The Third Reform Act
To be exact :
• the 1884 Franchise Act and the
1885 Redistribution Act
Why was the
Third Reform Act passed?
Learning Objectives:
• To consolidate
learning about the
reasons for the
passing of the Acts
• To understand the
controversy over the
Acts
• To learn about what
the Acts said
Can you remember the
terms of the 1832 and the
1867 Reform Act?
Discuss in your groups and
note down your answers
1832
1. Increased number of voters by 50% to
652,000
2. Small boroughs lost 1 or both MP’s and larger
towns gained 1 or 2
3. County £2 qualification stayed but tenants
of property worth £50 a year could also vote
4. Boroughs men who had property worth £10 a
year could vote
5. Voters now had to register
1867
1. Only 1 year residence qualification
needed
2. As well as a householder franchise, a
£10 lodger franchise.
3. Vote given to Compound Householders
(those who paid rates & rent to a
landlord)
4. No Fancy Franchises
Bubble map
Reasons
for
reform
in 1884
Describing Qualities:
functions as a
descriptive organiserthe concept goes on
the centre and all
around in the circles go
adjectives or qualities
of the central concept.
Extra Reasons
What model of
change are they
veering
towards?
Spread of
Literacy
Gladstone
thought
reform would
make
his govt popular
Liberal
Associations
grew
National Liberal
Federation
1884/5
Acts
Conservatives
were
against reform
Fear of
socialism
No popular
demand
outside
parliament
Not much
support
for reform
at 1880 election
Whig influence
declining
Controversy
Read Box 2.14 on page 58.
• Highlight all the phrases that tell you this
was a High Politics model of change
Explain what each of these 3 people wanted:• Gladstone
• Chamberlain
• Salisbury
Controversy
Read Box 2.14 on page 58.
• ‘strictly party reasons’
• ‘Liberal Party considerable electoral advantages’
• ‘redistribution measure’
• ‘Tories might win’
• ‘The Peers against the People’
Explain what each of these 3 people wanted:• Gladstone – create a uniform franchise in boroughs and counties,
avoid public disorder, encourage electoral success for the Liberals
• Chamberlain – to stir revolutionary feelings within the public to force
reform in House of Lords
• Salisbury – to force a redistribution measure and avoid the Liberals
gaining power, reach a compromise, avoid public disorder, force and
win a General Election
Arlington Street Compact
What was the deal?
• Read the details about the Redistribution
Bill and explain why Salisbury wanted it.
• Write your own definition of “Villa
Toryism”
Explain why the chief victims of this act
were the Whigs.
• Use pages 72 and 97/98 in your other
chapters to help.
Arlington Street Compact
What was the deal?
• Salisbury would instruct the Conservative majority to allow the reform act to
pass through Lords
• Gladstone would introduce a separate Redistribution Bill
Details about the Redistribution Bill and explain why Salisbury wanted it.
• All constituencies should have an electorate of roughly the same size
• The vast majority of constituencies should return a single MP
• Salisbury was prepared to accept radical redistribution of seats as it would
ensure Conservatives retained their domination in the counties but also
thought there was a good chance of them winning votes in newly created
middle-class constituencies
Write your own definition of “Villa Toryism”
• Conservative support from the lower middle-classes
Explain why the chief victims of this act were the Whigs.
• The Whig electoral success had depended on a Whig and a Radical being
elected in Liberal two-member constituencies. In the new one-member
constituencies Liberal voters would have to choose between a Whig and a
Radical and there was little doubt about who would normally be chosen
Redistribution
Look at the cartoon on page 61; explain it.
The 3rd Reform Act
• Look at the terms on page 59
• Pick out the main statistics concerning how many men
could now vote.
• What key points make this a significant act?
The 3rd Reform Act
• Look at the terms on page 59
• Pick out the main statistics concerning how many men could now vote.
• What key points make this a significant act?
1.
Created a uniform franchise in both boroughs and counties and applied to
the UK as a whole
2. All male householders who paid rates and had lived in the house for at
least one year were enfranchised
3. All male lodgers who occupied lodgings worth £10 a year and had lived
there for at least one year were enfranchised
4. All those who had land or property worth £10 a year were enfranchised
5. Increased the number of men eligible to vote from 3 million to nearly 6
million therefore 2/3 adult men could vote instead of 1/3 and the
proportion of men with a vote became 18% (population was now 34.9
million)
6. Plural voting still took place by acquiring more than one property
qualification
7. University graduates continued to have 2 votes
Redistribution
• How could you argue that this act tried to
correct the flaws that still existed in the
electoral system?
