'the elimination of corrupt practices in british elections '? reassessing the impact of the 1883 corrupt practices act

English Historical Review

Volumn 123, Issue 500, 2008, Pages 65-97

  Kathryn, R I X ^a  

^a New Hall ^*  (United States)

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EID: 73649112820     PISSN: 00138266     EISSN: 14774534     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/ehr/cen005     Document Type: Article

References (284)

1. The Times, 8 Jan. 1881. The measure's full title was the Parliamentary Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Practices) Bill, but contemporaries usually referred to it as the Corrupt Practices Bill/Act. This shortened form is used here.
2. C. Seymour, Electoral Reform in England and Wales (New Haven, 1915), 455.
3. C. O'Leary, The Elimination of Corrupt Practices in British Elections 1868-1911 (Oxford, 1962), 233.
4. H. J. Hanham, Elections and Party Management (London, 1959), 281.
5. For recent examples
6. see R. Shannon, The Age of Salisbury, 1881-1902 (London, 1996), 78;
7. R. Self, The Evolution of the British Party System 1885-1940 (Harlow, 2000), 13;
8. E. J. Evans, Parliamentary Reform, c.1770-1918 (Harlow, 2000), 68;
9. J. Garrard, Democratisation in Britain (Basingstoke, 2002), 260.
10. J. Lawrence and M. Taylor, 'Introduction: Electoral Sociology and the Historians' in id., Party, State and Society: Electoral Behaviour in Britain Since 1820 (Aldershot, 1997), effectively summarise the historiography.
11. J. Lawrence, Speaking for the People. Party, Language and Popular Politics in England, 1867-1914 (Cambridge, 1998);
12. J. Vernon, Politics and the People. A Study in English Political Culture, c.1815-1867 (Cambridge, 1993).
13. 3Hans cclvii (7 Jan. 1881), 271.
14. Draft proposals for the Corrupt Practices Bill, November 1880, H[ereford] R[ecord] O[ffice], [Lord] James [of Hereford] papers, M45/1879.
15. A. Jones, The Politics of Reform (Cambridge, 1972), 13.
16. N[ational] L[iberal] F[ederation], Annual Reports and Council Proceedings, Jan. 1881, 19.
17. Daily Telegraph, 10 Jan. 1881.
18. 3Hans cclxxxi (6 Jul. 1883), 623.
19. Figures computed from O'Leary, Elimination of Corrupt Practices, 234
20. and E. L. O'Malley and H. Hardcastle, Reports of the Decisions of the Judges for the Trial of Election Petitions in England and Ireland (vol. iii, London, 1881).
21. This includes two Royal Commissions following petitions on by-elections in 1880.
22. The Times, 26 Apr. 1880.
23. The Times, 12 Aug. 1880;
24. Daily Telegraph, 10 Jan. 1881.
25. H. James, 'The British Corrupt Practices Act', The Forum, xv (1893), 132;
26. L. Emanuel, Corrupt Practices at Parliamentary Elections (London, 1881), 17.
27. Gladstone's famous phrase, cited in O'Leary, Elimination of Corrupt Practices, 109.
28. Figures (including by-elections) calculated from The Constitutional Year Book (1885), 136-68.
29. It was illegal for electors employed in this way to vote, but this was widely disregarded.
30. Spectator, 20 Oct. 1883;
31. P[arliamentary] P[apers] 1880, lvii, 127.
32. O'Leary, Elimination of Corrupt Practices, 177.
33. S. C. Buxton, 'Can the Cost of Elections be Reduced?', Fortnightly Review, xxvii (1880), 249-69;
34. id., 'Bribery and Corruption', Nineteenth Century, viii (1880), 824-43;
35. id., 'The Attorney-General's Corrupt Practices Bill', Contemporary Review, xxxix (1881), 758-79;
36. id., 'The "Official" Expenses at Elections', Contemporary Review, xlii (1882), 288-94;
37. W. P. Courtney, 'The Cost of the General Election of 1880', Fortnightly Review, xxix (1881), 467-87;
38. Emanuel, Corrupt Practices;
39. S. Walpole, The Electorate and the Legislature (London, 1881), ch. iv;
40. G. G. Gray, 'The Abolition of Canvassing at Parliamentary Elections: With a Draft Bill', Law Magazine and Review (Feb. 1881), 156-67;
41. [Anon.], 'Electoral Reform, Electoral Bribery: The Ballot', Westminster Review, lix (1881), 443-56.
