Importance of the 1911 Parliament Act - Essay Example

112790 After Waterloo, the immediate following years were uneasy ones. There was a serious depression, unemployment, poverty and an industrial unrest. Brands of masked men, called Luddites were going around destroying factories, which they considered a threat to their livelihood. There was an immediate need for reforms and pacification. French Revolution had left terribly bitter taste in the minds of European rulers and noblemen. Rulers of various European countries were apprehensive about the smallest unrest in their region. In England, there was an urgent need for reforms. Enthused by French Revolution by-words like Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, British workers had started asking for their rights. The Great Reform Act of 1832 provided for the distribution of Parliamentary seats. It abolished many so called rotten or pocket boroughs. On the whole, it disenfranchised 56 boroughs, termed as rotten boroughs and most of them had no population. Then came the pocket boroughs in which aristocratic landlords controlled the number of representatives. Parliamentary representation of large towns and countries has been increased. Rural regions saw a reduction in their number of representatives. Scotland and Ireland saw increase in their representation. Earlier electorate had to have certain residential and financial requirements and those needs were lessoned. “On the whole, the Reform Bill of 1832 resulted in the transfer of political power from the landowning aristocrats to the middle class, and in the subordination of the House of Lords to the popular will,” http://www.thepotteries.org/chartism/reform_act.htm The abolished borough seats got redistributed to form new constituencies in smaller towns. Manchester and Birmingham got their representatives after this act. But the voting situation in the counties remained unaltered. Even to this day, historians had been unable to figure out if the threat of revolution of French revolution scale was imagined or real. House of Commons remained largely aristocratic, mainly because violence and expenses had been common during elections. “An unseen by-product of the Bill was that political parties were stronger than before and the party could usually impose ministers on the monarch,” http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A545195 This was done with a great feeling of victory, because elections were symbols of the will of people. House of Lords had no desire to pass the bill that would decrease their influence and power. But by then, rightly or wrongly they had become extremely unpopular. This created a difficult situation for the House of Lords and reluctantly the bill was passed. Historians dismissed the Bill of 1832 for many reasons like that nothing much had changed when the euphoria died, and it was passed by a single vote victory. But, it cannot be denied that it was a positive step in the right direction, against many established odds. House of Lords where the Tories were in majority rejected the bill every time. Lord Grey had to prevail on the King to dissolve the Parliament, fight another election and so that Whigs could return with an overwhelming majority. Reform bill was passed, but House of Lords returned it and there were fears of revolution. Neither the King, nor the House of Lords were happy when it became an act. People were not happy either. After all the confusion ceased, it seemed as though nothing much has been changed. There was a great sense of disillusionment and deprivation. “When the dust settled in 1832 the old estates were intact, the rich man was still in his castle, the poor man at his gate and still without a vote,” (Wells, 1997, p.202). Agitations for further reforms and rights continued unabated. Political power of the aristocracy was curtailed to a very large extent due to this act. In the social scene, British society was going through unprecedented changes. Emperor Napoleon’s rule was over and French power was reduced not only in Europe, but also in far off colonies. Britain had become the proud owner of great colonies and the administration was being conducted effectively. All the riches and economic power was steadily coming to Britain. British Navy was ruling the waves. British Aristocracy and the landed gentry were losing their grip over the situation rapidly. East India Company merchants, seamen, administrators and soldiers of colonies were becoming important and rich and were called the new ‘Nabobs’. England was witnessing a hitherto unknown mobility of her people. Ordinary people were not only travelling within the country, but also were reaching colonies for a better climate and more comfortable life. For the first time, nobility had started realising that titles and money were not enough; but the key words of the day were empire building, patriotism and adventure. Slowly, the aristocratic crowd started moving out of their castles and mingling with the rest of the crowd. The new mobility of the British is effectively described in Jane Austin’s “Persuasion”. With this newfound mobility, aristocracy had started coming down from their exalted place and losing the power, while rest of the crowd was gaining money, political power and adventure. Chartism became rampant being the movement of campaigning for political rights. It called for universal male suffrage, vote by ballot and abolition of property qualifications for MPs. In 1848, there was widespread agitation in Europe and a particularly huge demonstration in London, where a third petition was presented. Movements for further reforms continued unabated, in spite of floundering leaderships. Bills, which Lord Russell tried to introduce in 1851 and 1854, were rejected. 