1. 6HUM0400: The Politics of Parliamentary Reform: lecture 1
The unreformed electoral system

2. Structure of the lecture
introduction to the whole module
key words and concepts
William Hogarth’s election series of 1754
structure of the unreformed electoral system
historiography of the electoral system and ‘participatory politics’

3. Key words Liberty and corruption Patriotism and revolution
Rights of man and constitutional reform

5. British electoral system [House of Commons from 1707-1832]
House of Commons, Westminster, from 1707
County – all landowners holding 40s of land [60% total electorate] – 2 MPs
Borough – huge variety [40% total electorate] – 2 MPs
‘open’ boroughs
‘closed’ boroughs
Corporation control
Scotland - 45 MPs [electorate ]
venal or so-called ‘rotten’ boroughs
Freemen franchise

6. William Hogarth, ‘An election entertainment’ (1754)

7. Hogarth, ‘Soliciting Votes’

8. Hogarth, ‘the Polling’

9. Hogarth, ‘Chairing the Member’

10. Different views of the electoral system and ‘participatory politics’
Lewis Namier – power, patronage, venality and corruption
Frank O’Gorman, John Phillips, H. T. Dickinson – ‘participatory politics’
Jurgen Habermas – the ‘public sphere’
E. P. Thompson, Nicholas Rogers, James Epstein – different understandings of what politics was – not just about parliament
gender historians, e.g. Elaine Chalus – role of women behind the scenes.

11. James Gillray, ‘Two Patriotic Duchesses on their Canvass,’ 1784

12. Key points about the eighteenth century electoral system
Parliament seen as central body to enable local acts and interests rather than dictate national policy
Most boroughs patronised by propertied elites - Yet opinions of voters courted by candidates and patrons - deference and participation
Elections as theatre - Non-voters still involved