1832
A standard property rule
The Reform Act standardised property qualifications, giving the vote to more men, including householders paying £10 a year in rent. It also defined a voter as male.
Pick a yearA SHORT HISTORY OF THE UK FRANCHISE
Who got
the vote.
For most of British history, most adults could not vote for Parliament.
Pick a year
19188 to 21 million
Over about 140 years, a series of Acts widened the vote from a small group of property-owning men to adults aged 18 and over. This independent history guide traces the main steps. It takes no side in any current debate and does not tell anyone how to vote.
At a glance
- Property came first
- Then all men
- Then all adults
- A vote widened step by step
8 → 21 million
Electorate before and after 1918
The Representation of the People Act 1918 received Royal Assent on 6 February 1918. Before it, only 58 per cent of the adult population could vote.
THE GAZETTE
8.5 million
Women who qualified in 1918
Women over 30 who met the conditions could now vote, but they were only about 40 per cent of the UK's women. Equal rules followed in 1928.
THE GAZETTE
TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
The year
the vote leapt.
The 1918 Act was the single biggest jump.
Even then, millions of women were left out.
Figures as given by the sources. Historians' estimates of electorate sizes vary.
A QUICK YEAR CHECK
Who could vote
that year?
Pick a year to see what the sources say about who could vote for Parliament. The bar shows roughly how wide the vote was.
A simplified history for England and Wales unless stated. Rules in Scotland and Ireland were set by separate Acts in 1832.
THE SHORT ANSWER
Four big
steps.
Before 1918, only 58 per cent of adults could vote.
Equal votes for women and men came only in 1928.
1918 AND 1928
All men, then all women
The 1918 Act gave the vote to all men over 21 and some women over 30. In 1928 women aged 21 and over could vote on the same terms as men.
See the numbers
1969
Votes at 18
The Representation of the People Act 1969 lowered the voting age from 21 to 18, and allowed a short description beside a candidate's name on the ballot paper.
More detail
FOUR MILESTONES TO REMEMBER
An easy way
to recall it.
If you only remember four dates, these are the ones the sources treat as turning points.
1832: property, standardised
One set of property rules replaced a patchwork in which some places required land and others only a house with a hearth big enough to boil a pot.
1918: all men over 21
Plus women over 30 meeting property conditions, and servicemen from 19. Before this, a 12-month residence rule shut out many troops serving abroad.
1928: equal votes
Women gained the vote at 21 on the same terms as men, which the University of Reading describes as the first universal adult suffrage in Britain.
1969: votes at 18
The voting age fell from 21 to 18. Before this, only those aged over 21 could vote.
BEFORE 1832
A patchwork
of rules.
Before the Reform Act, the number of electors in a borough ranged from a handful to about 12,000. Some so-called rotten boroughs had fewer than 100 voters but still returned members: Dunwich had 32 voters, Camelford 25 and Gatton just 7. Qualifications ranged from owning land to living in a house with a hearth big enough to boil a pot.
In Scotland, a separate Reform Act of 1832 enlarged the electorate about 13 times, from 5,000 to 65,000. Further Acts followed through the 19th century, but the biggest changes came in the 20th: 1918, 1928 and 1969.
Questions
Questions people ask
When did all men get the vote in the UK?
The Representation of the People Act 1918 gave the vote to all men over 21, and men in the armed forces could vote from 19.
When did women get the vote?
Some women over 30 who met property conditions could vote from 1918. Women aged 21 and over got the vote on the same terms as men in 1928.
When did the voting age become 18?
The Representation of the People Act 1969 lowered it from 21 to 18.
What were rotten boroughs?
Constituencies with very few voters that still returned members of Parliament before 1832, such as Gatton with 7 voters.
Does this site tell me how to vote?
No. It is an independent history guide. It does not support any party, candidate or campaign, and it does not give advice on voting.
Sources
Where the facts come from
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