Tag: electoral corruption

A colourful election poster produced by the Tariff Reform League. A farmer sits on a railway platform with crates and baskets of produce, watching a train called the Foreign Produce Express loaded with foreign produce, steaming past. He laments the need for tariff reform.
Victorian Commons, 19th Century history, 20th century history, Corruption, Elections, Legislative History, William Ewart Gladstone

A ‘revolution’ in electioneering? The impact of the 1883 Corrupt Practices Act

Concluding her series on the 1883 Corrupt Practices Act, Dr Kathryn Rix of our House of Commons, 1832-1945 project looks at the long-term consequences of this major reform. In the wake of the corruption and expense of the 1880 general election, Sir Henry James, attorney general in Gladstone’s Liberal government, oversaw a landmark piece of legislation which aimed to clean up Britain’s elections: the 1883 … Continue reading A ‘revolution’ in electioneering? The impact of the 1883 Corrupt Practices Act

Kathryn RixLeave a comment
Victorian Commons, 19th Century history, Corruption, Elections, Victorian

A ‘new Canterbury Tale’: George Smythe, Frederick Romilly and England’s ‘last political duel’

Drawing on her research into Canterbury for the House of Commons, 1832-1868 project, our research fellow Dr Naomi Lloyd-Jones looks at the 1852 pre-election duel between the city’s MPs, Frederick Romilly and George Smythe, a notorious would-be duellist, believed to be the last political duel fought in England. In the early hours of 20 May 1852, six weeks before polling in that summer’s general election, … Continue reading A ‘new Canterbury Tale’: George Smythe, Frederick Romilly and England’s ‘last political duel’

Naomi Lloyd-JonesLeave a comment
Victorian Commons, 19th Century history, Corruption, Elections, Victorian

‘Those dark little rooms’: Cecil Forester, the Carlton Club and electoral corruption

Drawing on her first biography for the House of Commons, 1832-1868 project, our new research fellow Dr Naomi Lloyd-Jones looks at the behind the scenes involvement of the long-serving Conservative MP Cecil Forester in the electioneering activities of the Carlton Club and the murky world of electoral corruption. George Cecil Weld Forester (1807-86), or Cecil Forester as he was known, was Conservative MP for the … Continue reading ‘Those dark little rooms’: Cecil Forester, the Carlton Club and electoral corruption

Naomi Lloyd-JonesLeave a comment
Victorian Commons, 19th Century history, Elections, Electoral Reform, History of Parliament Trust, William Ewart Gladstone

Tackling the problem of electoral corruption: the 1883 Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act

Marking the anniversary of the passage of the 1883 Corrupt Practices Act, Dr Kathryn Rix, assistant editor of the House of Commons, 1832-1945, begins a series of blog posts on this landmark reform by looking at the key changes made by the act and the motivations behind it. On 25 August 1883, the final day of the parliamentary session, the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention … Continue reading Tackling the problem of electoral corruption: the 1883 Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act

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The First Elizabethan Age, 16th Century history, Elections, Factions, Legal history, Tudor

Winchester v. Winchester: rivalries and election-rigging in 1560s Hampshire

Whatever the outcome of a modern election, the process of voting is predictable, reliable, and well-understood. However, in the sixteenth century, the picture was a lot more complicated, and sometimes corrupt, as Dr Paul Hunneyball of our Elizabethan Lords section explains… Hampshire in the 1560s was a divided community. Despite the Elizabethan religious settlement of 1559, there was still a sizeable Catholic population in the … Continue reading Winchester v. Winchester: rivalries and election-rigging in 1560s Hampshire

Paul HunneyballLeave a comment
Victorian Commons, 19th Century history, Conferences, Seminars and Events, Elections, Electoral Reform, Local History, Victorian

‘The corruption of the best things becomes the worst.’ The Politics of Electoral Registration in Several Midland Boroughs in the Age of Reform, 1832-41

Ahead of next Tuesday’s Parliaments, Politics and People seminar, we hear from Sarah Boote Powell, of the University of Warwick. On 14 May she will discuss the politics of electoral registration in the Midlands in the aftermath of the 1832 Reform Act. The seminar takes place on 14 April 2024, between 5:30 and 6.30 p.m. It is taking place online, via Zoom. Details of how to … Continue reading ‘The corruption of the best things becomes the worst.’ The Politics of Electoral Registration in Several Midland Boroughs in the Age of Reform, 1832-41

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Georgian, 18th Century history, Elections, Electoral Reform, Georgian Lords, Legal history, Local History, Social history

‘Do you know where this miserable wretch lives?’: Challenging votes in Eighteenth-Century England

As the Government looks set to make the introduction of voter ID requirements a flagship policy for 2022, parallels can be drawn with the eighteenth-century electoral process. We welcome guest blogger, James Harris, post-doctoral research associate at the University of Newcastle, to tell us more. The requirement for every elector to justify their right to vote at the hustings was a routine part of Georgian … Continue reading ‘Do you know where this miserable wretch lives?’: Challenging votes in Eighteenth-Century England

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