Woolly Mammoth's Weaker Reform Act

Having nearly completed this project this thread is to display and discuss the 1.0 versions of a 'Weaker Reform Act' whereby Thomas Drummond's suggestion of adopting the Scottish 'District of Burghs' approach in England is taken to ensure rotten burghs retain their representation. If anyone is knowledgeable about 1830s or early Victorian British demographics and socio-economic history I would like to include additional towns of similar profiles in the English Districts and swap out old towns to make it more akin to Drummond's aim to group towns by industry.
 
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#1 England

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English seats come in four types;
  • District of Boroughs; Collections of pre-existing boroughs with ancient rights and newly enfranchised towns to create a group which combines their votes to appoint 2 MPs between them. Generally favour the Whigs and Reformers due to bringing in emerging middle classes and mercantile elements.
  • Boroughs; the surviving ancient boroughs and newly created seats for the industrial towns each electing 2 MPs. Variable franchises and extent as their boundaries are extended to include parishes required to reach at least 300 £10 properties. Some still effectively 'pocket' appointments of landed interests, the Crown, and government.
  • 'Boroughs' (effectively county constituencies); these are the 4 seats which had been watered down with the surrounding land as a response to corruption. They are the 'special snowflake' of the settlement being essentially the route OTL took.
  • County Seats; these are the at-large seats elected by the county franchise which includes those residing in the towns who don't qualify for the borough franchises. ITTL there are actually fewer county MPs than OTL as it isn't considered necessary to compensate the landed interest by over-representing agricultural counties. The Isle of Wight is an exceptional case of a single MP county which is unlikely to stand given this world's adoption of the 2MP standard.
 
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#2 Scotland

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Scottish seats come in 5 types; the 'Joint Counties' such as Caithness and Sutherland which largely replace the alternating counties of the Pre-Reform system, the conventional counties of which the five largest by population elect 2MPs whilst the remainder elect 1MP, the 2MP burghs of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee, the 'District of Boroughs' constituencies which in Scotland only elect a single MP between them although by pooling popular vote rather than the 'electoral college' system Pre-Reform, and the special snowflake 1MP burgh of Aberdeen.

Scotland actually ends up with the same number of MPs as after our Reform Act but with a subtly different distribution which favours the landholding interest (although in a less overt manner than England).
 
The majority of English Districts have been formed through grouping towns listed on OTL's Schedule D (1 new MP) with those on Schedules A (-2) and B (-1), referencing available population and property data until a sufficient body of at least 300 £10 properties and a viable population base has been established. Where possible growing towns not enfranchised by OTL's Reform Act but with a similar character have been brought in; for example grouping the West County lace towns, and the Cornish tin burghs together. Only the most rotten 26 burghs have been completely disestablished along with a number who IOTL and ITTL submitted 'suicide petitions'; this reflects the less methodical method and greater compromises of this settlement.

Suicide Petitions were received from Lostwithiel, Minehead, Heytesbury, Downton, Hindon, Milbourne Port, Aldeburgh, New Romney, and Whitchurch. Additionally the Isle of Wight burghs of Yarmouth and Newtown elected government appointees who both IOTL and ITTL were favourable to their disenfranchisement.
 
Sorry my brain isn't working. Can you summarise the seat types and number of mps per seat? Eg County Seats 1MP (6 seats).
Edit:
England is currently giving me:
  • District of boroughs 2MP (? Seats)
  • Towns/burghs 2MP (? Seats)
  • County/burghs ?MP (? Seats)
  • County Representation 1MP (? Seats) 2MP (? Seats) 3MP (? Seats) 4MP 5MP 6MP etc
 
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Sorry my brain isn't working. Can you summarise the seat types and number of mps per seat? Eg County Seats 1MP (6 seats).
Edit:
England is currently giving me:
  • District of boroughs 2MP (? Seats)
  • Towns/burghs 2MP (? Seats)
  • County/burghs ?MP (? Seats)
  • County Representation 1MP (? Seats) 2MP (? Seats) 3MP (? Seats) 4MP 5MP 6MP etc

Each of the 39 English District of Boroughs elects 2 MPs each; this is a total in this 1.0 version of 78 MPs.
Each of the 126 'Standard' Boroughs elect 2 MPs each; this is a total of 252 MPs.
The 4 'County-Boroughs' with extended boundaries elect 2 MPs each; this totals 8 MPs.
London elects 4 MPs; giving a total of 4 MPs.
The Counties which elect either 1 (Isle of Wight only), 2 (agricultural counties), 3 (the majority), or 6 (Lancashire and Yorkshire only) MPs have a total of 116 MPs.

English Total of 456 MPs
 
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Each of the 39 English District of Boroughs elects 2 MPs each; this is a total in this 1.0 version of 78 MPs.
Each of the 126 'Standard' Boroughs elect 2 MPs each; this is a total of 252 MPs.
The 4 'County-Boroughs' with extended boundaries elect 2 MPs each; this totals 8 MPs.
London elects 4 MPs; giving a total of 4 MPs.
The Counties which elect either 1 (Isle of Wight only), 2 (agricultural counties), 3 (the majority), or 6 (Lancashire and Yorkshire only) MPs have a total of 112 MPs.

English Total of 454 MPs
So, in the format that is easier for me:
  • District Borough: 2MP (39 Seats) = 78
  • Standard Borough: 2MP (126 Seats) = 252
  • County Borough: 2MP (4 Seats) = 8
  • Full County: 1MP (Wight) 2MP (30 Seats) 3MP (69 Seats) 4MP (London) 6MP (Lancs-Yorks) = 116
  • TOTAL 456
 
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So, in the format that is easier for me:
  • District Borough: 2MP (39 Seats) = 78
  • Standard Borough: 2MP (126 Seats) = 252
  • County Borough: 2MP (4 Seats) = 8
  • Full County: 1MP (Wight) 2MP (? Seats) 3MP (? Seats) 4MP (London) 6MP (Lancs-Yorks) = 112
  • TOTAL 454

To fill the gaps in Full County; 2MP (30 Seats), 3MP (69 Seats).

