The reform act of 1832 was an act which radically change the voting system in Britain. It allowed a much greater swath of the middle class a vote as well as the upper classes and redistributed representatives more equally across the country to greater represent the population. As since the industrial revolution, due to greater social mobility and the build up of new industrial centres the old system didn't represent the population in the right proportions in parliament. The reform act was also well known for the bitter struggle Lord Grey's government had to overcome to succeed and get the act passed. Due to the act and its effects many historians and people consider the reform act of 1832 to be “great”; I shall be examining the act and its effect to see whether it deserves the title of the Great Reform Act.
In 1830 the Tories were in a disarray under the Duke of Wellington and after they were defeated on a civil list act Peel announced their resignation from government, this lead to the king, William IV to ask for Lord grey to form another government instead. He agreed, only on the condition however that the king would support the reform act. Grey had this condition because he believed the act was the only way to ensure there wasn't a revolution led by the middle classes as there had been on the continent. This was the main reason why Grey believed the reform was a necessity, not because he had any greater feeling of sympathy towards the middle classes than Wellington but he interpreted the response needed to quell fears about revolution differently. In fact the act wasn't designed in the aim that eventually everybody would get suffrage, it was designed to ensure that the bourgeoisie and upper class remain in charge and aren't overthrown by revolution. The historian Anthony Wood agrees with this idea and says its proven by what he said the king “It was the spirit of the age which was triumphing; to resist it was certain destruction.”
Managing to pass the bill through parliament was a monumental hurdle for the government to passed and there were three key problems the government needed to sought out before they could manage to pass the act. First they had to ensure the kings support so that he wouldn't use the royal veto to prevent the passing of the act. Secondly if required to prevent Lords from rejecting the bill could they get William agree to create enough additional pro-reform peers if needed and third ensuring that any moderate Whig backbenchers didn't rebel against the government in fear of violent uprising. They managed to deal with this third issue swiftly with the aid of the home secretary Lord Melbourne who set up a special commission to deal with activities involving “Captain Swing” and in the most part they were successful, however there still were radical journalists who organised resistance and marches had been made with the tricolour flag. As a whole the government got its message across that it would deal with any revolutionary attempts firmly.
The other two issues were dealt with as the bill progressed through parliament. In 1831 the king approved the bill of reforms suggested by a committee of the Whig government, on the 1st of March the bill was announced to the house of commons, which turned from excited to angered by the proposals they felt were ridiculous. The proposals the bill suggested were sweeping, sixty boroughs were to be disenfranchised, forty-seven boroughs were to lose one member. These lost seats were to be redistributed among industrial centres. The terms of Franchise had been made uniform across the country as well. The bill passed its second reading by one vote but was defeated in the committee stage. As these were the reforms the Whig government had promised to introduced when it was elected, it had no choice but to request of the king to have another election, to reassert their authority and give them a greater majority in the commons. William IV agreed as he was convinced only Lord Grey could save his throne from revolution. Now that the whole country had heard the details of the bill, not even the rotten boroughs could manage to prevent the government from coming back in a greater majority than before and after a couple of slight concessions, such as the government extending the vote to £50 tenants-at-will which gave the landlord more power the bill was passed through the commons and received its first reading in the lords. However after the second reading on the 7th of October the Lords rejected it by a majority of forty-one. After this setback that October was the closest England came to a revolution. The reform press printed with black-edge editions and an waves of violence and disturbances spread across the country. Nottingham castle was burnt and in Bristol mob set fire to jails, bishops house and the town hall. People from Derby broke into the jails and released all the prisoners.
