Extended Essay

Francine Williamson
Higher History
Extended Essay


“By 1928 the essentials of democracy had been achieved.” How far would you agree?


In a true democracy one would expect Universal Suffrage which means everybody would have the right to vote, a system which allows people to use the Secret Ballot, Equal Electoral District which means all constituencies should have roughly the same population, regular elections, the right to participate in the political process such as standing for election, the government would be elected in by the having the majority of support, basic freedom rights and payment for MPs.

In 1850, the political system was dominated by wealth and class where as now it involves everyone in Britain. The vast majority of men and women were unable to vote, it was considered only the right of a small number of people. Many of the people who were eligible to vote were still excluded from doing so as a result of the complicated registration. Voting was done openly so everyone knew who had voted for whom which made bribery and bullying easy for wealthy landowners and employers to decide who candidates voted for.

The wealthy also dominated the British political system. The wealthiest and most important politicians were members of the House of Lords. Despite inheriting their titles or becoming members as a result of their status as bishops, the Lords enjoyed considerable power and were able to block measures passed by the commons.

MPS were unevenly distributed with too many in the small countries and boroughs where as highly populated, new industrial areas, such as the Lowlands of Scotland, Lancashire and Yorkshire where seriously under-represented so those areas weren’t getting the representation which they were entitled to from their MPs.

Many men decided that they couldn’t afford to be MPs because the MPs didn’t get paid for doing it so most MPs came from the wealthy section where they didn’t need money or they had income coming in from another source.

The first real political reform came in 1829, when Roman Catholics gained the right to become MPs. Reform organisations such as the Birmingham Political Union, formed in the 1930s, worked for much wider reform than had been gained by the Irish Catholics.

The next significant change to the political system was the 1832 Reform Act. This act achieved two main things; firstly it extended the franchise so that more men could now vote so now there were 652, 000 voters with over 60,000 of them in Scotland where as before the Reform Act had been put in place it was only 435,000 voters with under 5,000 of them in Scotland. It also seemed that there was more of a consistent franchise where every man in the boroughs who owned or rented his property worth £10 per year got the vote where as before there were variations across the country. The second area which this act changed was the amount of MPs in each Constituency, before the act was put in place there were 658 in MPs in the UK with only 45 of them in Scotland. Most boroughs and all of the English counties sent two MPs to Parliament where as most Welsh and Scottish counties only had one MP to send. Some of the large towns such as Leeds, Manchester and Bradford had no MPs at all. After the reform act the total number of MPs was still 658, Scotland now had 53. The MPs were distributed more evenly among the counties and boroughs with fifty six towns which had a population of less than two thousand lost both of their MPs, thirty towns with a population between two thousand and four thousand lost one of their two MPs. As this happened it meant that six additional MPs were given to the larger counties and Scotland gained eight members. The 1832 Reform didn’t make a huge difference to the vast majority of people, who still remained powerless. Five out of six males till had no vote and in Scotland there was only one voter for every 5 citizens.

The demands for reform continued in the 1830s and 1840s. The ‘People’s Charter’ was drafted in 1828 by William Lovett. He had six main demands which were Universal adult manhood suffrage, Secret ballot, Equal constituencies, Abolition of the property qualification for MPs, Payment of MPs and Annual general elections. Payment for MPs would enable men who were not already wealthy to stand for election to parliament. This demand was successful. MPs established a salary of £400 a year in 1911. This was a move towards democracy as everybody should have the right to be a ‘representative’ as well as an elector.

During the 1850s the electoral system was still in place due to the 1832 Reform Act, although it was becoming increasingly under pressure due to the passing of a quarter century which had brought increased urbanisation, industrialisation and general society change. The government of the country was still carried out by the middle and classes and was elected by a small minority of the people.

In Britain in 1865, 116 MPs were sons of Peers and their relations and 109 MPs were sons of Baronets and their relations. 50% of MPs in the House of Commons were elected by 20% of the voters in England and Wales. The total population of Britain at the time was 30,000,000, of whom only 1,430,000 could vote.