42. B. Jerrold, 'On the Manufacture of Public Opinion ', Nineteenth Century, xiii (1883), 1087-8;
43. The Times, 9 Mar. 1882;
44. Emanuel, Corrupt Practices, 3;
45. Pall Mall Gazette, 7 Jun. 1883.
46. The Times, Jan. to Mar. 1881.
47. The Times, 16 May 1882;
48. St. James's Gazette, 23 Jun. 1883.
49. The Times, 24 Dec. 1881.
50. Cited in Pall Mall Gazette, 1 Dec. 1881.
51. Courtney, 'Cost of the General Election ', 487;
52. F. O'Gorman, 'Campaign Rituals and Ceremonies: The Social Meaning of Elections in England 1780-1860', Past and Present, cxxxv (1992), 79-115.
53. Daily Telegraph, 10 Jan. 1881.
54. The Times, 30 Nov. 1881. A Disfranchisement Bill, which would have permanently disfranchised Macclesfield, Sandwich and Gloucester, was introduced in 1881, but was shelved once the Corrupt Practices Act passed.
55. E. T. Wilkinson, 'The New Bribery Act and the York Election', Nineteenth Century, xv (1884), 126;
56. The Times, 26 Apr. 1880;
57. Manchester Guardian, 10 Jan. 1881.
58. J. J. Tobias, Crime and Industrial Society (London, 1967), ch. iv.
59. St. James's Gazette, 2 Mar. 1881.
60. Buxton, 'Bribery and Corruption', 839;
61. 3Hans cclxxxi (13 Jul. 1883), 1430.
62. The Times, 23 Apr. 1880;
63. 3Hans cclxxix (4 Jun. 1883), 1672-3.
64. The Times, 14 Jun. 1880;
65. 3Hans cclxxix (4 Jun. 1883), 1697.
66. 3Hans cclvii (7 Jan. 1881), 265.
67. O'Leary, Elimination of Corrupt Practices, 176;
68. Brodrick, cited in H. J. Hanham, The Nineteenth Century Constitution (Cambridge, 1969), 153;
69. James, 'British Corrupt Practices Act ', 133-4.
70. 3Hans cclxxix (4 Jun. 1883), 1697.
71. 3Hans cclxxix (7 Jun. 1883), 1931-44.
72. 3Hans cclxxxiii (16 Aug. 1883), 701.
73. Spectator, 3 Nov. 1883.
74. Buxton, 'Attorney-General's Corrupt Practices Bill ', 779.
75. 3Hans ccliii (2 Jul. 1880), 1387-8;
76. T. Lloyd, The General Election of 1880 (Oxford, 1968), 109.
77. Lloyd, General Election of 1880, 111-12;
78. Hanham, Elections and Party Management, 96.
79. This defeat occurred when James refused to accept a Liberal amendment on conveyances (3Hans cclxxxi (9 Jul. 1883), 866-79).
80. 3Hans cclvii (7 Jan. 1881), 271.
81. 3Hans cclxxix (7 Jun. 1883), 1935.
82. 3Hans cclxxix (4 Jun. 1883), 1651-706.
83. Smaller amounts applied in Ireland. O'Leary, Elimination of Corrupt Practices, 175.
84. Spectator, 20 Oct. 1883.
85. 3Hans cclxxxi (13 Jul. 1883), 1427-31;
86. 3Hans cclxxxiii (10 Aug. 1883), 121-2.
87. NLF, Annual Reports, Oct. 1881, 27-9;
88. 3Hans cclxxxi (13 Jul. 1883), 1434.
