Electoral reform at work : local politics and national parties, 1832-1841

Author(s)

• Salmon, Philip

Bibliographic Information

Electoral reform at work : local politics and national parties, 1832-1841

Philip Salmon

（Royal Historical Society studies in history new series）

Royal Historical Society , Boydell Press, 2002

Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

This book charts the political transformation of Britain that resulted from the "Great" Reform Act of 1832. It argues that this extensively debated parliamentary reform, aided by the workings of the New Poor Law (1834) and Municipal Corporations Act (1835), moved the nation far closer to a "modern" type of representative system than has previously been supposed. Drawing on hitherto neglected local archives and the records of election solicitors, Dr Salmondemonstrates how the Reform Act's practical details, far from being mere "small print", had a profound impact on borough and county politics. Combining computer-assisted electoral analysis with traditional methods, he traces the emergence of new types of voter partisanship and party organisation after 1832, and exposes key differences between the parties which resulted in a remarkable national recovery by the Conservative party. In passing he provides important new perspectives on issues such as MPs' relations with their constituents, the expense and culture of popular politics after 1832, the electoral impact of railway development, and the role of 'deference voting' in the counties. Dr PHILIP SALMON is Editor of the 1832-1945 House of Commons project at the History of Parliament.

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• List of illustrations
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Introduction
• Part I: The Reformed Electoral System
• 1 Voter registration and the reformed electorate
• 2 Conservative and Liberal electoral organisation
• 3 The election after 1832: tradition and transformation
• Part II: The Counties
• 4 Electoral behaviour in the counties: influence and independence
• 5 County politics and registration: case studies
• Part III: The Boroughs
• 6 No representation without taxation: rates and votes
• 7 The electoral politics of municipal reform
• Conclusion
• Appendices
• 1. The re-distribution of English and Welsh seats in 1832
• 2. Voting qualifications after 1832
• 3. Registration and polling returns by borough and county, 1832-39
• 4. The assimilation of English boroughs to the New Poor Law
• Bibliography
• Index

by "Nielsen BookData"

• NCID: BA59629740
• ISBN:
  • 0861932617
• Country Code: uk
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: [London],Woodbridge, Suffolk
• Pages/Volumes: x, 302 p.
• Size: 25 cm
• Classification:
  • DC21 : 324.63094109034
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Local elections -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century
  • LCSH : Elections -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century
  • LCSH : Political parties -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century
  • LCSH : Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 19th century
• Parent Bibliography ID:
  • BA33173835