Why was the
Third Reform Act passed?
Learning Objectives:
• To consolidate
understanding of
reasons for reform
• To begin to understand
the motivation of
politicians
• To check understanding
of terms of the Act
• To begin to understand
the impact of the Act
Lord Salisbury
Read the comments about him on page 200.
• How does this add to your knowledge of why he
helped to get the Reform Bill passed.
• Read the source and identify the key points he is
making.
• What proof is there that this is high politics?
1884 Franchise Act: Terms
• The franchise of the towns to apply to the
counties (household suffrage)
• A wider franchise not introduced
• 1 year residential requirement
• Plural votes for university graduates
• Residuum still not included
• 2.5 million extra voters – mostly farm
labourers
1884 Act: Terms
1/3 of adult males still disenfranchised
M.P.`s still not paid
Electorate now stood at 5 million – 2 men in every 3.
£10 Lodgers in counties also got the vote
£10 Occupation Franchise for those who occupied
shops and offices
• Many agricultural workers and miners now got the
vote.
• By 1911 84% of the electorate was registered under
the householder franchise
• This legislation lasted until 1918
•
•
•
•
•
Democracy
• How near is Britain to a full democracy?
• Is this Act more significant than 1867?
1885 Redistribution Act: Terms
• 142 seats redistributed – radical
• Constituencies made more equal in size; the principle
of equal electoral districts.
• Every 50,000 people to get an M.P.
• Most constituencies after 1885 had a single M.P.
• Old county divisions were cut into single member
constituencies to correspond to the distribution of
population.
• Urban areas got more MP`s and counties got less
• The sub-division of city constituencies created safe
Conservative seats
• The Liberals won the election in 1885
1885 Redistribution Act: terms
• Each constituency was to represent a
social and economic interest.
• Some counties and boroughs were
divided so that they were dominated by
one class or another.
• Large towns tended to vote in Tory
M.P.`s (Villa Toryism)
• It creates a framework for a classbased political system.
Redistribution
• How important was this Act for the
Conservatives?
Reasons
for 1884
Act
High
Politics
High Politics model
• To unite the Liberals
• To make the government popular
• To ensure the Conservatives could pick
up votes in the towns
• To create an equal franchise between
boroughs and counties
High Politics Model
• Competition between Chamberlain &
Salisbury; opposition of the Lords.
• Appointment of a Cabinet Committee to
draft a redistribution scheme
High Politics Model
• Competition between Gladstone and
Salisbury – Brinkmanship
• strategic risk-taking: the practice of
taking a dispute to the verge of conflict
in the hope of forcing the opposition to
make concessions.
• The Arlington Street Compact
Reasons
for 1884
Act
Low
Politics
Pressure from outside parliament
• Popular politics revived
• Spread of Literacy among the working classes
• Public opinion shocked at corruption in
elections
• Miners insisted that further electoral reform
was necessary if they were to continue to
support the Liberals
• Radicals held meetings in 1883 to arouse
popular support for reform
Pressure from outside parliament
• Agricultural Depression 1870s
• 13 October 1884 Aston Riots
• Growing power of trade unions
Easter Homework
• Which political party gained the most? Research
Liberals, Conservatives and Labour, make notes on
gains and come to a decision
Find out about each group and assess its importance:
• 1877 National Liberal Federation
• 1883 Social Democratic Federation
• 1872 Chamberlain`s social programme
• Growth of Trade Unions
• Agricultural depression from 1870`s
• 1884 Socialist League founded
• 1884 Aston riots
Pressure from outside parliament
Find out about each group and assess its importance:
• 1877 National Liberal Federation
• 1883 Social Democratic Federation
• 1872 Chamberlain`s social programme
• Growth of Trade Unions
• Agricultural depression from 1870`s
• 1884 Socialist League founded
• 1884 Aston riots
Pressure from outside parliament
Find out about each group and assess its importance:
• 1877 National Liberal Federation
Formed by Chamberlain and saw itself as a power to be reckoned with. Fatal divisions in the
party led to creation of new Liberal Associations.
