Category Archives: Corruption

‘The ballot without jokes has no meaning for members’: Henry Berkeley and the parliamentary campaign for secret voting, 1848-66

Posted on September 27, 2022 by Martin Spychal

Following the Voting reform 150 years on from the 1872 Ballot Act: A symposium at the IHR in honour of Valerie Cromwell event earlier this month, our research fellow, Dr Martin Spychal, discusses Francis Henry Berkeley and his stewardship of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Chartism, Conferences and seminars, Corruption, Elections | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

‘Damn the secret ballot’: the UK’s public voting system before 1872

Posted on July 14, 2022 by salmonphilip

This online event was recorded and can be viewed here. As we approach next week’s online event celebrating the 150th anniversary of the act which introduced the secret ballot for municipal and parliamentary elections, it’s perhaps worth looking again at … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption, Elections, Forthcoming events | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

190th Anniversary of the 1832 Reform Act

Posted on June 7, 2022 by salmonphilip

For a 20 minute talk about the Reform Act by Dr Philip Salmon please click here. This month marks the 190th anniversary of the passing of the 1832 Reform Act, one of the iconic milestones in modern British political history. … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption, Elections | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

The power of the (silk) purse: electioneering in nineteenth-century Macclesfield

Posted on August 2, 2021 by Kathryn Rix

This blog originally appeared on the main History of Parliament blog as part of its Local History series. One of the most significant aspects of the 1832 Reform Act was its redrawing of the electoral map, taking seats away from … Continue reading →

Posted in Constituencies, Corruption, Elections | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Pubs and drink in Victorian elections

Posted on April 23, 2021 by salmonphilip

Most of us probably think of pubs as informal spaces for leisure and socialising. In the period we research for the House of Commons 1832-1868 project, however, things were rather different. Public houses played a central role in many of … Continue reading →

Posted in Constituencies, Corruption, Elections, women | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Elected without his consent: William Wilshere (1804-67) and the venal electors of Great Yarmouth

Posted on December 16, 2020 by salmonphilip

The huge financial cost of Victorian elections, especially in venal constituencies, has been a recurrent theme in some of our more recent blogs. It’s tempting to think of the MPs associated with bribery, treating and other forms of electoral corruption … Continue reading →

Posted in Biographies, Constituencies, Corruption, Elections, Images of MPs, MP of the Month | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

‘The Donkey and his young asses’: stationery, corruption and the short-lived parliamentary career of Sir John Key (1794-1858)

Posted on June 22, 2020 by Martin Spychal

This month our research fellow, Dr Martin Spychal, takes a look at the humiliating demise of Sir John Key, or ‘Sir Don Key’ as he was widely mocked at Westminster. As Lord Mayor of London and one of Britain’s most … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption, MP of the Month | 2 Comments

MP of the Month: Thomas Neville Abdy (1810-1877) and electoral misconduct

Posted on November 25, 2019 by salmonphilip

Thomas Abdy’s political career provides a useful reminder of the chicanery, lies and corruption sometimes associated with 19th century English electioneering – venal traditions that became increasingly unacceptable during the Victorian era. Born into a naval family – his father … Continue reading →

Posted in Biographies, Constituencies, Corruption, Elections, MP of the Month, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The representation of Devon and Cornwall after reform, 1832-68

Posted on May 17, 2019 by Martin Spychal

Last week the History of Parliament and the Devon and Cornwall Record Society hosted a conference at Exeter on ‘The South West and Parliament’. Dr Martin Spychal of the Victorian Commons spoke at the event, and today provides an overview of … Continue reading →

Posted in Biographies, Conferences and seminars, Constituencies, Corruption, Elections, Parliamentary life, party labels, Uncategorized, Voting and Divisions, women, Working-class politics | 5 Comments

Corruption at elections in Britain in the 19th century

Posted on February 26, 2019 by Kathryn Rix

Following on from Martin Spychal’s blog about the paper he gave at last month’s ‘From “Old Corruption” to the New Corruption?’ conference, organised jointly by Oxford Brookes and Newman Universities, we hear from our assistant editor Kathryn Rix. She gave … Continue reading →

Posted in Conferences and seminars, Corruption, Elections | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Electoral malpractice and uncivil political speech: the case of Alfred Seymour MP

