Municipal Franchise Act 1869

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Municipal Corporation (Elections) Act 1869 [1]
Act of Parliament
Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (variant 1, 1952-2022).svg
Long title An Act to shorten the Term of Residence required as a Qualification for the Municipal Franchise, and to make provision for other purposes.
Citation 32 & 33 Vict. c. 55
Territorial extent England and Wales [2]
Dates
Royal assent 2 August 1869
Repealed31 December 1882 [3]
Other legislation
Repealed by Municipal Corporations Act 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. 50), s 5 & Sch 1, Pt 1
Status: Repealed

The Municipal Corporation (Elections) Act 1869 (32 & 33 Vict. c. 55), sometimes called the Municipal Franchise Act 1869 [4] or the Municipal Corporation (Election) Act 1869, [5] was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The Bill for this Act was the Municipal Franchise Bill. [6] Bill 85 was introduced by John Tomlinson Hibbert. [7]

Unmarried women ratepayers received the right to vote in local government elections in the Municipal Franchise Act 1869. [8] This right was confirmed in the Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) and extended to include some married women. [9] [10] [11] [12] By 1900, more than 1 million women were registered to vote in local government elections in England. [9]

Sections 6 and 7 were repealed by section 12 of, and the Second Schedule to, the Municipal Elections Act 1875. [13]

See also

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References

  1. This short title was conferred on this act by section 2 of, and the First Schedule to, the Municipal Corporations (New Charters) Act 1877 (40 & 41 Vict. c. 69).
  2. Did not apply to Scotland or Ireland; The Municipal Corporation (Elections) Act 1869, section 11
  3. The Municipal Corporations Act 1882, section 4
  4. Glen, William Cunningham. Shelford's Law of Railways. Fourth Edition. Butterworths. Fleet Street, London. 1869. Volume 1. Pages xvii and 557. This name, which appears in 1869, predates the short title which was given to the Act in 1877.
  5. The Municipal Corporations Act 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. 50), First Schedule, Part I.
  6. "Municipal Franchise Bill", Index to Hansard's Parliamentary Debates in the First Session of Twentieth Parliament of the United Kingdom, 32° & 33° Victoria, 1868-9.
  7. HC Deb, 15 April 1869, col 941. Mair (ed), "J T Hibbert", Debrett's Illustrated House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1872, Dean & Son, London, p 125.
  8. Rix, Kathryn (2 August 2019). "Women and the municipal franchise". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  9. 1 2 Johnston, Neil (1 March 2013), "Female Suffrage before 1918", The History of the Parliamentary Franchise, House of Commons Library, pp. 37–39, retrieved 16 March 2016
  10. Heater, Derek (2006). Citizenship in Britain: A History. Edinburgh University Press. p. 136. ISBN   978-0-7486-2672-4.
  11. "Women's rights". The National Archives. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  12. "Which Act Gave Women the Right to Vote in Britain?". Synonym. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  13. For copy, see Fitzgerald. The Ballot Act, 1872, with an Introduction. 2nd Ed. 1876. p 160.