• 1883 Social Democratic Federation
Adopted an explicitly socialist platform. Strongly opposed to Liberal party which currently
claimed to represent the Labour movement in Parliament. Strongly progressive and called for
social reform. Formed by H.M.Hyndman and was inspired by Marx.
• 1872 Chamberlain`s social programme
Radical programme in preparation for next General Election, programme was to blazon across the
country in speeches. Free primary education, land reform to break up great estates, financial
reform to ease burden of taxation, county councils to democratise local gov. Longer term
manhood suffrage, payment of MP’s
• Growth of Trade Unions and Agricultural depression from 1870`s
Made Conservatives nervous and anxious about power of trade unions and the “threat of
socialism”. Rural labourers, persuaded by trade unions, might try to exploit the franchise. This
might lead to further expenditure on poor relief, rural housing and free education.
• 1884 Socialist League founded
Members of SDF were unhappy with Hyndman’s leadership (his Nationalism and Dictatorial
methods). 1884 league formed. Advocated revolutionary international socialism. Not large group
and many members were unemployed and poor.
• 1884 Aston riots
Chamberlain did all he could to stir up Nationalist feeling in the country against the peers but
success was limited. These riots were in Birmingham in 13 October 1884. Liberal mob invaded a
Tory meeting and Lord Randolph Churchill and Sir Stafford Northcote had to flee for lives.
Why was the
Third Reform Act passed?
Learning Objectives:
• To consolidate
understanding of
reasons for reform
• To check
understanding of
terms of the Act
• To understand the
impact of the Act on
political parties
Is there more evidence of High or Low
politics being the reason for change?
Using the sheet you have been given categorise each
statement as examples of high politics, low politics or
other.
Now answer the question: Was the 1884 Reform Act
caused by examples of low or high politics?
In your answer refer to specific factual evidence.
Which party do you think gained most and why?
Using the evidence in your envelope you are going to:
1. Research the gains made for your designated group
2. Prepare a 2/3 minute presentation on your groups gained
3. Prepare an argument as to how your group could be considered to have made
the biggest gain – this will be part of your presentation
4. Produce an A4 revision sheet showing your groups gains
You have the
Conservatives Liberals
•
•
•
•
Darina
Matthew F
Dillon
Leigh
• Andrew
• Reece
• Shannah
Other
•
•
•
•
James G
James S
Adam
Mark
rest of this
lesson and
homework to
complete this
task.
Evaluation
What have your group done to
prepare this?
Have you identified
the areas of gain
for your group?
Have you prepared
an argument for
how your group
made the biggest
gain?
Have you designed
a revision sheet
which will inform
the other groups
and act as a
revision aid?
Is your
presentation
prepared and have
you decided which
role each of your
members will take?
What do you still need to do?
Homework: Results of the Acts
Look at pages 73-74
• Identify positive results of these Acts
• Identify where the Liberals gained
• Identify where the Conservatives gained
• Identify where the Labour MPs gained
• Identify where the middle classes gained
• Identify who lost power and why
What was the impact of the Third
Reform Act on political parties?
Learning Objectives:
• To learn about which
party gained the most
after the reforms of
1884/5
• To be able to tackle
an exam question on
this topic
Which party do you believe
gained most?
Liberals
Conservatives
Labour
Tree Map
Classifying: Ideal for classifying information given about a topic
into its subtopics and details or for helping students to organise
an essay.
What was the impact of the Third Reform
Act on political parties?
The Liberals
The Conservatives
Labour
The Liberal
• 1885 Liberals returned as the largest party
• In the Counties Liberal Candidates gained seats that
were traditionally held by Conservatives
• Used political missionaries from towns and cities to
carry messages to the countryside
• Gave more attention to the rural issues in order to
appeal to farm labourers and were rewarded in 1885
General Election – as well as cycling clubs and land
societies. Chamberlain’s unauthorised programme of
1885 – 3 acres and a cow
• Liberal Party in Parliament became much more radical in
policy and more middle class in background
• Lib-Lab Pact 1903
• Revived after 1903 resulted in a landslide victory in
1906 – programme of social and welfare reforms and
‘New Liberalism’ from 1906-1914
The Liberals
• 1885 Liberals returned as the largest party but lost
overall majority
• Character of party changed and in 1886 most Whigs
left and allied with Conservatives.