The 1866 Reform Bill aimed to add a number of the working class to electorate without threatening the establishment. The following proposals were made with it men who owned or rented their properties of £7 per year would get the vote in boroughs and £10 lodgers in the boroughs would get the vote. In all, an additional 400,000 would have got the vote which would have increased the electorate by 5%. The bill was published but the radicals were disappointed as the bill had not gone far enough.

The 1867 Reform Act further helped improve matters as the electorate increased from approximately 1.5 million to 2.5 million, this meant that one in three men could now vote compared to what in was previously which was one in seven. In the boroughs, all householders with one year’s residence and who paid rates got the vote and lodgers living in accommodation valued at £10 annual rent got the vote. This act also changed the Constituencies, the available 52 seats were distributed by 25 going to counties, and 19 to the boroughs, 1 to London University, 2 to Scottish Universities and 5 were allocated to Scottish constituencies.

While the Second Reform Act gradually moved the nation closer to democracy, the balance of political factors in the countries and smaller boroughs remained the same. Landowners, tenant farmers and middle class householders were still in control as they were able to bully or bribe the people who they had working for them to vote for a certain candidate. The decision whether people were allowed to vote or not was still based on property and its value.

There are three different interpretations of the reasons for the passing of the 1867 Reform Act; they were the Whig school, the Socialist school and the Tory school. The Whig school stresses the idea that political reform came about as a response to economic and social change in Britain. ‘Whig’ historians also emphasise the notion that popular pressure for reform led to the passing of the Act. The Socialist School argues that popular agitation in 1866 and 1867 was responsible for the timing of reform. ‘Socialist’ historians say that the Reform League’s campaign in 1866 and the Hyde Park Riot all combined to push Gladstone and Disraeli in the direction of the reform. The Tory School emphasises party competition in the years following Palmerston’s death as the reason for the reform. They argue that neither Gladstone nor Disraeli was interested in reacting a truly democratic system rather they were more concerned with outplaying each other.

Democracy implies the need for voting in secrecy so in 1872 the Secret Ballot was introduced as there was an increased need for it as the unskilled majority were becoming the voters. As the votes were undertaken in privacy this meant that people were actually voting for who they wanted rather than being bribed and bullied into voting for a certain candidate.

The Representation of the People Act 1884 set out to make the franchise in the countries the same as the boroughs. The act increased the total electorate by double; it was now up to 5 million. Two out of three men could now vote. It was only partly successful as the right to vote was still related qualifications rather than simply the democratic principle of universal suffrage so if voters didn’t have a big part of land or own property at all then they weren’t allowed to vote. Even if people did qualify they couldn’t always prove that they actually did which led to only 63% of adult males in 1913 registered to vote. This indicated that the nation was far from a full democracy, however the fact that qualifications permitting everyone was entitled to vote shows that the ‘essentials’ of democracy were beginning to be put in place.

The Third Reform Act moved Britain closer to democracy, putting in place an electoral system which was very similar to the one which already existed. However, the country was still far from being a democratic country. Women were still excluded from the system, as were male domestic servants, sons who lived at home and paupers on poor relief.

The 1911 Parliament Act was important as it stopped the non-elected House of Lords members preventing bills being passed in the democratically elected House of Commons. It also forced a general election to be held every 5 years. The early years of the twentieth century were seen as positive for women and democracy. Women began to enjoy equal opportunities with admission to universities, entry into professions such as lawyers and doctors, equality before the law as far as being able to retain their own earning and gaining custody right over children after divorce. They were able to vote and stand for election to school boards and parish councils.

The 1918 Representation of the People Act at last removed the discrepancies in the make franchise and gave the vote to women over the age of 30. Women eventually gained equal voting rights with men in 1928 due to the Equal Franchise Act which allowed all women aged 21 and over to vote, making them equal with men. Five and a quarter women were added to the electoral register in time for the 1929 conclusion.

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