An engraving of a parade reveals much about electoral participation [10-minute interactive] […]
Wootton Bassett 1808
Category: Election case studies
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Westminster 1784
This famous election was a tense showdown between Government and Opposition [20-minute interactive] […]
Yorkshire 1807
The 1807 Yorkshire election was the most expensive prior to the 1832 Reform Act [25-minute read] Context The colossal county of Yorkshire constituted the largest constituency in England by some distance, divided into East, West, and North ridings. The West Riding alone had a population of almost a million people by 1831 (71 per cent […]
Bedford 1830
The Bedford election of 1830 provides an example of both riot and respectability [20-minute read] Hotly contested elections in the long eighteenth century were public participatory events that were often turbulent, and occasionally violent. While the reasons for election riots varied widely, and the riots themselves frequently resulted in little more than torn clothing and […]
The 1818 General Election: A Londoner’s Perspective
Pamela Clemit uncovers Godwin’s report on two tightly fought metropolitan polls [15-minute read] The 1818 general election was the first to be held after the Napoleonic Wars. Wellington’s decisive victory at Waterloo in 1815 ended twenty-three years of almost uninterrupted war, and by 1817 Britain was experiencing a severe economic downturn. Mass unemployment, rising food […]
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