English History: Nineteenth Century Reforms (1959)

the village banker. Each of them, banker, factory worker and farmer, has the right to express himself in government by casting his vote on election day. Their right to vote was made possible by the passage of three separate reform bills in Parliament in 1832, 1867, and 1884. These important laws reformed English government from one controlled by the aristocracy to a democracy. Part of the story might begin in Bradshaw early one morning in 1832. The owner of the cloth factory sets out to keep an important appointment. On his way, he travels through a 19th century England of new booming industrial towns. Some of these towns have increased their populations by as much as 800%. But in 1832, many of these great manufacturing centers have no representation at all in Parliament. He himself is a citizen of a growing town that has no representatives in parliament. Yet he passes an old rural village with little population that sends two representatives to parliament. There are about 100 villages like this called rotten burrows represented in Parliament. Can such inequalities be remedied now in 1832? Arriving at the vast estate of an influential nobleman, the factory owner hopes to convince the nobleman of the urgent need for representational reforms. Such reforms could lead to the right to vote for himself and others like him, the upper middle classes of the newer industrial centers. But what of the nobleman who lives here? Will he be in sympathy with a request for governmental reform? probably not. As a member of the nobility, he sits in parliament in the House of Lords. In addition, he and others like him can control the election of men who sit in the House of Commons. Men like this wealthy director of the powerful British East India Company, who has come to talk about the nobleman's financial affairs. Such men sitting in the House of Commons completely agree with most of the nobility that English government should be controlled by hereditary land owners and persons of wealth. The factory owner has come to discuss a different viewpoint. He has brought evidence to show the need for reforming representation in Parliament. Much of his evidence is based upon a political map of England. Small squares show English electoral divisions called burrows. These burrows had been created mainly in the late middle ages when population was located mostly in rural areas. But in 1832 about 3-fifths of the population has begun to shift away from the established burrows toward newer centers of industry. Many of these industrial centers are not burrows and so have no representation in parliament. This means only one out of 10 Englishmen has the privilege of voting. Each voter must meet certain money and property requirements and reside in an established burrow. The position of the nobleman is that English political structure cannot be immediately changed. The factory owner agrees that representational changes may take time, but he fears that if such changes are not forthcoming, England will see the same kind of revolution that overthrew the government of France in 1789. Englishmen do not want reform through violence. Many believe that lasting reform can be accomplished only through legislation. The main reforms urgently needed are simple. reallocate the burrows of England, establish new burrows in the heavily populated industrial areas, and change the property requirements for voting. Under this plan, one out of every six Englishmen will have the right to vote. The need for reform was also being discussed in Parliament. Most noblemen sitting in the House of Lords opposed any political reform whatsoever. In commons, however, many members were of the opinion that there must be reform if violence were to be avoided. Political parties debated the question. The Duke of Wellington headed the Tory party, which was against any kind of reform. Lord Gray headed the Wig Party, which generally favored governmental reforms. Under Lord Gray's guidance, Parliament in 1832 passed the first reform bill, a most important step toward democracy. The bill lowered the property requirements and provided that about 2/3 of the Rotten Burrows were to be abolished, while the others were deprived of one representative each. 143 available seats in commons were redistributed among the new industrial centers. Thus, in industrial centers such as Bradshaw, members of the upper middle class like this factory owner could vote for representatives to the House of Commons. But English laborers too wanted the right to vote. Working men like these had helped to make England the industrial giant of Europe. Manufactured goods poured from factories and natural resources from mines. But the British laborer had little share in this new wealth. Often in dirty and disease-bereed surroundings, British laborers worked long hours for starvation wages. Many workers had to send their wives and even their children to work 16-hour days to keep from starving. Such suffering, especially by children, helped bring about in the mid-9th century further reforms. Slowly, sanitary and working conditions in English factories were improved through legislation. English laborers welcomed these social reforms, but they felt the need for political reforms as well. Perhaps the reform they wanted most was the right to vote. Factory and mine workers did not have the necessary money or property required of voters by English law. Yet many workers owned homes, were reliable taxpayers and an important part of the expanding British economy. Magazines of the day posed the great question, could the British Parliament ignore the working classes, the core of England's industrial strength, by refusing to reform the voting laws? In Parliament, William Uert Gladston of the New Liberal Party and Benjamin Draeli of the New Conservative Party agreed that the working classes must have voting rights. Under Draeli's leadership, Parliament passed the Second Reform Act of 1867. Speaking of this act, Draeli said, "Change is inevitable in a progressive country. Change is constant. This second reform act lowered the amount of property and money needed to vote, thus granting about 900,000 laborers voting privileges. Around 1870, other laws mainly concerned with the children of industrial laborers strengthened the change toward democracy. One such law called for the establishment of public education for all children. Under the law, children attended public schools like this one supported by the government. Through education, students might learn how to use intelligently the right to vote. As Draeli said, change is constant. And constantly Parliament debated more changes and reforms. Among the reforms discussed by Parliament was the manner of electing representatives to the House of Commons. During elections, the custom had been for voters to announce their choices in the polling place. These spoken votes were recorded by town clerks. This custom had often led to graft and bribery since there was no secret ballot and voting was not done in private. This custom was abolished by Parliament in 1872 and printed secret ballots were adopted for use in elections. Many important reforms had been made in the 19th century. Now more than twothirds of adult Englishmen had the right to vote for representation in Parliament. But there was still one large group of people who were denied this right because they did not have the money or property requirements. They could be found working on large estates and farms such as this one near Bradshaw. Agricultural laborers, unlike most working Englishmen, had not enjoyed the growing prosperity of the 19th century. They had hardly enough money for necessities, much less for the privilege of voting. But if England were to become a true democracy with all Englishmen sharing in the selection and policies of the government, then agricultural laborers too must be given the right to vote. Despite the objections of the wealthy landowners and the nobility, Gladston and other members of Parliament passed what was called the third reform act. Gladston was to say, "I will back the masses against the classes." His third reform act of 1884 again lowered the amount of money and property required of voters so that the right to vote was brought within the reach of all adult Englishmen. This was the third of the three major reform bills of the 19th century. It is because of these three 19th century reform bills that Englishmen today vote not on a basis of social position, money or property, but instead they vote on the basis that they are all Englishmen. That is why we find voting in modern Bradshaw such men as John Mason, farmer, Albert Stone, factory worker, and Richard Kensington, banker. In our own 20th century, England has undergone further governmental reforms. Reforms that granted women the right to vote. Reforms that continued to refine the English system of government. This form of English government, a form which has influenced democracies the world over, met the challenge of modern times in the 19th century. Through peaceful legislation, Englishmen achieved great reforms that made possible English government as we know it today. [Music]