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‘Minors’, under 21 years old, were not allowed to vote. But did they? [15-minute read] Today, the minimum age for voting in parliamentary elections is set at 18. This was lowered from 21 only in 1969. What is less well known is when limitations on voting age were first introduced. Going back to the early […]
Jon Rosebank argues that very few wanted to replace the unreformed electoral system [15-minute read] It would be easy, from our modern perspective, to imagine that the eighteenth-century electoral system was increasingly dysfunctional. There was, after all, much evidence of growing discontent with it. Indeed, its critics complained about the electoral system under a succession […]
Jon Rosebank explains why proceeding to a vote could be seen as something to avoid [15-minute read] Poll books represent not the moments when eighteenth-century politics functioned properly, but the times when it faltered. They offer a first, invaluable step towards untangling the complexities of the most bitter of the constituency struggles. Faced with inviting […]
