Elections and the Post in the Great Reform Act Era

Doubtless many readers will remember the Great Reform Act from history lessons at school (which is after all the main thing, at least according to ‘1066 And All That’). The changes it introduced meant a greater role for the mails in the business of organising elections (and of getting elected), and this article will take a brief look at some interesting historical items that were produced as a result.

The new election laws mandated the use of a great many forms (‘twas ever thus). The responsibility of drawing up and maintaining a list of eligible voters in a parish was placed upon its unpaid and overworked Overseers of the Poor. Figure 1 is a circular of July 1832 from a law publisher, which lists 21 distinct pieces of documentation that an