89. 3Hans cclxxix (4 Jun. 1883), 1657.
90. 3Hans cclxviii (24 Apr. 1882), 1346;
91. 3Hans cclxxxi (2 Jul. 1883), 113;
92. 3Hans cclxviii (27 Apr. 1882), 1609-10.
93. 3Hans cclxxx (29 Jun. 1883), 1886;
94. Vernon, Politics and the People, 333-7.
95. 3Hans cclxxxi (2 Jul. 1883), 119;
96. Buxton, 'Attorney-General's Corrupt Practices Bill ', 762-5.
97. 3Hans cclxxx (25 Jun. 1883), 1482-529.
98. 3Hans cclxviii (27 Apr. 1882), 1606.
99. Saturday Review, 9 Jun. 1883, 7 Jul. 1883.
100. 3Hans cclxviii (25 Apr. 1882), 1423.
101. Manchester Guardian, 27 Dec. 1881.
102. 3Hans cclxix (15 May 1882), 756-63.
103. 3Hans cclxxx (25 Jun. 1883), 1441-3.
104. S[elect] C[ommittee] on Corrupt Practices Prevention and Election Petitions Act, P. P. 1875, viii, Q1626.
105. 3Hans cclxxx (21 Jun. 1883), 1181-2;
106. NLF, Annual Reports, Oct. 1881, 23;
107. James, 3Hans cclxxx (21 Jun. 1883), 1212.
108. Gorst, 3Hans cclxix (15 May 1882), 728;
109. Cross, 3Hans cclxxx (21 Jun. 1883), 1190;
110. Fowler, ibid., 1292, 1332;
111. James, 3Hans cclxxxi (10 Jul. 1883), 982-3.
112. Spectator, 20 Oct. 1883.
113. See E. J. Feuchtwanger, Democracy and Empire. Britain 1865-1914 (London, 1985), 167, and the works cited in n. 5 above.
114. James, 'British Corrupt Practices Act ', 141;
115. R. A. Cross, A Political History (privately printed, 1903), 90.
116. 4Hans lxxxix (22 Feb. 1901), 884;
117. Liberal Agent, lxi (1910), 22. The Liberal Agent is held by Bristol University Library, Special Collections.
118. Hanham, Elections and Party Management, 281.
119. M. Pugh, The Making of Modern British Politics 1867-1939 (2nd edn., Oxford, 1993), 7;
120. T. Lloyd, 'Uncontested Seats in British General Elections, 1852-1910', Historical Journal, viii (1965), 262.
121. SC on Parliamentary Election Petitions, P. P. 1897, xiii, Q726;
122. Liberal Agent, xlii (1907), 140.
123. T. P. Newbould to H. Gladstone, 14 Jul. 1901, B[ritish] L[ibrary], Herbert Gladstone papers, Add. MS 46059, fo. 4.
124. Wilkinson, 'New Bribery Act', 129-31.
125. Ibid., 130-4.
126. Daily News, 21 Feb. 1881.
127. Wilkinson, 'New Bribery Act', 134.
128. T. C. H. Hedderwick, The Parliamentary Election Manual (London, 1892), 174-8.
129. NUCCA, Annual Reports, 1883;
130. NLF, Annual Reports, 1884, 20;
131. London and Counties Liberal Union, Report on the Conference of Officers of Liberal Associations upon the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Act, 1883 (London, 1884), 3.
132. These included J. E. Gorst, An Election Manual (London, 1883)
133. and J. C. Shaw, The Election Handbook for the Use of Candidates, Agents and Others Concerned in Parliamentary Elections (London, 1884).
134. The Ipswich Liberals sent warnings to likely Conservative bribers in 1885, while Sheffield publicans received special circulars in 1906 (The Times, 13 Mar. 1886;
135. Sheffi eld Local Studies Library, Newspaper cuttings relating to the Brightside elections, ii (1906), 83).
136. The Tory, xxxviii (1896), 1169 [microfilm pagination]. 87. F. Schnadhorst, 'The Caucus and its Critics', Nineteenth Century, xii (1882), 23.
