With reference to the years 1830-1930, why did it take so long for Britain to become a fully democratic country?

As mentioned above, the Chartist movement demonstrated just how ineffectual the working classes were when acting solely. When Chartism was at its peak, it did genuinely raise fears amongst the aristocracy, especially when leaders such as Fergus O’Connor talked of leading Britain into a “Wilderness of destruction.” However, the Newport Uprising demonstrated just how incapable they were of threatening a violent insurrection against a skilled and disciplined army. As attested by Howard Martin, it “emphasised the dangers of insurrection and violent talk.” Because of the failure of Chartism, working class movements received little respect thereafter and this was a permanent obstacle, which lengthened the process of reform. Also, some historians argue that the working classes in general had respect for the status quo. As Donald Read claims, “Unlike the French, the English were not offended by the existence of social superiors.”  It is certainly veritable that socialism never really flourished in Britain as in other countries and that is perhaps a reason as to why Britain never underwent a revolution.

In order to have a revolution it is customary to be violent and radical, however when reform movements became too radical in Britain, much of their support went astray. The prime example of this is the Suffragette movement. In the early stages of this campaign, they received an abundance of approval from virtually all women and many men including politicians such as Lloyd George. However once they commenced their violent activity, much of their previous support transformed into verbal hostility and misogyny. The historian George Dangerfield describes the Suffragette’s tactics as “neither sensible nor endearing” and claims that “the militants had done their cause no good at all by these unseemly outbreaks.” As proved earlier, it was difficult for reform movements such as the Chartists and the Suffragettes to accelerate the process of reform when lacking the support of middle and upper class men and because these two social groups held nothing but disapproval for brutality, they refused to offer encouragement.

Another major factor, as to why the road to democracy in Britain was so prolonged was simply due to the extent of opposition. The aristocrats in Britain appeared to suffer from a prejudice known as elitism. They believed that only those individuals with power and money were capable of making the correct judgement as to who should rule the country and consequently only the ruling elites should posses the vote. The main source of this bigotry originated from the Conservative Party. As Annette Mayer claims, “the majority of Tories approved of a hierarchical society in which they were the natural leaders.” This view is supported by Anthony Wood, who claims that “The Tories were always suspicious of notions of political equality.” When in power, Conservative Prime Ministers such as Disraeli often opposed reform and even when out of power, they possessed a natural advantage in the House of Lords and often blocked proposals. Plus there was not a formation of a party which represented working class interests until 1906 (Labour) which was seventy-four years after reform had began. Not only that, but they did not get into power until 1924, almost a century after reform had began.

Every single reform movement faced a significant amount of opposition. The Chartists faced that of the middle and upper classes and the moderate working classes whilst the Suffragettes suffered opposition from male chauvinists and female anti-suffragists. Even influential women such as Florence Nightingale and Queen Victoria were opposed to votes for women. Queen Victoria believed that it would destabilise the parliamentary machine whilst Florence Nightingale believed that the vote was of secondary importance to poverty and health problems amongst Britain’s women. This amount of opposition to reform was perhaps the most challenging obstacle in the road to democracy because it was the most permanent, as opposition to reform was prevalent in British society.

Throughout history, politicians introduced short-term solutions to problems, which were only relevant for the duration of their time in office. The introduction of the 1832 Reform Act was designed to enfranchise the bourgeoisie only and was therefore only a short-term solution to a long-term problem as it did not cease the unrest and hostility of the working classes and the women. Annette Mayer describes it as “not intended as a progressive piece of legislation: hence the dominance of the aristocracy prevailed.” The same is true of the 1867 Reform Act, which neglected the rural working class and the women, and the 1885 Act, which continued to neglect women. Few politicians were willing to enact reform and when they did it was only intended as a short-term solution and that was a major factor in influencing the time it took to achieve universal suffrage in Britain.

The reason as to why it took so long to establish a full democracy in Britain is woven of several threads. Despite the activities across Europe during this period, Britain remained free of insurgency. The failure of the bourgeoisie to support their previous working class allies after they had fulfilled their objective was an important factor as the working classes needed the money and education of the middle classes in order to be effective. The lack of recognition for working class movements succeeding the failure of Chartism, the respect which the British working classes had for their social superiors and the lack of veneration for violent movements (i.e. the Suffragettes) were other important factors in determining why Britain never underwent revolution. The opposition faced by reform movements, the lack of a working class party until 1906 and the short-sightedness of politicians were also significant contributors. All of these reasons (among other things) all congregated together with the effect of prolonging the road to full democracy in Great Britain.

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