Account for the extension of the franchise from 1850 to 1918

There were many reasons why the franchise was extended between 1850 and 1918. These reasons included avoiding possible revolution, trying to win advantages for a particular party [political pragmatism/expediency], doing what was politically useful at the time, the effect of the Great War, which acted as a catalyst and sped up change and changing attitudes towards the lower classes. In 1832 McCauley described the reform of that year as “admitting those it was safe to admit” and that theme runs through the extensions of the franchise in 1867, 1884 and 1918. Probably the most important reason was the effects of industrial revolution, which changed where people lived, how they worked and how they felt about their position in society. Finally another important reason why the franchise was extended was the change in political ideology from believing the right to vote should only belong to people who owned the land of Britain to believing that the vote should be the right of all adult British citizens.

The first change between 1850 and 1918 was the Second Reform Act in 1867 [the first being in 1932] which gave the middle classes the right to vote. There were well-organised protest campaigns going on at the time, one of the organisers being the National Reform League. They were putting pressure on the government to extend the franchise. There was a demonstration in Hyde Park that turned violent. It made the government fearful that if they did not extend the franchise they may have even more violence to deal with. By 1850 many people wanted to be able to express their political opinions and choose who governed them. Textile workers in cotton mills that used cotton picked by slaves in the southern states of the USA went on strike and quit their jobs to show their support for the anti-slavery stance of the northern USA. This gave politicians the impression that they were not an unruly mob, and could be worthy of the vote. In 1865 Palmerstone, who had been prime minister for 20 years and was very conservative, died, and Gladstone, a liberal politician, and Disraeli, a conservative MP, fought it out for the position. Gladstone's liberal party was split over reform and broke up so Disraeli came into power and “stole the liberal’s clothes” meaning he stole their policy to extend the franchise. He thought that by doing this he would gain a political advantage. This was called “dishing the Whigs” as he stole the liberal’s advantage [Whigs was the old name for the liberals]. In this period there were a lot of social and political changes. Artisans were now seen to be intelligent and respectable as they attended night schools, participated in local politics and were concerned with living standards. As said by Henry Mayhew, a journalist, in 1861-1862 “In passing from the skilled operative of the west-end to the unskilled workmen of the eastern quarter of London, the moral and intellectual change is so great, that it seems as if we were in a new land, and among a new race. The artisans are almost to a man red-hot politicians.” They were now seen as “safe to admit”.

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The next big step was the Third Reform Act of 1884. There were fewer reasons for this act than the previous one. One thing it did was extend the Second Reform Act to include people in the countryside as well as the towns. In relation to this act, Gladstone, who was by now prime minister, is quoted as saying “Is there any doubt that the peasantry of this country are capable citizens”. However there were other reasons. Socialism was starting to grow in popularity throughout Europe so one of the ideas was to give more people the vote to try and lessen the threat of a socialist revolution. Also, as the secret ballot act of 1872 helped stop corruption and as there were more voters local corruption was no longer an issue, so the vote was given in rural areas to try and weaken the land-owning aristocracies influence. The education act of 1870 [1872 in Scotland] gave more people the chance to become educated, meaning politicians could now think of them as educated and able to understand reason and policies.

The final act of this period was the representation of the people act in 1918. Due to this act women were given the vote for the first time [only women over 30 who owned land and were married or were married to a landowner]. The NUWSS [National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies] gained sympathetic support for the cause of women’s rights however, the WSPU [Women’s Social and Political Union] used militant tactics that hardened resolve against women’s suffrage. However, these militant tactics used by the WSPU were not hugely violent and were therefore probably only an annoyance. In 1914 when men went off to war, women were needed in work so the WSPU effectively disbanded, doing away with militant tactics. The NUWSS were still working on the cause of women’s rights after the war and the government now thought some women capable of acting with reason and also were not seen to be giving in to militant tactics. The Representation of the People Act extended the franchise to all men over 21 and all service men to over 19 for just one year. This was so that the government would be seen as fair as they had forced people to go to war for the country so they could at least have the vote as a reward. Also very few men would be eligible to vote as they would have been away from their homes for years, thereby rendering the property qualification rule [which meant voters had to have lived in the same place for a certain amount of time before the election] useless.

There were four overarching reasons that the franchise was extended: political expediency, fear and pressure, changing ideologies and social and political change. I think that in the 1867 reform act pressure and fear were the main factors due to the Hyde Park riots and pressure from the National Reform League. In 1884 the main reason for the extension of the franchise was also fear as they were trying to thwart the rising popularity of socialism in Britain. The main reason for the representation of the people act was the Great War, which would come under social and political change as it rendered some laws useless and left almost no soldiers with the right to vote.