• Seats the Liberals had previously won in countryside
had been secured by Whig landowners.
• Faced new challenges after formation of Labour
Representative Committee in 1900
• 1886-1906 – only held office for 3 years (1892-95)
• WW1 – appeared weak and divided in peacetime politics
The Conservative
• Most successful party in period of 1886-1906
• Middle-class voting for Conservatives was consolidated
• Some success appealing to working-class voters through perusing
expansionist imperialist policy
• Gained success on basis of war time records
• 1883 Primrose League (Disraeli’s favourite flower) promoted the
Tory principles of maintaining established Church, power of landed
classes and Empire and made Disraeli into a Tory icon. By 1891 it
had 1 million members.
• Introduced a number of reforms of landholdings and local
government such as – elected county councils in 1888, Allotments
Act 1887, Smallholdings Act 1892
• Redistribution meant that there were significant gains in large
urban towns in elections after 1885
• Success was based on winning extra seats in former Liberals
heartlands of industrial areas
• Huge victories in 1886, 1895 and 1900 accelerated
embourgeoisement of party
The Labour Party
• 1888 Hardie set up the Labour Party in Scotland
• 1893 – Independent Labour Party set up
• 1906 – 29 Labour MPs elected - but struggled in socially
mixed population
• Dedicated to promoting independent Labour representation
• Trade unions supported them and threatened their links with
the Liberal Party and the threat contained by ‘Lib-Lab’
electoral pact between the 2 parties in 1903
• Gained support on basis of war time success
• Began to give more attention to winning support in the
countryside after beginning as an Urban Party
• Appealed to working classes
• Redistribution did create 89 constituencies with clear
working class electorate – Labour targeted these
The Whigs
• After Redistribution the party suffered serious
damage
• The loss of the Whigs led to the radicalisation of the
Liberals
• Whigs used to share Liberal candidacies with the
radicals but in single member constituencies the middle
class Liberals dominated and were less inclined to give
support to Whig candidates
Women
• Petition for women’s suffrage put forward by John Stuart
Mill in 1866 and after this suffragist MP’s introduced Bills
and resolutions to Parliament annually throughout 1870’s and
1880’s
• Franchise Bill was debated in June 1884 by William Woodhall
(Liberal) proposed an amendment to enfranchise women and
was defeated by a majority of 136 – reflected official
opposition of the government
• Although the Bills were defeated there was a gradual
conversion to the cause – when Woodhall introduced the
same Bill in November he won a majority of 21
• 1880’s and 90’s women pursued a more prominent political
role – women were given proof of their competence
• By enfranchising poor and ill educated men in 1867 and 1884
politicians made it increasingly difficult to justify the
exclusion of educated, property-owning, tax paying women
Multi-Flow Map!
Effect
Causes
The 1884
Reform Act
and
1885
Redistribution
Act
Cause and Effect: The major function is to show causes- which
can be sorted by root , immediate, proximal or long term
causes- and their effects in relation to a major event; can be
indefinitely expanded to include multiple cases.
What caused the 1884 and 1885 reforms?
Learning Objectives:
• To understand how
to answer a 40 mark
question
• To practice our
skills at source
analysis
• To apply our
knowledge of the 3rd
Reform Act
Sit in these groups please:
1. Leigh, Mark and Andrew
2. Dillon, Darina and Reece
3. Adam and James S
4. James G, Matthew F and
Shannah
In your groups annotate the question in order to:
1. Pick out key words
2. Develop understanding of the area of debate
3. Pick out any areas of contextual understanding that you may need to answer it
Do you agree with the view that the changes
in the electoral system which took place in
1884 and 1885 were due to competition
between the parties to gain support from the
working classes?
What did the acts alter?
What contextual knowledge do you have?
1884 Franchise Act
1885 Redistribution Act
What did the acts alter?
1884 Franchise Act
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The franchise of the towns to apply to
the counties (household suffrage)
A wider franchise not introduced
1 year residential requirement
Plural votes for university graduates
Residuum still not included
2.5 million extra voters – mostly farm
labourers but 1/3 of adult males still
disenfranchised
M.P.`s still not paid
Electorate now stood at 5 million – 2
men in every 3.
£10 Lodgers in counties also got the
vote and £10 Occupation Franchise for
those who occupied shops and offices
Many agricultural workers and miners
now got the vote.
