The 1832 Reform Act and the Place of Illuminations in Late Hanoverian Political Culture

Abstract

Abstract This article explores the place of illumination festivity in the struggle for the 1832 Reform Act. Illuminations, a form of revelry in which crowds took to the streets and threatened to break the windows of those householders who did not submit to the demand of an exhibition of lights, were a staple of Britain’s repertoire of popular contention throughout the long eighteenth century. But their role in the Reform Bill agitation, and their place in late Hanoverian political culture, has not been explored. The fifteen months of the Reform Bill struggle were a particularly intense period of illumination activity and witnessed a significant debate concerning the acceptability of the practice. This debate involved national political figures, local authorities, radicals and anti-reformers. An exploration of this episode not only helps to explain the process of change in a cultural practice, it also enhances our understanding of the debate over reform. Considerations of class are revealed to have been fundamental to the functioning of the illumination ritual, and those considerations were used by reformers for tactical purposes. Based on extensive research in contemporary newspapers, the article reframes our understanding of the changes occurring in Britain’s political culture as it entered a new phase of liberal democratic modernity.