Talk:Reform Act 1832/Archive 2

There was strong opposition from the Tories, who had defeated earlier bills, and it required pressure on William IV and the resignation of the Whig government to pass.

I don't understand if the Act is opposed to by the Tories it would requires the Whigs to resign to pass??? Which party actually passed it and how did the Whigs' resignation fit into it? Stephen C. Carlson

The Whigs introduced the Reform Bill in March 1831. AFAIK, they were in government from 1830 to 1834 (under Grey and Melbourne), so the 1832 Act must have passed under them - though this run might have been interrupted. I'm not sure exactly what this resignation entailed, or when it happened, but I would presume that Grey threatened to resign (and perhaps went through the formalities) in order to blackmail the Lords (with a Tory majority) into passing the Bill and the King into giving it Royal assent.

There were elections in 1831 and 1832. Phlogistomania 21:05, May 8, 2005 (UTC)

If the Whig government had resigned, the Tories would have been unable to form a majority in the Commons and government would have ground to a halt. This did happen several times between the 1830s and the 1870s, Whig and Liberal governments resigning, the Tories/Conservatives forming a minority government which soon fell when it couldn't pass a budget or any legislation, leading to a general election which usually returned a Whig/Liberal Commons majority with a renewed mandate. - Gregg

Explanation - British Historical Facts 1830-1900 (compiled by Chris Cook and Brendan Kieth) confirms that the Whig government resigned on 8th May 1832 and resumed on 17th May 1832, without any other government being formed.

The biography of Peel by Norman Gash explains what happened. On 7th May the government was defeated on the bill in a House of Lords Committee. "On 8 May Grey told the King that the cabinet would resign unless unless they were empowered to make at least fifty peers. The following day the King accepted their resignation. In the famous Days of May which followed, England came nearer to national popular resistance than at any other time during the reform crisis. There were demonstrations all over the country; factories and shops closed; several large industrial towns in the north virtually suspended business; the City of London, followed by hundreds of other bodies petitioned the Commons to stop supplies; there was an organised run on the banks; there were public declarations to withhold taxes; and lower down in the social scale talk of pikes and barricades".

After some popular violence the Tories seem to have accepted that if they formed an anti-reform government this would provoke a revolution. The King therefore had no choice but to give in to the Whigs. Gary J 12:00 December 21, 2005 (UTC)

Title

I notice the article is currently at "Reform Act 1832", while the talk page is at "Talk:Reform Act of 1832". I notice also that google has 7 times as many hits for the title with the "of" in it than without. I am therefore about to move the article to the title "Reform Act of 1832". If there is a reason that the title should omit "of", please explain, and I will move it back. -- Infrogmation 06:06, 17 Nov 2004 (UTC)

British acts of Parliament are usually named in the format Foobar Act 2004. It's not a big deal (and the standard didn't always exist, qv Act of Settlement, Acts of Union), but the original name is more likely to be correct and, certainly, sits more comfortable to my (British English) eyes… :o) — OwenBlacker 18:32, Nov 17, 2004 (UTC)

Have now moved it back.

See Talk:List of Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom#Summary of naming conventions, where I listed how I understood the naming convention to be, and no-one objected in 6 months, so I guess it's sort-of policy. Maybe I should move it to a sub-branch of the MoS...

James F. (talk) 02:15, 11 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Size of the Electorate after the Act

This article states that there were 652,000 electors after the act. 827,776 votes were cast in the 1832 General Election. Something's not quite right here. Phlogistomania 21:07, May 8, 2005 (UTC)

Many Parliamentary constituencies were multi-member. The Analysis of constituencies in Table 14-10 of British Electoral Facts 1832-1987 (compiled by F.W.S. Craig) confirms there were 1 four member, 7 three member, 240 two member and 153 one member constituencies in 1832. At this time the voter, in a multi-member seat, could but did not have to cast as many votes as there were MPs to be elected. This explains how there could be more votes than electors. Gary J 13:03, December 21, 2005 (UTC)

Errors in list

There appears to be a number of errors in the list of rotten boroughs abolished in 1832. It does not conform to the list on http://www.nationalarchives.g ov.uk/pathways/citizenship/struggle_democracy/transcripts/great_reform.htm (a clearer version is at http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/terrace/adw03/peel/refact/refact.htm), so I'm modifying it. Jooler 09:52, 18 May 2005 (UTC)

Newport

To clarify - before the Reform Act there were two Newports, but only ONE was disenfranchised and that one was the one in Cornwall - see http://www.oldtowns.co.uk/Cornwall/launceston.htm Jooler 00:30, 23 July 2005 (UTC)

Source of information used for edits December 21, 2005

I am not sure how I should record the sources for the additional information I inserted in the article, so I will put them here.

• I inserted a list of six Acts (identified by formal short title and citation of the regnal year and chapter number). Source an extract from Appendix 6 (on page 189)of British Electoral Facts 1832-1987(Parliamentary Research Services 1989).

• I modified the first few words of the next paragraph as wiyj the insertion of the Acts it was no longer clear what it referred to in the pre-existing text.

• I then considerably expanded the section on Ireland at the end of the Article. Information used in the section came from Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland 1801-1922 (Royal Irish Academy 1978), British Historical Facts 1830-1900 (Macmillan 1975) and British Electoral Facts 1832-1987 cited above. I have produced my own text incorporating facts from these various sources, so I hope that does not amount to a breach of copyright. Gary J 13.27 December 21, 2005 (UTC)