Old Photograph Reform Street Dundee Scotland

Old photograph of Reform Street, Dundee, Scotland. The street was named after the Reform Act of 1832. The Act was a response to many years of people criticising the electoral system as unfair. For example, there were constituencies with only a handful of voters that elected two Members of Parliament to Parliament. In these constituencies, with few voters and no secret ballot, it was easy for candidates to buy votes. Yet towns like Manchester that had grown during the previous 80 years had no Members of Parliament to represent them. In 1831, the House of Commons passed a Reform Bill, but the House of Lords, dominated by Tories, defeated it. There followed riots and serious disturbances in London, Birmingham, Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, Yeovil, Sherborne, Exeter and Bristol, England. In Britain, King William IV lost popularity for standing in the way of reform. Eventually he agreed to create new Whig peers, and when the House of Lords heard this, they agreed to pass the Reform Act. Rotten constituencies were removed and the new towns given the right to elect Members of Parliament, although constituencies were still of uneven size. However, only men who owned property worth at least £10 could vote, which cut out most of the working classes, and only men who could afford to pay to stand for election could be MPs. This reform did not go far enough to silence all protest.



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