We are in the old Manchester Town Hall and the year is 1842, and despite the fact that the weather had been cloudy with persistent showers all week, there will have been better places to be.
Unless of course like me you are fascinated by the minutiae of elections, or like Mr. Edward Worthington representing the Conservative Party and Mr. Caistor for the Liberals, you were engaged in the vital job of protecting the electoral future of the respective parties. *
Because over three days in the September of 1842, the business of the Town Hall was the “revision of lists of voters of the southern division of Lancashire”.
And that wasn’t some petty bureaucratic exercise, but a serious tussle upon which the outcome of the next election in the constituency might turn.
The South Lancashire seat had been formed following the Great Reform Act of 1832 and had alternated between the Whig/Liberals and the Tories during the next decade. **
Part of the subsequent electoral successes of the Tories during the period had been down to the way their electoral machine, the ruthless way they had manipulated the registering system and more than a big dollop of voter intimidation at a time when you cast your vote in the public gaze and your choice was recorded.
Added to which there was the backdrop of turbulent times, occasioned by the General Strike of 1842 which “involved nearly half a million workers all over Britain, and was probably the first strike anywhere that can be called general. Coming at the height of the Chartist campaign for basic democratic rights in Britain, it began as a movement of united resistance to the imposition of wage cuts in the coal, cotton and engineering industries.” ***
But it took on a political dimension and became an all out struggle for universal suffrage backed by Executive of the National Charter Association “it spread from Lancashire Staffordshire and the West Riding, through to the coal fields of Scotland and South Wales, to the poverty stricken woolen weavers of Somerset and Norfolk. Lasting up to six weeks and resulting in over 1,500 arrests and numerous clashes with troops” ****.
And all of this was very close to home, with a strike in Staybridge on August 13th which was followed by stoppages across the town, and into Ashton, Manchester and out to the surrounding towns. At Preston four men were shot and six died in Halifax.
So, there was a seriousness on the part of the two political parties of property to maximize their vote.
Of course, this was 1842, and qualifications to vote were very restrictive, resulting on a small all-male electorate.
But that didn’t stop Mr. Worthington for the Liberals questioning the application of John Higginbotham who was “claimed as occupier of a house and 23 acres of land in Didsbury”. The Liberal objection, turning on whether, Mr. Higginbotham was the owner or just the occupier.
Likewise an objection was made to another applicant, because application failed to mention that the address was in Stockport, while another was opposed because despite the applicant claiming to be the occupier of land worth £50 a year, he paid no tax, and therefore could not be said to be the occupier.
The hearings stretched over three days, with the Guardian commenting that on the opening day “the proceedings were of little interest.
A great number of names were struck off the list in consequence of removals and a few from insufficient description”.
Here in Chorlton, it appears there was no great stir, with no change to the lists, where only 31 men in the township were entitled to vote which was just 16% of all men over the age of 21, and 9% of the entire adult population.
This was still better than the national average which in 1833 stood at just 7%. *****
Leaving me just to observe that back then Chorlton-cum- Hardy was no radical out post. In the 1835 election the voters of Chorlton were split, with seven voting for the Liberals, and 19 for the Tories, while in Didsbury the vote ran Liberals, 9, Tories 20, and in Withington the Tory share of the vote was 67%. ******
Location, South Lancashire
Pictures, tables from the Manchester Guardian, 1842, graphs derived from data from the Leeds Mercury 1835, and cover of The General Strike of 1842
*County Revision, Manchester Guardian, September 28, 1842
**1832 two Liberals were returned, 1835, 1837, & 1841, two Tories, and in 1844 by election the voters returned one Tory and the Radical William Brown
**** Jenkins, Mick, The General Strike of 1842, 1980
***** Simpson, Andrew The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, 2012
******Leeds Mercury, January 31, 1835
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| Applications, 1842 |
Because over three days in the September of 1842, the business of the Town Hall was the “revision of lists of voters of the southern division of Lancashire”.
And that wasn’t some petty bureaucratic exercise, but a serious tussle upon which the outcome of the next election in the constituency might turn.
The South Lancashire seat had been formed following the Great Reform Act of 1832 and had alternated between the Whig/Liberals and the Tories during the next decade. **
Part of the subsequent electoral successes of the Tories during the period had been down to the way their electoral machine, the ruthless way they had manipulated the registering system and more than a big dollop of voter intimidation at a time when you cast your vote in the public gaze and your choice was recorded.
But it took on a political dimension and became an all out struggle for universal suffrage backed by Executive of the National Charter Association “it spread from Lancashire Staffordshire and the West Riding, through to the coal fields of Scotland and South Wales, to the poverty stricken woolen weavers of Somerset and Norfolk. Lasting up to six weeks and resulting in over 1,500 arrests and numerous clashes with troops” ****.
And all of this was very close to home, with a strike in Staybridge on August 13th which was followed by stoppages across the town, and into Ashton, Manchester and out to the surrounding towns. At Preston four men were shot and six died in Halifax.
So, there was a seriousness on the part of the two political parties of property to maximize their vote.
Of course, this was 1842, and qualifications to vote were very restrictive, resulting on a small all-male electorate.
 |
| Applications 1842 |
Likewise an objection was made to another applicant, because application failed to mention that the address was in Stockport, while another was opposed because despite the applicant claiming to be the occupier of land worth £50 a year, he paid no tax, and therefore could not be said to be the occupier.
The hearings stretched over three days, with the Guardian commenting that on the opening day “the proceedings were of little interest.
A great number of names were struck off the list in consequence of removals and a few from insufficient description”.
This was still better than the national average which in 1833 stood at just 7%. *****
Leaving me just to observe that back then Chorlton-cum- Hardy was no radical out post. In the 1835 election the voters of Chorlton were split, with seven voting for the Liberals, and 19 for the Tories, while in Didsbury the vote ran Liberals, 9, Tories 20, and in Withington the Tory share of the vote was 67%. ******
Pictures, tables from the Manchester Guardian, 1842, graphs derived from data from the Leeds Mercury 1835, and cover of The General Strike of 1842
*County Revision, Manchester Guardian, September 28, 1842
**1832 two Liberals were returned, 1835, 1837, & 1841, two Tories, and in 1844 by election the voters returned one Tory and the Radical William Brown
**** Jenkins, Mick, The General Strike of 1842, 1980
***** Simpson, Andrew The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, 2012
******Leeds Mercury, January 31, 1835
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