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60
THE 19 CENTURY – THE VICTORIAN AGE OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE AND... THE NEW
RIVALS
Keywords, terms and concepts:
1. R. Peel, "Peelers or Bobbies"
2. Stephenson's "Rocket"
3. The electoral franchise reform (1832) and other Acts of Parliament
4. The Earl of Shaftesbury, friend of the oppressed
5. Queen Victoria (1837-1901)
6. Great English novelists
7. People's Charters (1838-1839, 1842, 1848). Chartism
8. Potato famine in Ireland, 1846
9. The Crimean War (1854-1856), Victorian politicians and their policies
10. The Education Act, 1870
11. Home Rule for Ireland
12. Britain and Ireland
In the 19th century the post-Napoleonic wars period of reaction was being gradually reformed and more li-
beral ministers were included in the Government, more progressive policies and laws were adopted. Under
ultra-conservatory Wellington, who became Prime minister in 1828, some reforms were introduced: R. Peel,
the Home Secretary created an efficient police force, and the policeman were called peelers or bobbies.
The Catholic Emancipation Act was a forced decision that split the Tory party and brought the Whigs to
power in 1830. The Whigs were determined to reform the Parliament and the parliamentary franchise, which
had not changed since the reign of Elizabeth I. The electoral franchise and distribution of seats in Parliament
were in a mess. Different parts of the country were represented in an uneven and unjust way. The county of
Cornwall where the population was less than the population of Manchester or Birmingham elected 44 men to
the House of Commons, but neither of these big industrial cities elected a single M. P. The voting was not
secret, the whole system was corrupt and unrepresentative.