EDIT: My apologies I miss-counted, English total should be 456, and full county should equal 116.
 
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Thanks! It will be interesting to see the political results of this and the impact it has. One can see a stronger call for further reform against a more resistant parliament. That will affect the Radical and Labour movements!
 
Thanks! It will be interesting to see the political results of this and the impact it has. One can see a stronger call for further reform against a more resistant parliament. That will affect the Radical and Labour movements!

I anticipate it will be a mixed bag; I basically conceded quite a few of the proposals made in OTL by the Tories and Ultra-Tories in the 1830-1832 period. In hindsight some of their ideas seem a bit dubious and unlikely to actually help them. In particular they encouraged the 'Districts' system because it concentrated Radical elements in burghs and out of the country franchise. This does of course mean that the Reform agitators get a 'foot in the door' and the Tories (or ITTL 'Preservatives') will almost certainly struggle to gain those seats. The failure to concede a strong Reform Act will also act as a catalyst for continual social unrest and enable the linking of middle class and proletariat interests in the future.
 
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#3 Wales (not including Monmouthshire)

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Wales is probably the simplest but also the least reformed of any of Great Britain ITTL's Reform Act. Welsh seats come in 4 types; the County Constituencies which elect either 1 or 2 MPs based upon population, the 'District of Boroughs' which in Wales elect a single MP between them based on pooled vote, the 1MP seats of Merthyr Tydfil and Brecon, and Beaumaris which is technically a District of Boroughs but in practice the town itself has been thrown out to the traditional Hundred of Menai.

The biggest difference between OTL and TTL's Welsh settlement is the creation of the 'Aberystwyth Boroughs' which incorporates most of the proposed 'Dolgellau Boroughs' along with the namesake town with its relatively large population. If anything the Reform Act will probably delay change in Welsh parliamentary reform because it confirms the ancient franchises preventing the slow trickle of challenges which were trying to switch burghs to 'scot and lot' franchises which were more democratic.
 
To complete the set:
#4 Complete British Isles

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In the case of Ireland the 'watering down' occurs in the franchise itself; there are none of the OTL concessions to renting classes or expansion of the Catholic vote due to Conservative backlash by the Protestant Ascendancy. Additionally I have included some movement towards adopting the 'District of Boroughs' model enabling the re-introduction of landlord influence through bringing in the votes of former pocket burghs of the Irish Parliament. Ireland actually has slightly more MPs in total than OTL but a good 1/3 or so will continue to be government appointments and Irish nationalist mobilization will be much more difficult.

Would have liked to have altered the situation more but I felt a full scale reversion to pre-1801 Irish Parliamentary burghs would be a bit of a stretch even for this world. Maybe could have introduced more burgh seats in the Dissenter/Protestant areas of Ulster to 'reflect the industrial populations'.

Not shown: MPs for British and Irish Universities (5)
 
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What are the franchise qualifications ITTL following the alternate act?

In General:
  • The Irish 'certificate' system is adopted across the board: prospective voters had to prove their qualifications at parish-level sessions. Those successful would obtain an 8-year document allowing them, after a year wait, to vote in elections by producing it. This both outs landlord interests and also ensures a healthy degree of potential dis-enfranchisement of the working class on technicalities. The cost of obtaining a certificate is not set but starts at around 1s.
In England:
  • Burgh voters consisting of a £10 household qualification (as OTL) who were resident and paying rates. Unlike OTL the (ironically Whig) amendment disenfranchising those who paid rent weekly is carried as some radicals worried they would be susceptible to landlord pressure. Additionally all existing voters of 'ancient right', which ITTL is considered to be all franchises other than pot-whalloper, are allowed to retain the vote and are not stripped away. Those who hold the Freemen vote are as OTL allowed to pass it to their children.
  • The county franchise is almost exactly as OTL with the exception that copy-holders and leaseholders of boroughs within the county, who did not qualify for the burgh vote, are denied the right to vote for county MPs unless they desperately qualify for the 40s requirement.
In Scotland:
  • A county franchise of £15 property owners (of old Scots extent), and £20 property owners for non-royal burghs within the counties not separately represented. Additionally leaseholders of £50 property rental and tenants of at least 21 years. As OTL the law is, perhaps deliberately, vague in the exact terms allowing landlords to fabricate 'faggot votes' without undue difficulty.
  • In the burghs a franchise qualification of £10 property, not recipient of poor relief, and also all those possessing ancient rights votes.
In Wales:
  • As England in both burghs and counties, with the exception that cottagers had to prove residence for at least 60 years duration to qualify.
In Ireland:
  • In the counties; £10 freeholders, £10 leaseholders of at least 60 years, £50 leaseholders of at least 21 years, and £10 copy-holders. As in England any property qualification enabling a borough vote is a disqualification.
  • In the burghs; £5 occupant property owners, leaseholders (as county electorate), ancient rights voters, and £10 freeholders.
 
This is amazing! What do you plan to do with this?

With a few slight alterations it's going to form an update in a TL if I ever get around to writing it, although in that TL the West Indies are also given county and borough seats to compensate the slave holding/sugar interests. Probably could have just explained the changes but I wanted to be able to map elections for the TL and determine individual seats.

As for this version I might try and rough-guess some modern elections mapped onto the seat distribution for a bit of amusement. This would depend on whether I can access constituency results and guess the distribution of town to county franchises to work out whose votes in the Boroughs would actually be in the county ITTL. If anyone want to use it they are more than welcome as long as there is credit given.
 
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