137. 3Hans cclxxx (26 Jun. 1883), 1605-6.
138. E. Feuchtwanger, Disraeli, Democracy and the Tory Party (Oxford, 1968), 156-7.
139. Saturday Review, 29 Apr. 1882.
140. 3Hans cclxxxi (11 Jul. 1883), 1133-43
141. 3Hans cclxxxii (30 Jul. 1883), 1990-4.
142. Cited in Feuchtwanger, Disraeli, 159.
143. 3Hans cclxviii (27 Apr. 1882), 1611.
144. 3Hans cclxxxi (11 Jul. 1883), 1143.
145. The Times, 13 Apr. 1880;
146. Lloyd, General Election of 1880, 77.
147. 4Hans xxiv (3 May 1894), 258.
148. G. W. E. Russell, Social Silhouettes (London, 1906), 231;
149. Shannon, Age of Salisbury, 79.
150. 3Hans cclxxxi (4 Jul. 1883), 330.
151. For a fuller discussion of the CPA's implications for agents
152. see K. Rix, 'The Party Agent and English Electoral Culture, 1880-1906 '(Univ. of Cambridge Ph. D. thesis, 2001), 13ff.
153. Cited in H. Kirk, Portrait of a Profession. A History of the Solicitor's Profession, 1100 to the Present Day (London, 1976), 193.
154. Solicitors 'Journal, xxvii (1882-3).
155. Wilkinson, 'New Bribery Act', 133.
156. NLF, Annual Reports, 1903, 100.
157. The Times, 2 Apr. 1886.
158. O'Leary, Elimination of Corrupt Practices, 231.
159. H. Pelling, Social Geography of British Elections 1885-1910 (London, 1967), 429;
160. Hanham, Elections and Party Management, 262-3.
161. See also J. R. Howe, 'Corruption in British Elections in the Early Twentieth Century: Some Examples from Gloucestershire', Midland History, v (1979-80), 67-75;
162. D. Richter, 'The Role of Mob Riot in Victorian Elections, 1865-1885', Victorian Studies, xv (1971-2), 22-3.
163. 3Hans clvi (1 Sept. 1880), 986.
164. The Times, 7 Jan. 1901. Although prosecutions could be pursued in the lesser courts, petitions remained central to exposing corruption.
165. Pall Mall Gazette, 21 Jul. 1892.
166. 3Hans cclxxxi (6 Jul. 1883), 636-8.
167. M. Ostrogorski, Democracy and the Organization of Political Parties (2 vols., London, 1902), i. 480;
168. The Tory, xliv and xlv (1896), 1284.
169. Middleton sent £500 towards the 1885 Ipswich petition (R. W. E. Middleton to Mr Packard, 9 Jan. 1886, Maidstone, C[entre for] K[entish] S[tudies], Chilston papers, U564 CLp1, Middleton letter book, fos. 224-5), while Arnold Morley paid £1, 885 14 s. 4 d. towards the 1892 Rochester petition (R. Cooke to H. Gladstone, 1 Apr. 1901, BL, Herbert Gladstone papers, Add. MS 46058, fo. 237).
170. The Times, 20 Jul. 1895.
171. O'Leary, Elimination of Corrupt Practices, 231.
172. The Times, 27 Dec. 1892.
173. NLF, Annual Reports, 1896, 30;
174. The Tory, xxxvi and xxxvii (1896), 1072;
175. The Times, 12 May 1910.
176. [E. H. Knatchbull-Hugessen], 'Election Petitions', Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, cliii (1893), 316.
177. The Times, 5 Dec. 1892;
178. Daily News, 12 Dec. 1892.
179. Liberal Agent, lxv (1911), 25;
180. The Times, 29 Apr. 1911.
181. Liberal Year Book, 1905, 101.
182. W. H. Smith to A. Akers-Douglas, 17 Apr. 1889, Maidstone, CKS, Chilston papers, U564/C25, fo. 84. No petition ensued.
