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Britain, c1785–c1870: Democracy, Protest and Reform

The unreformed parliament and its critics, c1785–1820

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 1

Overview

Recall questions on who could vote, rotten and pocket boroughs, open voting at the hustings, the early radical critics, and what the manufacturing interest wanted.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What was the geographical problem with the unreformed system?

Key term

What was a 'rotten borough' in the unreformed electoral system?

Who and when

How did the roles of political parties evolve across this period?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What was a 'rotten borough' in the unreformed electoral system?

    Model answer

    A constituency with very few voters that still returned MPs, such as Old Sarum, often controlled by a single patron.

  2. 2

    How did the roles of political parties evolve across this period?

    Model answer

    The older Whig and Tory groupings developed into more organised Liberal and Conservative parties competing for a widening electorate.

  3. 3

    Who could vote before 1832?

    Model answer

    In counties, men holding freehold worth forty shillings a year; in boroughs, a chaotic variety of qualifications. Perhaps one adult man in ten had the vote in England and Wales.

  4. 4

    What was a pocket borough?

    Model answer

    A constituency where a single patron controlled the choice of member, usually because the electorate was tiny and dependent on him for land or employment.

  5. 5

    How were elections conducted before 1872?

    Model answer

    By open voting at the hustings, so votes were public and voters could be bribed, treated or intimidated by landlords and employers.

  6. 6

    What was the geographical problem with the unreformed system?

    Model answer

    Seats reflected medieval wealth, so Cornwall returned more members than the whole industrial north, and Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds returned none at all.

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