Some Electoral Consequences of the Great Reform Bill

Abstract

Both contemporary and recent commentators agree that the passing of the First Reform Bill in 1832 was a landmark in the development of democracy in Britain. It initiated major changes in British politics, ‘a complete and entire change of our whole political system’.1 The Act enlarged the suffrage and marked the beginning of wider incorporation and greater participation within the political community, a process that ended with the achievement of full, equal adult suffrage after 1948. More recent interpretations of the Act have emphasized its conservative aims, or its organizational consequences. In either case the political changes that came after 1832 affected the electoral process, and were accompanied by long-term social changes that altered the context of voting too.2 KeywordsPolitical CulturePolitical BehaviourElectoral ConsequenceElectoral PoliticsPolitical MobilizationThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.