Posted on January 28, 2019 by salmonphilip

Our ‘MP of the Month’ blog highlights some themes still fresh in our minds after attending a conference on corruption at Oxford Brookes University. Alfred Seymour (1824-1888) was the younger brother of the better known archaeologist and explorer Henry Danby … Continue reading →

Posted in Biographies, Conferences and seminars, Corruption, Elections, MP of the Month, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Innovation, corruption and bankruptcy: Charles John Mare (1814-1898)

Posted on December 13, 2018 by Martin Spychal

Charles John Mare (1814-1898) was an innovative East End shipbuilder. Thought to be a millionaire when he was returned for Plymouth in 1852, his election proved the apex of his career. He was unseated for bribery in 1853, and declared bankrupt, for the first of four times, in 1855. Continue reading →

Posted in Biographies, Corruption, Elections, Images of MPs, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Tackling electoral corruption: how Victorian Britain reformed the trial of election petitions in 1868

Posted on August 7, 2018 by Kathryn Rix

Originally posted on The History of Parliament:
Today marks the 150th anniversary of the passing of the Election Petitions and Corrupt Practices at Elections Act, an important part of the electoral reforms which had begun with the Second Reform Act of…

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Call for papers: ‘From “Old Corruption” to the New Corruption? Public Life and Public Service in Britain, c. 1780–1940’

Posted on May 1, 2018 by Kathryn Rix

Our assistant editor, Kathryn Rix, will be one of the keynote speakers at a 2 day conference entitled ‘From “Old Corruption” to the New Corruption? Public Life and Public Service in Britain, c. 1780–1940’, to be held at Oxford Brookes … Continue reading →

Posted in Conferences and seminars, Corruption, Forthcoming events | Tagged , | Leave a comment

MP of the Month: John Barton Willis Fleming (1781-1844)

Posted on March 28, 2018 by salmonphilip

With modern electioneering tactics currently attracting so much scrutiny at home and abroad, our Victorian MP of the Month focuses on a notorious election fixer or ‘boroughmonger’, whose activities increasingly pushed the boundaries of acceptable behaviour. His refusal to answer … Continue reading →

Posted in Biographies, Corruption, Elections, MP of the Month | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Parliaments and Popular Sovereignty Conference: Manchester

Posted on November 10, 2017 by salmonphilip

Last week two members of the Victorian Commons project gave papers in Manchester, at a conference held at the People’s History Museum, home to what must surely be one of the UK’s finest collections of political memorabilia associated with mass … Continue reading →

Posted in Conferences and seminars, Corruption, Elections | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

New publication: ‘The Second Reform Act and the problem of electoral corruption’

Posted on March 6, 2017 by Kathryn Rix

An article by our assistant editor, Kathryn Rix, on ‘The Second Reform Act and the problem of electoral corruption’ has just been published in a special issue of Parliamentary History, edited by Robert Saunders, and entitled ‘Shooting Niagara – and after?’ The … Continue reading →

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‘Fighting, swearing, drinking, and squabbling’: Charles Dickens, Eatanswill and the 1835 Northamptonshire North by-election

Posted on February 7, 2017 by Martin Spychal

Today’s blog marks the anniversary of Charles Dickens’s birth by exploring the inspiration behind one of the most notable political events in his first novel. Dickens’s riotous description of the Eatanswill borough election in the Pickwick Papers, first published in July … Continue reading →

Posted in 1832-68 preview site, Constituencies, Corruption, Elections | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

MP of the month: William Pinney and another kind of ‘slavery election’

Posted on November 29, 2015 by salmonphilip

William Pinney’s career as an MP serves as an important reminder of the legacy of slave ownership in British public life and the very different attitudes to electoral corruption that existed in the nineteenth century, even among radically-inclined Liberals. In Pinney’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Biographies, Constituencies, Corruption, Elections, MP of the Month | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Christmas is a time for giving: Victorian MPs and the festive season

Posted on December 23, 2013 by jowen1832

In Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, first published in 1843, Scrooge’s nephew describes Christmas as ‘a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time’. For many Victorian Members of Parliament, ‘kind’ and ‘charitable’ giving at Christmas was an important part of their role … Continue reading →

Posted in Constituencies, Corruption | Tagged | 1 Comment