183. SC on Parliamentary Election Petitions, P. P. 1897, xiii, Q192-3;
184. Hanham, Elections and Party Management, 262.
185. The Times, 18 Jun. 1892;
186. O'Leary, Elimination of Corrupt Practices, 220-1.
187. J. B Slack to H. Gladstone, 22 Jan. 1906, BL, Herbert Gladstone Papers, Add. MS 46063, fo. 290.
188. The Times, 18 Nov. 1892. The Times described the key witness, John Green, as a 'wretched creature 'who concocted a 'cock-and-bull story 'about being asked to bribe.
189. G. R. Tweedie, Yesterday: Retrospect and Rumination (London, 1932), 122.
190. C. Dilke to H. James, [n. d.] 1894, HRO, James papers, M45/711.
191. Liberal Agent, xlviii (1907), 140.
192. Liberal Agent, viii (1897), 24;
193. The Times, 12 Dec. 1892;
194. C. R. Buxton, Electioneering Up-To - Date, With Some Suggestions for Amending the Corrupt Practices Act (London, 1906), 27.
195. Pelling, Social Geography, 429;
196. Hanham, Elections and Party Management, 281-3;
197. A. L. Lowell, The Government of England (2 vols., London, 1908), i. 238.
198. Buxton, Electioneering, 77-90.
199. For example, Haig cited specifi c cases of election workers paid far more than declared in Marks's accounts (ibid., 86-8).
200. F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1885-1918 (London, 1974), 305. On Marks and commercial fraud
201. see P. Johnson, 'Civilising Mammon: Laws, Morals and the City in Nineteenth-Century England ', in P. Burke, B. Harrison and P. Slack, eds., Civil Histories (Oxford, 2000), 314-16.
202. The Times, 14 Mar. 1896;
203. Buxton, Electioneering, 89-90.
204. M. Dawson, 'Money and the Real Impact of the Fourth Reform Act ', Historical Journal, xxxv (1992), 372.
205. Tweedie, Yesterday, 192-4
206. Liberal Agent, xliii-xliv (1906), 124-6.
207. Liberal Agent, xxxvi (1904), 170-4.
208. On corruption at local elections
209. see Hanham, Elections and Party Management, 283;
210. Howe, 'Corruption in British Elections ', 67-70.
211. The Times, 14 Feb. 1901.
212. F. Schnadhorst to W. E. Gladstone, 7 Jul. 1892, BL, W. E. Gladstone papers, Add. MS 44295, fos. 275-6;
213. NLF, Annual Reports, 1893, 68.
214. The Tory, iv (1892), 81.
215. Buxton, Electioneering, 7-8.
216. A. K. Russell, Liberal Landslide. The General Election of 1906 (Newton Abbot, 1973), 133-4.
217. N. Blewett, The Peers, the Parties and the People. The General Elections of 1910 (London, 1972), 374-6;
218. NLF, Annual Reports, 1910, 20-1.
219. The Times, 5 May 1910, 11 May 1910, 12 May 1910;
220. North Essex Liberal Monthly, xv (1910), 3.
221. The Times, 13 May 1911;
222. Birmingham University Library Special Collections, Midland Liberal Federation Minute Book, 10 Feb. 1910.
223. O'Leary, Elimination of Corrupt Practices, 179.
224. 4Hans clx (6 Jul. 1906), 371;
225. 4Hans clvii (22 May 1906), 1145.
226. Westminster City Archives, National Society of Conservative Agents Minute Book, 13 Jun. 1896;
227. Liberal Agent, v (1896), 5;
228. Leeds, W[est] Y[orkshire] A[rchive] S[ervice], S[ociety] of C[ertifi cated] and A[ssociated] L[iberal] A[gents] Minute Book, 10 Dec. 1908.
229. NLF, Annual Reports, 1893, 21;
230. ibid., 1911, 26-7;
231. National Reform Union, Registration and Election Law Reform (Manchester, n. d.);
232. Report of Fifth Annual Labour Electoral Congress (1892), 32.
233. Daily News, 5 May 1906;
234. The Tory, xxxvi and xxxvii (1896), 1087.
235. 4Hans iii (New Series) (2 Apr. 1909), 669-93.
