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Tracing the history of the kiss as symbolic gesture and campaign strategy [10-minute read] Eighteenth-century elections were rumbustious affairs that revolved almost exclusively around local issues and local personalities. Despite the fact that many contests never went all the way to a poll, there were few seats that were totally secure. Election contests frequently involved […]
Electors often had their entitlement to vote challenged, so had to prove their case [10-minute read] The requirement for every elector to justify their right to vote at the hustings was a routine part of Georgian elections. Eighteenth-century England did not enjoy universal enfranchisement, and the confusing array of franchises (which determined who was legally […]
Standing as an MP was an expensive undertaking. Success often needed to be bought [15-minute read] The costs of campaigning remain expensive today, as they were in the eighteenth century. Over the course of centuries, however, the types of expenditures have shifted dramatically. In the eighteenth century, food and drink were key for ‘treating’ the […]
Steve Poole looks at the theatre and occasional violence of chairing ceremonies [20-minute read] At the conclusion of the extremely violent and contentious election for Coventry in 1780, the victorious Tory candidates, Lord Sheffield and Edward Yeo were hoisted onto wooden chairs and triumphantly paraded through the streets. It had been a tough contest, fought […]
Robin Eagles asks why certain elections were contested, while others were not [20-minute read] In May 1741 the Nottinghamshire gentlewoman Gertrude Savile (sister of Sir George Savile, bt. MP for Yorkshire), commented with relief on the conclusion of the recent elections. She reported: Great struggles and mob[b]ing in several places espeshily [sic] Westminster, yet thank […]
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 […]
Henry Miller argues that petitioning could often engage more people than elections [15-minute read] Petitions were a complementary and at times alternative form of political participation to elections in the eighteenth century. Like the lively culture of election rituals, petitions enabled participation by people who were not eligible to vote in elections. Just as importantly […]
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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