Reform majority returned in the General election

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)
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One of the first pledges made by Earl Grey's Whig government when they came into power in November 1830 was that they would implement electoral reform. They proposed a redistribution of seats, that would disenfranchise the smallest (so-called 'rotten') boroughs, and give greater representation to those new industrial towns that were otherwise underepresented. It would also lower the requirement for the franchise from the historical '40-shilling-freeholder' to an annual worth of £10, thus increasing the size of the electorate. This bill was passed in the House of Commons by one vote, but it then ground to a halt. The government called another election, which was fought primarily over this issue of reform. It returned an overwhelmingly pro-reform majority, which the government took as a…

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Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Reform majority returned in the General election". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 August 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=4694, accessed 19 March 2024.]

4694 Reform majority returned in the General election 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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