05 February 2018
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Use our handy table to find out which year your ancestors became able to vote.
Use our handy table to find out which year your ancestors became able to vote.
The 1832 Great Reform Act is something we all learn about at school, being the first step towards universal suffrage. However, it was a long process and nearly a century was to pass before all of our ancestors would achieve the right to vote, on an equal basis in the UK in 1928. The process was piecemeal and the below table will help you to work out when your ancestors might have first been eligible to vote.
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Note that whilst different Acts of Parliament were passed for England and Wales, Ireland and Scotland, the terms were much the same from country to country. However, due to the implications of property requirements on who could and couldn’t vote, the impact on the voting landscape in each of these countries did vary considerably, i.e. the 1868 Act enabled many more men in Scotland to vote than previously, but had little impact on the proportion eligible to vote in Ireland.
|
Year |
Name of the act |
Significant because… |
Who could vote? |
Proportion of population eligible |
|
Before 1832 |
|
|
The rural boroughs were disproportionately represented, with some MPs elected by just a handful of voters, while some of the new towns that had sprung up during the Industrial Revolution had no MP. Voting qualifications varied from borough to borough |
An estimated 500,000 men in England and Wales could vote before the 1832 Act |
|
1832 |
The Representation of the People Act |
It broadened the property qualification, meaning that more men in rural areas could vote, and qualification in urban areas was more uniform |
In the boroughs, men who paid £10 rent or more a year, and some lodgers. In county constituencies, in addition to forty-shilling freeholders, franchise rights were extended to owners of land in copyhold worth £10; holders of long-term leases of more than 60 years on land worth £10; and holders of medium-term leases of 20 to 60 years on land worth £50 and to tenants-at-will paying an annual rent of £50 |
1 in 7 men now able to vote (about 800,000) in England and Wales. In Scotland about 13 percent of the male adult population (about 65,000 men. In Ireland the increase in property qualification meant that fewer people had the vote than they had previously but Roman Catholics had gained an equal voting right to Protestants from 1829 |
|
1867 |
The Representation of the People Act 1867 |
It enfranchised skilled working class men in urban areas |
In addition to the above and the skilled urban workers being able to vote, so were those with £50 savings or who were university graduates |
2 in 7 men now able to vote in England and Wales |
|
1884 |
The Representation of the People Act 1884 |
One person, one vote; even if you have property in several constituencies. The voting landscape became much more consistent following this Act and the Redistribution Act 1885 |
Men who were a £10 occupier in a county or borough (whether freehold or leasehold) |
2 in 3 men how able to vote in England and Wales, 3 in 5 in Scotland and 1 in 2 in Ireland |
|
1918 |
Representation of the People Act 1918 |
In gave some women the right to vote in general elections |
Men over the age of 21, all men aged 19 or over if they had seen active service, and all women over the age of 30 (who met the minimum property qualification) |
The electorate tripled from 7.7 million to 21.4 million, more than 8 million of whom were women |
|
1928 |
Representation of the People Act (Equal Franchise) 1928 |
At long last universal suffrage had become enshrined in law |
All men and all women over the age of 21 – property ownership was no longer necessary |
All men and all women |
|
1969 |
Representation of the People Act 1969 |
|
All men and all women over the age of 18 |
All men and all women |
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