Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

measure of electoral reform passed by Lord Grey’s government in 1832. Cautious and partial though it was, it divided the nation and pointed the way for successive, more radical reforms until full adult suffrage was achieved in 1928. The bill became law only after a series of narrow triumphs and serious setbacks. Patrick supported the bill, but felt impelled to write an apologetic letter to Elizabeth Franks, to be communicated to other old Bradford friends, explaining that he was in favor of “temperate reform” to avoid “insurrectionary movements” (28 Apr 1831). His children did not follow him in this (as they had when he had joined the Tories’ volte face over Catholic Emancipation): Charlotte wrote to Branwell of “the extreme pleasure I felt at the news of the Reform-bill’s being thrown out by the House of Lords” (17 May 1832). There is no evidence that this divide was regarded as a serious problem in the Brontë household. ... log in or subscribe to read full text