Politics, Protest and Reform in Wales and England c.1780-1880

What Politics, Protest and Reform in Wales and England c.1780-1880 covers

Politics, Protest and Reform in Wales and England c.1780-1880 is examined in Unit 1, the period study — one of eight options, of which a student takes one. It covers the unreformed electoral system and early demands for reform, the French Revolution, British radicalism and repression 1789-1812, radical discontent and Lord Liverpool's governments 1812-1822, the Liberal Tory reforms 1822-1830, the Reform Act crisis and the Great Reform Act of 1832, the Merthyr Rising of 1831, rural protest: the Swing riots and the Rebecca riots, Chartism in Wales and England, the motives for social reform and the new Poor Law, factory, mines, public health and education reform 1833-1848, Peel, the Anti-Corn Law League and the repeal of the Corn Laws and the Liberal party, Gladstone and Disraeli 1859-1880.

The 12 subtopics

Each one has its own page. WJEC AS History students sit this topic in the first year.

• The unreformed electoral system and early demands for reformRotten borough, pocket or nomination borough and economical reform.Open →
• The French Revolution, British radicalism and repression 1789-1812Recall questions on the reception of events in France, the corresponding societies and their membership, the government's answer in suspension and prosecution, and the machine-breaking that followed.Open →
• Radical discontent and Lord Liverpool's governments 1812-1822Role of government spies in the unrest of these years, cato Street Conspiracy and scotch Cattle.Open →
• The Liberal Tory reforms 1822-1830Huskisson's approach to trade and political cost of Catholic Emancipation to the Tories.Open →
• The Reform Act crisis and the Great Reform Act of 1832Birmingham Political Union and chandos clause.Open →
• The Merthyr Rising of 1831Court of Requests, significance of the flag raised at Merthyr and immediate industrial aftermath of the rising in Merthyr.Open →
• Rural protest: the Swing riots and the Rebecca riotsMain targets of the Swing rioters and first target of the Rebecca rioters.Open →
• Chartism in Wales and EnglandSix points of the People's Charter, northern Star and three leaders convicted after the Newport Rising.Open →
• The motives for social reform and the new Poor LawBenthamite utilitarianism, speenhamland system and principle of less eligibility.Open →
• Factory, mines, public health and education reform 1833-1848Recall questions on the limits placed on children's work, the inspectorate that made them real, the report that closed the pits to women, sanitary legislation and the first state grants for schooling.Open →
• Peel, the Anti-Corn Law League and the repeal of the Corn LawsTamworth Manifesto, reasoning behind Peel's tariff cuts and two reforms of working conditions passed under Peel's second ministry.Open →
• The Liberal party, Gladstone and Disraeli 1859-1880Recall questions on how the two parties formed around their leaders, the reforming ministry of 1868, the social legislation that answered it, and how the parties organised themselves in the country.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Politics, Protest and Reform in Wales and England c.1780-1880 further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• The Swing riots vs The Rebecca riots

  The Swing riots: the rising of English farm labourers that began in east Kent in 1830 against threshing machines and starvation wages, punished with nineteen executions and hundreds of transportations. The Rebecca riots: the protest of south-west Wales from 1839, in which men in women's clothes destroyed the tollgates, and which won its principal demand within five years.

• The Reform Act 1832 vs The Reform Act 1867

  The Reform Act 1832: the measure that created a uniform borough vote for the occupier of a house worth ten pounds a year, leaving about one adult man in five enfranchised. The Reform Act 1867: the measure that gave the borough vote to all male householders paying rates, roughly doubling the electorate and admitting much of the urban working class.

• Peelites vs Ultra Tories

  Peelites: the free-trading Conservatives, Gladstone and Aberdeen among them, who split from their party over the repeal of the grain duties in 1846 and later helped to form the Liberals. Ultra Tories: the protectionist and strongly Anglican right of the party, who had already turned on their leaders in 1829 over Catholic Emancipation as a betrayal of the Protestant constitution.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What was a rotten borough?

   Model answer

   A parliamentary borough whose population had shrunk to almost nothing but which still returned one or two MPs.

2. 2

   Name two notorious rotten boroughs and say why they were notorious.

   Model answer

   Old Sarum in Wiltshire had no resident voters at all, and Dunwich in Suffolk had largely fallen into the sea, yet both still returned two MPs.

3. 3

   What was a pocket or nomination borough?

   Model answer

   A borough where the electorate was so small that a wealthy patron could decide the result, so the seat was said to be in his pocket.

4. 4

   Which growing industrial towns had no MPs of their own before 1832?

   Model answer

   Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Sheffield all lacked their own borough members despite their size.

5. 5

   State the county franchise qualification before 1832.

   Model answer

   Ownership of freehold land worth at least forty shillings a year, a qualification unchanged since the fifteenth century.

6. 6

   Why was the borough franchise described as chaotic?

   Model answer

   Every borough had its own rule, so the vote might belong to ratepayers, freemen, holders of particular houses, householders with a hearth, or only the corporation.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Politics, Protest and Reform in Wales and England c.1780-1880 revision questions

Is Politics, Protest and Reform in Wales and England c.1780-1880 examined at AS in WJEC History?

Yes. It sits in AS Unit 1, which you take in the first year, so it is on the AS paper as well as counting towards the full A level.

What does Politics, Protest and Reform in Wales and England c.1780-1880 cover in WJEC AS-Level History?

12 subtopics: the unreformed electoral system and early demands for reform, the french revolution, british radicalism and repression 1789-1812, radical discontent and lord liverpool's governments 1812-1822, the liberal tory reforms 1822-1830, the reform act crisis and the great reform act of 1832, the merthyr rising of 1831, rural protest: the swing riots and the rebecca riots, chartism in wales and england, the motives for social reform and the new poor law, factory, mines, public health and education reform 1833-1848, peel, the anti-corn law league and the repeal of the corn laws and the liberal party, gladstone and disraeli 1859-1880. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Politics, Protest and Reform in Wales and England c.1780-1880 organised?

By the WJEC 601-5817-7 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.