1867 REFORM ACT: At the height of the Reform Bill debates in May 1867, Robert Lowe, the most prominent parliamentary opponent of the Bill, said: ‘What I am surprised at even with fresh proofs of it accumulating daily before my eyes is, that you, the gentlemen of England – you with your ancestors behind you and your posterity before you – with your great estates, with your titles, with your honours, with your heavy stake in the well-being of this land, with an amount of material prosperity, happiness, dignity, and honour which you have enjoyed for the last 200 years, such as never before fell to the lot of any class in the world – that you wildly fling all these away without, as far as I can see, the shadow of an equivalent.” (Feuchtwanger, 1985, P.2). His speech has effectively summarised the changes that came over the aristocracy over the years. In spite of his rhetoric, Bill was passed and the House of Commons gradually ceased to be the aristocratic assembly. For this reform, there had been extensive publicity and campaigning from the Chartists. When Liberal Government tried hard to accord voting rights to 400,000 workingmen, Disraeli and the Conservatives voted against it. But later Disraeli seems to have relented, mainly to prevent a bitter unrest. Still, 44% of the members of Parliament were landed gentry or aristocrats in 1865. 1830s and 1840s was a socially and politically disturbed period. British working and middle class of the society were up in arms for not implementing further reforms. 1832 Act had remained rather controversial. As Queen Victoria’s rule progressed, England settled down to a lovely tranquillity. Her economy was flourishing and she had extensive empire all over the world. Victorian era was peaceful, prosperous and imperial. Empire building in the far off colonies was acquiring new and bolder dimensions. Unified countries like India had come under British rule completely. Aristocracy had turned towards the colonies for their riches and adventure. More than these, controlling the colonies gave them immense power. Some of the aristocracies were rather impoverished by now, as the members of the clan were self-indulging. Many of them hardly earned any money of their own, but depended on the wealth of their forefathers. For such people, colonies offered better opportunities. Power of the nobility was already on the decline in England. In other European countries too, after the French Revolution, strength of aristocracy was steadily dwindling. After 1867 Act, approximately one man in five had the voting power now. This bill made the middle class to share power with the upper classes and was a revolutionary step. According to a school of thought, this transference of power achieved what French Revolution achieved in France. 1867 Reform Act added almost a million voters including many workingmen to the list of voters and almost doubled the electorate. It also created major confusion in British society. Neither the aristocracy, nor the common people could adjust themselves to the changes fast enough. The 1884 bill and the 1885 Redistribution Act tripled the electorate again, giving the voting right to most agricultural labourers. By now voting has become a right. But voting right was still deluding the female population of Britain. Women were fighting in a rather mild and apologetic way for their rights. But the agitations were not loud enough to attract more attention. Reform Act 1867, also known as the Second Reform Act, is the British Legislation that increased the number of men who could vote in British elections. It also abolished compounding, which is the practice of paying rates to a landlord as part of rent. Working class men found suffrage for the first time due to this act. But there was no proper distribution of seats. 1867 Act changed the attitude of the political parties towards voters. Now they have to depend upon people for their votes. Especially before 1832, there was hardly any appeal to the general public. All of a sudden voting rights have brought dignity and recognition to the lives of people. Even the aristocracy, if they were politicians, had to depend upon the votes of common people. This was the real humbling of the noble class in Britain. By now, colonization has already created new rich people, who were interesting, well travelled, full of information and were competing with the aristocracy for their places. Aristocracy has not remained an exclusive right any more. It was jostling with the humble middle class for power. The Liberal Reforms of 1906 – 1911 were landmarks in British History. There was tension between House of Lords and David Lloyd George’s Government, over the budget of 1909 that included surtax on higher incomes, an increase in death duties, and a capital gains tax