Before the secret ballot, voting in Britain was a theatrical, violent and public affair. The Act that made democracy private turned 150 this year. Covent Garden Market during the Westminster election, by Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Charles Pugin, c.1810. Alamy.

Events from the year 1810 in the United Kingdom. 19 February – Radical John Gale Jones is called before the House of Commons for a breach of privilege, for which he is committed to Newgate Prison until 21 June. [1]

There have been 58 general elections held in the UK up to and including the 2024 general election. In 1801, the right to vote in the United Kingdom was severely restricted. Universal suffrage, on an equal basis for men and women over the age of 21, was established in 1928.

Since medieval times, few people had the right to vote (“suffrage”). Parliament was rotten, representation was unequal, and elections were corrupt. The 1800s saw three Reform Acts (1832, 1867, 1884) extend voting rights, but there was a way to go before universal suffrage.

Sep 29, 2023 · Protracted debates over suffrage and the secret ballot, often associated with the brave new politics of the nineteenth century – prizing competition over unanimity, secrecy over openness, individual over communal rights – were in fact a significant feature of eighteenth-century parish elections. 3.

This was done by a show of hands and by each man going to the Returning Officer and registering his vote. There was no secret ballot until 1872. County elections were held in the county town (in York for Yorkshire, Alnwick for Northumberland, Lancaster for Lancashire).

Poll Books list who voted at elections and who they voted for. The earliest ones are from around 1700 and they continued until 1872 when the secret ballot was introduced. While all poll books record the name of the voter, some also record other …

Feb 26, 2024 · Table 2 shows the proportion of all contested elections and by-elections, comparing counties, universities and boroughs, and dividing the boroughs up into the main franchise types. County elections were contested less than borough election, although from 1695–1710 the reverse had been true.

He supported government, however, over the Scheldt expedition, 30 Mar. 1810, and apart from a vote for sinecure reform, 7 May 1810, on all major issues when present. On 21 May 1810 he voted against parliamentary reform. He invariably opposed Catholic relief and, on his own territory, tried to stem the growth of protestant dissent.

Poll books trace their origins to a 1696 act of Parliament designed to curb disputed election results and fraud. The remedy included requiring sheriffs to make a list of voters and the candidate they voted for in county elections. These could then be published as poll books.