LIBERAL REFORM IN GREAT BRITAIN

Twenty Critical Events and Turning Points in Modern European History

 

Year

Legislation

Impact
1828 Repeal of Test and Corporation Acts Public office holders no longer required to take communion in Anglican Church
1829 Catholic Emancipation Act Catholics permitted to hold office and serve in Parliament
1832 Reform Bill of 1832

a)  Lowered minimum franchise requirement

b)  Electorate almost doubled -- 1 in 5 adult male citizens able to vote
1833   Slavery abolished in British Empire
1833

Factory Act

a)  Prohibited employment of children under age 9

b)  Workers ages 9-12 limited to 8-hour workdays (maximum 48 hours per week)

c)  Workers ages 13-18 limited to 12-hour workdays (maximum 69 hours per week)
1834 Poor Law Amendment Act Able-bodied paupers to be incarcerated in workhouses
1835 Municipal Corporations Act Replaced old borough governments w/ elected municipal corporations
1846 Repeal of the Corn Laws

a)  Reduced tariffs on wheat and other agricultural imports

b)  Represented a defeat for English landowners
1848 National Health Act Established national Board of Health
1854 & 1856   Non-Anglicans permitted to attend Cambridge and Oxford Universities
1866 Public Health Act Local government granted more authority to maintain clean water supply
1867 Reform Bill of 1867

a)  Lowered minimum franchise requirement

b)  Doubled size of electorate
1870

Education Act

a)  Education became mandatory for children under 13

b)  Tax-supported schools to be built where needed
1880  

a)  All children ages 5-10 required to attend school

b)  Established conditions by which children under 15 could leave school
   

 
   

 
   

 
   

 
   

 
   

 
   

 
   

 
   

 
   

 
   

 
   

 
     

 

 

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