In
March 1860 Lord John Russell attempted
to introduce a new Parliamentary Reform Act that would reduce the
qualification for the franchise to £10 in the counties and £6
in towns, and effecting a redistribution of seats. Lord
Palmerston, the prime minister, was opposed to parliamentary reform,
and with his lack of support, the measure did not become law.
On the death of Palmerston in July 1865, Earl
Russell (he had been raised to the peerage in July 1861) became
prime minister. Russell, with the once again tried to persuade Parliament
to accept the reforms that had been proposed in 1860. The measure
receive little support in Parliament and was not passed before Russell's
resignation in June 1866. William Gladstone,
the new leader of the Liberal Party, made
it clear that like Earl Russell, he was
also in favour of increasing the number of people who could vote.
Although the Conservative Party had
opposed previous attempts to introduce parliamentary reform, Lord
Derby's new government were now sympathetic to the idea. The Conservatives
knew that if the Liberals returned to power, Gladstone was certain
to try again. Benjamin Disraeli, leader
of the House of Commons, argued that the Conservatives were in danger
of being seen as an anti-reform party. in 1867 Disraeli proposed a
new Reform Act. Lord Cranborne (later Lord
Salisbury) resigned in protest against this extension of democracy.
In the House of Commons, Disraeli's proposals were supported by Gladstone
and his followers and the measure was passed.
The 1867 Reform Act gave the vote to every male adult householder
living in a borough constituency. Male lodgers paying £10 for
unfurnished rooms were also granted the vote. This gave the vote to
about 1,500,000 men.
The Reform Act also dealt with constituencies and boroughs with less
than 10,000 inhabitants lost one of their MPs. The forty-five seats
left available were distributed by: (i) giving fifteen to towns which
had never had an MP; (ii) giving one extra seat to some larger towns
- Liverpool, Manchester,
Birmingham and Leeds;
(iii) creating a seat for the University of London; (iv) giving twenty-five
seats to counties whose population had increased since 1832.
John Tenniel,
Punch Magazine
(3rd August, 1867)
Available from Amazon Books
(order below)