on the sale of land and these were seen as an attack on property. Conventionally House of Lords never interfered with the finance bills. But, astonishing even their supporters, Lords rejected the budget in November 1909 and this rejection led into an election. REFORM BILL OF 1885: Introduced by Gladstone, it granted voting rights to working class males in the towns, but not in the cities, though Liberal Party was of the opinion that there should not be any discrimination. It also doubled the electorate by enfranchising workers and agricultural labourers. This act is supposed to have created representation almost equal to the male population of the country. Amazingly women were still left in the cold. 1911 Parliament Act: With David Lloyd George, putting all the blame on the House of Lords, whom he portrayed as people who are stopping Old Age Pensions for the poor, House of Lords have become extremely unpopular around this time. Liberal government had already decided to take action to cut down the powers of House of Lords. They were disallowed to prevent passing of any money bills, or could not delay any other legislations beyond three sessions of Parliament. Time between general elections had been reduced from seven years into five years. House of Lords, faced with an unpleasant future of having a permanent newly created Liberal peerage at the House of Lords, as threatened by King George V. He did so rather unwillingly; but had to listen to the Prime Minister Henry Asquith, who had overwhelming majority. At last, the House of Lords, without much alternative left, had to approve the bill. In the late 18th century, British Parliament was not democratic as it became later. Ministers were chosen by the King and ordinary people had no voting rights. Parliament definitely had power over the King; but Government was localised. “Parliaments and governments maintained a laissez faire attitude, encouraging limited control on the country other than through taxation and development of the laws of the land,” http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A545195 Reform was a very slow process. But Britain travelled a long way during these years to attain a fully democratic parliament. In the meantime, conflict between the House of Lords and House of Commons persisted and became a major issue when the House of Lords rejected the ‘People’s Budget’ which had become popular. This resulted in a constitutional crisis and was solved by the intervention of King George V. This was the ultimate defeat for House of Lords, and through them of aristocratic class of Britain. SOCIAL LIFE IN 1830S: Regency England placed high value on cultured living, even though vulgarity was accepted. There was polarity between commoners and nobility. The period was prominent because of the dashing figure of Prince Regent, who would rule later as King George IV was a carefree mixture of vulgarity and elegance. Much of the nobility followed him in both.   Rest of the society lived a rather inadequate life of labourers, workmen and in any other capacity. This age saw women stepping out of their houses for genteel posts like housekeepers, teachers and governesses. Some of the impoverished aristocracy were forced to do the same. Men were largely employed and were earning a modest income. It is also part of industrial revolution and in 1833, Factory Bill was passed with many reforms including banishing the children from dangerous and long work. Already demands for the reforms were heard. LIFE IN 1930s: Economic depression has hit England, but not to extent of hitting America. Britain was pretty secure with her imperialism. England, as any other European country was devastated by the First World War and had been building up her resources again. Unrest in her colonies had been spreading, especially in India. Social scene had been very different from that of 1830s. Aristocracy has become unimportant in post war society. The war has equalised the class differences. Aristocracy had its own woes and struggles. They are not the happy, lavish people any more. Royalty has lost most of its glitter. People’s will and the Parliament have become supreme and men and women had voting rights. Women were getting more and more educated and were venturing out of houses, for jobs in offices, big households, factories or anywhere else where they could find livelihood. Equality has come to stay in the British society. 1911 Parliament Act was a turning point for Parliament and House of Lords both, even though it cannot be called a milestone. Attempts of the House of Lords to stop the bill were in vain. It limited the power of House of Commons to block any legislation already passed in the Parliament thus claiming supremacy over the House of Lords. Hence, House of Lords lost the veto power completely. BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1. Ensor, R.C.K. (1963), ed. England 1870 – 1914, Clarendon Press, Oxford. 2. Feuchtwanger, E.J. (1985), Democracy and Empire, Britain 1865 – 1914, Edward Arnold, London. 3. Harrison, Brian (1996), The Transformation of British Politics 1860 – 1995, Oxford University Press. ONLINE SOURCES: 1. http://www.thepotteries.org/chartism/reform_act.htm 2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A545195 Read More