP introduced the secret ballot Act, (ii) when was it passed, (iii) what type of bill was it, (iv) what was Gladstone’s response and why it was passed?

Answer 26

- Radical Liberal backbencher - 1870 - private members bill - Gladstone believed in the open ballot but agreed to it so he would avoid a split in the governing Liberal party.

Question 27

What effect did the secret ballot have on electoral corruption?

Answer 27

It made corruption pointless – secret ballot hid voters from interference and corruption.

Question 28

What act of parliament followed which controlled excessive electoral spending and restrained the possibility of corruption?

Answer 28

Corrupt & Illegal Practices Act 1883.

Question 29

Was this reform concerning spending and corruption in elections only supported by one party?

Answer 29

No; both parties supported the reform to reduce election spending that benefitted each one.

Question 30

Why were the Liberals united over extending the vote to rural workers in the countryside?

Answer 30

- Whigs had suffered loss of seats by effect of 1867 reforms and needed rural workers to vote for them = party unity and no possible repeat of ‘dishing the whigs’.

Question 31

Which Liberal politician campaigned for further electoral reform and pushed Gladstone to introduce the third parliamentary reform bill?

Answer 31

Joseph Chamberlain campaigned for universal male suffrage.

Question 32

What was the Conservative’s response to the Liberal’s parliamentary reform bill?

Answer 32

Blocked the Representation of the People bill in the House of Lords and refused to let it pass unless accompanied by a redistribution of seats to compensate for the loss of seats that would flow from rural enfranchisement.

Question 33

Why was the idea of a single-seat constituency so alarming to Whigs and so attractive to Conservatives?

Answer 33

- Reform of two seat constituencies to create single-seat constituencies would mean the loss of Whig MPs - Liberal voters would vote for the radical Liberal candidate and have no opportunity to vote also for a Whig candidate. - Conservatives believed rate-payers would dominate the electorate in single-seat constituencies and vote for them out of financial self-interest e.g 67/75 London (single-seat) seats were Conservative in 1895.

Question 34

To who did the Representation of the People Act 1884 extend the vote to?

Answer 34

Householders and lodgers in the counties; extended 1867 to the counties.

Question 35

As a ratio or as a fraction, identify how many men could vote because of the (i) 2nd reform Act 1867 and (ii) the Representation of the People Act 1884?

Answer 35

- 1 man in every three men enfranchised by 1867 - 2 men in every three were enfranchised by 1884.

Question 36

Summarise the provisions and consequences of the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.

Answer 36

- Equal-sized constituencies (50,000 people) - 142 seats redistributed equally between boroughs and counties - over-representation of SW ended - Lancashire had 58 MPs instead of 14 whilst Cornwall had 14 instead of 44.

Question 37

What unexpected sociological consequence arose with the creation of single-seat constituencies?

Answer 37

Constituencies became dominated by the dominant class identity of their populations.