By 1911 84% of the electorate was
registered under the householder
franchise
This legislation lasted until 1918
1885 Redistribution Act
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
142 seats redistributed – radical
Constituencies made more equal in size;
the principle of equal electoral districts.
Every 50,000 people to get an M.P.
Most constituencies after 1885 had a
single M.P.
Old county divisions were cut into single
member constituencies to correspond to
the distribution of population.
Urban areas got more MP`s and counties
got less
The sub-division of city constituencies
created safe Conservative seats
The Liberals won the election in 1885
Each constituency was to represent a
social and economic interest.
Some counties and boroughs were divided
so that they were dominated by one class
or another.
Large towns tended to vote in Tory M.P.`s
(Villa Toryism)
It creates a framework for a class-based
political system.
Each team has been given a source to
annotate – you have 10 minutes and must
then feedback
Remember to:
1. Pick out key words or quotations
2. Develop understanding of which side of the
debate the source falls upon
3. Pick out any areas of contextual
understanding that you may need to answer it
In your groups annotate the source in order to:
1. Pick out key words or quotations
2. Develop understanding of which side of the debate the source falls upon
3. Pick out any areas of contextual understanding that you may need to answer it
SOURCE 4
(From David Cooper, Disraeli, Salisbury and the
Conservative Party)
The notion of a “Tory Democracy” struck Salisbury as a
contradiction in terms. … It was, Salisbury believed,
the main responsibility of the Conservative Party to
keep the poor from the throats and pockets of the rich.
… Salisbury`s strategy was … resistance to socialism
and the cultivation of Villa Toryism.
In your groups annotate the source in order to:
1. Pick out key words or quotations
2. Develop understanding of which side of the debate the source falls upon
3. Pick out any areas of contextual understanding that you may need to answer it
SOURCE 5
(From a speech by Joseph Chamberlain in January 1885)
Next year two millions of men will enter for the first time
into the full enjoyment of their political rights. These men
are for the most part your fellow-workers in factory and in
field, and for the first time the toilers and spinners will have
a majority of votes, and the control, if they desire it, of the
Government of the country. To-day Parliament is elected by
three millions of electors, of whom, perhaps one third are of
the working classes. Next year a new House will come to
Westminster elected by five millions of men, of whom three
fifths belong to the labouring population. It is a revolution
which has been peacefully and silently accomplished. The
centre of power has been shifted, and the old order is giving
place to the new.
What did we pick up from the sources?
Source 5 – support of working class
Source 4 – support of middle classes
•
•
•
•
“Tory Democracy” – Salisbury was not in
favour of this, he wanted to delay the
onset of democracy as long as possible –
therefore his main concern was not gaining
votes from working classes
“keep the poor from the throats and
pockets of the rich” – here he hints at the
working classes criminal tendencies and
wanted to retain the power of the
aristocracy, he has no faith in the
emerging working classes
“pockets” – many middle class citizens felt
their wealth was threatened by new
socialist ideas
“cultivation of Villa Toryism” – he wants to
harness the middle class vote and by redrawing boundaries of constituencies he
believed he could create areas of middle
class support
•
•
•
•
“your fellow-workers in factory and in
field” – new franchise mainly affected the
rural agricultural labourers and gave same
rights as Urban workers
“toilers and spinners will have a majority of
votes” – focus on the newly enfranchised
working classes and implies that they held
power in government and the aim for
Chamberlain is now manhood suffrage
“revolution which has been peacefully and
silently accomplished” – compared to 1832
and 1867 the 3rd Reform Act was the least
dramatic, politicians began to believe the
onset of democracy was inevitable – low
model of change?
“centre of power has been shifted” –
impact of widening franchise
You now have 10 minutes to write a paragraph about
your source which answers part of the question.
Remember to:
• Say whether your source supports or challenges the
question
• Use source details to support your answer
• Apply your contextual knowledge to the source details
and your answer
Switch answers with a different team.
In 3 different colours highlight where they have
done each of the below in the answer
Remember to:
• Say whether your source supports or challenges the
question
• Use source details to support your answer
• Apply your contextual knowledge to the source details
and your answer
Now offer two pieces of advice which could
improve their answer.
Next lesson you will be doing this
as a practice essay on your own
• Use the methods we have used today and the
materials you have been given to revise and
prepare.