In the early 19th century, the House of Commons was, like the Palace of Westminster where it met, ramshackle, jerry-built and prone to fire. Many important and fast-growing towns had no MP at all, while tiny, half-abandoned villages with a handful of inhabitants returned two MPs each at the command of the owner of the 'rotten borough', as such constituencies were known. A handful of rich and powerful noblemen each owned a dozen or more rotten boroughs and could make or break governments.
It was William IV's misfortune that the beginning of his reign saw a sudden intensification in the campaign for parliamentary reform. It began in November 1830, five months after his accession, when the Tory government fell and a Whig administration took office.
Over the next two years, three Reform Bills were submitted to Parliament. The first was defeated in the Commons and provoked a general election that, even with the unreformed franchise, produced a Whig landslide. The second was defeated in the Lords, and it looked as though the intransigent Tory majority in the Lords would do the same to the third.
It appeared that the only way to break the deadlock was for William to create enough peers to give the Whigs a majority in the Lords as well.
So far, the king had given unstinting support to his prime minister Earl Grey – an aristocrat who saw himself as acting on behalf of the people and not at their command. William had done so on practical grounds, since he recognised that reform was the only alternative to revolution. He also acted on principle, since he saw it as his duty, whatever his personal desires, 'to support the prime minister until Parliament by its vote determines that the prime minister no longer possesses the confidence of the nation'.
But a creation of up to 50 peers, which would radically dilute the composition of the Lords, was a step too far. William refused, Grey resigned and, on 9 May 1832, the king invited the Tories to form a government.
England now had its 'Days of May', when it looked as though London, Nottingham and the rest of the country would follow the example of revolutionary Paris. Newspapers whipped up the frenzy with provocative headlines such as 'The Eve of the Barricades', while in Birmingham, a speaker at a rally of 100,000 people proclaimed Tory 'incompetency to govern' and invoked the people's 'right to arm' in the face of oppression.
When the American rebels had used that language, George III had dug in his heels. William IV instead sought compromise. Why didn't the Tories simply abstain? he suggested privately. Reform was inevitable and that way at least they would retain their in-built majority in the Lords. It was a bitter pill to swallow and they resisted as long as possible.
But finally the Tories, led by the duke of Wellington, had to admit that they couldn't form a government. William now had no choice but to recall Grey and to agree – in writing – to his demand for the mass creation of peers.
It was the most humiliating document that a king had signed since the Civil Wars. But William turned it to his advantage by informing the Tory leaders of what he had done. Certain now that they'd be overwhelmed even in the Lords, they abandoned their resistance, more than 200 of them absented themselves rather than vote and the Reform Bill went through.
Although the Bill was considered radical, its terms were actually quite moderate:
- 56 rotten boroughs returning 111 MPs lost their representation
- 30 boroughs with fewer than 4,000 inhabitants lost one MP each
- 22 larger towns – including Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and the new London metropolitan districts – received 44 seats among them
- Scotland was awarded 8 extra seats
The franchise system remained very complicated. All voters were male, over the age of 21, satisfied a voting qualification for the constituency in which they voted (for instance, a period of residence and the payment of certain property taxes as well as the appropriate property or occupation qualification) and were not disqualified (for example, as a peer or a lunatic). However, the Bill's changes did increase the electorate from 435,000 to 652,000 – one in every seven men.
On 7 June 1832, the Reform Act received the royal assent by commission. Grey had wanted William to give it in person, but because he disapproved of the popular clamour, the king refused. It was perhaps his only false step in the whole affair.
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 1832 Reform Act
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PR1832.htm
Explains the significance of the Reform Act alongside excerpts from journals and letters written by some of the key players.
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Reform! The fight for the Reform Act by Edward Pearce (Pimlico, 2004)
The struggle for reform is recorded by the well-known political commentator. The players, painted vividly, speak in their own voices. Here, too, are the riots and the quiet politics of British constitutional reform. The outcome – the 1832 Act – is, says Pearce. the most important event in the last 300 years of parliamentary history.
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