An Electoral Register-Based Socio-Political Study
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THE UNIVERSITY OF WINCHESTER Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Winchester Electors c. 1832- c. 1886: An Electoral Register-based Socio-Political Study Richard James Aldous Doctor of Philosophy February 2014 This Thesis has been completed as a requirement for a postgraduate research degree of the University of Winchester [Blank] THE UNIVERSITY OF WINCHESTER ABSTRACT FOR THESIS Winchester Electors c. 1832- c. 1886: An Electoral Register-based Socio-Political Study Richard James Aldous Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Doctor of Philosophy February 2014 The mid-nineteenth-century British electoral system is explored through the contents of the electoral registers and their associated legislation. The impact of these is addressed through an examination of the national system of parliamentary representation applying from 1832 and then 1868. This reveals the importance to achieving a Commons majority, particularly for the Conservative party, of winning a majority of seats in small English boroughs. Winchester is shown to be representative of these boroughs. ‘Winchester Man’ is advanced as the archetypal elector of this era. His environment and nature are then addressed. He is found to have a relatively short life as an elector. This is found to correspond with the peak of his socio-economic standing during his lifecycle. Increased mobility of the population and ‘Winchester Man’s’ short ‘elector life’ are shown to add to uncertainty amongst party officials as to his political loyalty. This challenges the somewhat deterministic views of earlier writers on the subject who see the revision courts as absolutely deciding the outcome of future contests. The increasing incidence of contested elections is claimed to arise from this level of uncertainty. The revision court was the scene of partisan activity but some electors crept through the registration process ‘under the radar’ or with their presumed loyalty untested. ‘Winchester Man’s’ electoral behaviour is then explored. This is shown to be intrinsically of a politically partisan nature but tempered by initial diffidence. Much partisanship, perhaps stirred by the clear political divide in the revision court, remained latent due to the failure of the political parties regularly to field two candidates in a two-seat borough. Even when two candidates from the same party stood they often did not unite on a common ‘ticket’. This failed to encourage partisan voting behaviour particularly for those already in the habit of ‘splitting’. 1 [Blank] 2 LIST OF CONTENTS Title Page Abstract 1 List of Contents 3 List of Tables and Figures 5 Declaration and Copyright Statement 7 Acknowledgements 9 Introduction 11 Chapter 1: Historiographical Review 17 Chapter 2: Sources and Methodology 37 Chapter 3: The National Scene 1832-1867 and the Case for ‘Winchester Man’ 61 Chapter 4: The Environment of ‘Winchester Man’: His Borough Context 87 Chapter 5: The Nature of ‘Winchester Man’ 1832-1867 111 Chapter 6: ‘Winchester Man’ – His Experience of the Electoral System 1832-1867 147 Chapter 7: The National Scene 1868-1880 and ‘Winchester Man’s Place Therein 217 Conclusion 243 Appendix 1: Winchester Election Results 1832-1880 247 Appendix 2: Brief Biographies of Some MPs and Others 249 Bibliography 255 3 [Blank] 4 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Title Page Table 2.1: Net Electorate and Growth Rates 40 Table 3.1: Distribution of Seats by ‘Electoral System to 1832 62 Table 3.2: English Borough Seats by Type Prior to 1832 Reform Act 63 Table 3.3: English Borough Seats Prior to the 1832 Reform Act: An Alternative Typology 65 Table 3.4: Distribution of Seats by 'Electoral System' 1832 73 Table 3.5: Conservative Performance in the Celtic Nations 1832- 1865 77 Table 3.6: Conservative Performance in England 1832-1865 78 Table 3.7: Uncontested Seats England 1832-1865 79 Table 3.8: Conservative Performance in Selected English Boroughs 1832-1865 82 Table 5.1: Place of Birth of Winchester's Adult Males 1871 117 Table 5.2: Margins of Victory Winchester 1832-1867 118 Table 5.3: Electoral Lives: Bedford Borough 122 Table 5.4: Bedford Expected Lives - Impact of Methodology 124 Table 5.5: Winchester Electoral Entry Ages 126 Table 5.6: Winchester Electoral Lives 128 Table 5.7: Impact on Elector Life of Those Never Able to Vote 131 Table 5.8: Movement Off the Register 1832-1842 134 Table 6.1: Number of Freemen on the Winchester Electoral Register 164 Table 6.2: Those Who Had Never Voted at a Previous Parliamentary Election 211 Table 7.1: Distribution of Seats by 'Electoral System' 1868 220 Table 7.2: Conservative Performance in the Celtic Nations 1868-1880 221 5 Title Page Table 7.3: Conservative Performance in Types of English Seats 222 Table 7.4: Pre- and Post-1867 