Old Photograph Reform Street Dundee Scotland

Old photograph of shops, people and buildings on Reform Street in Dundee, Scotland. Opened in 1832, the street was named after the Scottish Reform Act, which gave the royal burgh of Dundee a representative at the UK Parliament for the very first time. The Act revolutionized politics in Scotland, with its population of 2 million. Its old electorate was only 0.2% of the population compared to 4% in England. The Scottish electorate overnight soared from 5,000 to 65,000, or 13% of the adult men, and was no longer a private preserve for a few very rich families. The act did not substantially change the method in which the Scottish counties elected members of Parliament, though Edinburgh and Glasgow now had two Members of Parliamenmt; Aberdeen, Dundee, Greenock, Paisley and Perth one each.



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