1832 United Kingdom general election
The 1832 United Kingdom general election, the first after the Reform Act, saw the Whigs win an overall majority of 224 seats, with the Tories winning less than 30% of the vote.
Image: Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey after Sir Thomas Lawrence copy
Image: Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington by John Jackson cropped
Image: Portrait gallery of eminent men and women of Europe and America embracing history, statesmanship, naval and military life, philosophy, the drama, science, literature and art, with biographies (1873) (14587944860)
The Representation of the People Act 1832 was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that introduced major changes to the electoral system of England and Wales. It reapportioned constituencies to address the unequal distribution of seats and expanded franchise by broadening and standardising the property qualifications to vote. Only qualifying men were able to vote; the Act introduced the first explicit statutory bar to women voting by defining a voter as a male person.
Start of parchment roll of the Reform Act 1832, with royal assent of King William IV marked above Le Roy le veult.
A painting by Sir George Hayter that commemorates the passing of the Act. It depicts the first session of the newly reformed House of Commons on 5 February 1833 held in St Stephen's Chapel. In the foreground, the leading statesmen from the Lords: Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (1764–1845), William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (1779–1848), and the Whigs on the left; and Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769–1852), and the Tories on the right. Currently in the
The House of Commons is the lower house of Parliament.
Canvassing for Votes, part of William Hogarth's Humours of an Election series, depicts the political corruption endemic in election campaigns prior to the Great Reform Act.