236. Leeds, WYAS, SCALA Minute Book, 10 Dec. 1908;
237. NLF, Annual Reports, 1898, 22-3.
238. NLF, Annual Reports, 1896, 64.
239. O'Leary, Elimination of Corrupt Practices, 232-3.
240. Liberal Agent, lii (1908), 127.
241. F. Coetzee, 'Pressure Groups, Tory Business and the Aura of Political Corruption Before the First World War', Historical Journal, xxix (1986), 833;
242. The Times, 9 Jun. 1892. Petitions in 1892 ruled it legitimate for licensed victuallers 'associations to spend in this way.
243. Memorandum on the position and work of the FTU [13 Jan. 1904], BL, Herbert Gladstone papers, Add. MS 46106, fo. 127.
244. Leeds, WYAS, SCALA Minute Book, 10 Dec. 1908.
245. 4Hans clxxxiv (19 Feb. 1908), 917-36;
246. Lord Loreburn to Henry James, 27 Jun. 1908, HRO, James papers, M45/1511.
247. Coetzee, 'Pressure Groups', 839-50.
248. 4Hans clxxxiv (19 Feb. 1908), 923;
249. Memorandum on payments to speakers [May 1902], BL, Herbert Gladstone papers, Add. MS 46105, fo. 243.
250. The Times, 10 Oct. 1887.
251. Ostrogorski, Democracy and the Organization of Political Parties, i. 436.
252. Cited in Lawrence, Speaking for the People, 201.
253. The Times, 30 Nov. 1892;
254. NLF, Annual Reports, 1893, 21.
255. The Tory, xxxvi and xxxvii (1896), 1126-7.
256. NLF, Annual Reports, 1896, 29.
257. Primrose League Gazette, 1 Dec. 1897.
258. Lowell, Government of England, i. 234;
259. The Times, 30 May 1911.
260. Russell, Social Silhouettes, 127.
261. NLF, Annual Reports, 1901, 126.
262. [Editorial] 'Payment of Constituents', Progressive Review, ii (1897), 482.
263. Saturday Review, cited in Liberal Agent, ix (1897), 6.
264. NLF, Annual Reports, 1897, 100;
265. 'A Tory M. P.', 'The Organisers of Defeat', National Review, xlvi (1905), 368.
266. G. R. Searle, Corruption in British Politics, 1895-1930 (Oxford, 1987), 11.
267. A. E. Pease, Elections and Recollections (London, 1932), 82.
268. C. P. Scott to J. Wood, 8 Jun. 1902, Journalism and Politics Series One: The Papers of C. P. Scott. Part I [microfilm], 124/83.
269. Circular from H. J. Wilson, 24 Jan. 1906, Sheffield Archives, [H. J.] Wilson papers, MD2499-16;
270. H. J. Wilson to Captain Mellor, 14 May 1900, Sheffield Archives, Wilson papers, MD2503-1.
271. Leeds, WYAS, SCALA Minute Book, 10 Dec. 1908;
272. G. Kekewich, The Education Department and After (London, 1920), 343.
273. SC on Parliamentary Election Petitions, P. P. 1897, xiii, 27.
274. Hull Central (Dec. 1910).
275. Liberal Agent, lxv (1911), 18;
276. NLF, Annual Reports, 1911, 26-7.
277. 5Hans xxvi (24 May 1911), 258.
278. 3Hans cclxxx (14 Jun. 1883), 580-3;
279. 3Hans cclxviii (25 Apr. 1882), 1431.
280. Buxton, 'Bribery and Corruption', 840.
281. Liberal Agent, xlviii (1907), 136.
282. 5Hans xxiii (29 Mar. 1911), 1338;
283. 5Hans xlii (22 Jul. 1912), 835.
284. James, 'British Corrupt Practices Act', 141.