Elimination of corrupt practices in British elections (1868-1911)

At the beginning of the nineteenth century the British House of Commons was the preserve of the aristocracy and landed gentry. Those who were entitled to elect members to Parliament were but a small fraction of the total adult male population, although they comprised a rough cross-section of the occupations and classes in the country. Through long custom unchecked by any attempt to rationalize the electoral system the voters were scattered haphazardly throughout the kingdom; they were a rarity in the growing industrial towns while very numerous in the ancient decaying boroughs of the south of England. The oft-vaunted freedom of the electorate-an essen tial principle of the Constitution-was in practice inhibited by three major influences: the political ignorance and indifference of the vast majority of those living in a stratified society where only the upper classes could legislate and rule; the traditional right of certain members of these classes-the great landowners in the counties and the patrons in most boroughs-to dictate the elector's choice; and the traditional relationship between member and constituents based on the theory that since the vote was a marketable commodity the member must look after his supporters. From the point of view of the electorate as a whole the privilege of the franchise was conceived in terms of personal advantage in the narrowest sense.