Voter Behaviour in 1868 234 Figure 1: Contested Elections 112 6 DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT STATEMENT No portion of the work referred to in the Thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. I confirm that this Thesis is entirely my own work. Copyright in text of this Thesis rests with the author. Copies (by any process) either in full, or extracts, may be made only in accordance with instructions given by the author. Details may be obtained from the RKE Office. This page must form part of any such copies made. Further copies (by any process) of copies made in accordance with such instructions may not be made without the permission (in writing) of the author. Richard J. Aldous 24 February 2014 7 [Blank] 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many debts I owe. Firstly to my parents who encouraged my interest in history. Next to Miss Marion Mosley, of Stowmarket High School, who first introduced me to the ‘Reform Acts’ of the nineteenth century. Then to Professor Boyd Hilton, of Trinity College, Cambridge, who deepened my interest in the period and this topic. Thirty years later Dr Mark Allen of the University of Winchester saw me through the foothills of this topic. He provided much encouragement in my preparation of an MA dissertation on the 1830s. My greatest professional thanks go to Dr Allen who has now lived with my psephological interests for almost six years. For he and Dr Jean Morrin have formed a most supportive supervisory team for this Thesis. My working methods, I appreciate, have not necessarily been theirs but they have been supportive at all times. I also thank my upgrade examiner, Professor Richard Gaunt, of Nottingham University, for the most helpful strategic and tactical guidance at that point. All errors of fact and methodology are mine alone. The wider History Department at the University of Winchester has been most supportive throughout the gestation of my work. Particular thanks go to, the now departed, Professor Tom Lawson who encouraged me in ways and at times when he probably did not even realise this was required. I would also wish to thank the staff of the Hampshire Record Office for all their guidance as to primary sources and secondary material held in their excellent facility. I also thank the staff of the Bodleian Library’s Special Collections Reading Room, Duke Humfrey Library and Law Library; of the British Library; the Bishopsgate Institute; and the Winchester City Museums Service. They have all assisted, with good humour and courtesy, with access to most important primary sources. My final thanks go to my mother. In her advanced years she has unstintingly, in her own inimitable manner, encouraged me. This is despite her bemusement at my interest in this topic. 24th February 2014 Richard J. Aldous 9 [Blank] 10 INTRODUCTION The so-called ‘Great Reform Act of 1832’1 represented the outcome of great parliamentary battles spread over almost 18 months.2 To achieve its passage through the otherwise obdurate House of Lords, this conflict led to compromise between the Whig framers of the initial proposals and some of its opponents therein. The Whigs from the outset sought to introduce a registration system in order to reduce the cost and, above all, the scope for tumult and disorder at elections.3 This was seen as arising from the lengthy period available for polling which since 1785 had been limited to a maximum of a mere fifteen polling days per constituency , and in the case of boroughs to eight days in 1828.4 Such a period was required as the right of any putative voter to vote could be, and frequently was, challenged as he sought to vote.5 During this time, with the Army legally excluded from within two miles of the polling place6 and no effective police force, law and order 1 The so-called ‘Great Reform Act’ comprised five acts – an Act addressing the franchise, redistribution of seats and electoral arrangements such as registration , together with a Boundary Act for each of England and Wales; and Ireland and a single Act for Scotland. The Acts are 2 Will. IV c.45 (Representation - England and Wales) and 2 & 3 Will. IV c.88 (Representation –Ireland); 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 64 (Boundaries – England and Wales) and 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 89 (Boundaries – Ireland); and 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 65 (Scotland – boundaries defined in Schedule M). N. Gash, Politics in the Age of Peel: A study in the Technique of Parliamentary Representation 1830-1850 (London, 1953), 34 and 67 is in error in indicating that there were six Acts. Extracts from 2 Will. IV c. 45 and 2 and 3 Will. IV c. 65 can be found at H.J. Hanham, The Nineteenth Century Constitution: Documents and Commentary (Cambridge, 1969), 262-70 (the latter Act however erroneously described as ‘2 Will.