The Organization of Opinion: Open Voting in England, 1832–68 (review)

Jeremy C. Mitchell’s book examines elections and voting behaviour in England (with a brief foray into Scotland to consider canvass returns from Linlithgowshire) between 1832 and 1868, considering the impact of the first and second Reform Acts. Conceptually, however, this work extends to 1872, as Mitchell stresses the significance of open voting in shaping the electoral system during this period. For Mitchell, the flaw with the existing historiography is that it does not “provide an inclusive and general explanation of electoral behaviour” (22), a failing that his emphasis on “the structure and dynamics of constituency social networks” as an overarching explanatory model seeks to redress (33). In a system in which voting was a public act performed by only part of the population, the voter’s social context was crucial.

Mitchell’s introductory chapter summarizes existing interpretations of electoral politics in mid-nineteenth-century England, which he breaks down into four broad (but overlapping) categories: “principle” (party voting), “persuasion” (class voting), “profit” (venal voting), and “power” (deference voting). Chapter 2 analyses the structure of the electoral system, especially in relation to party organization and the other influences that operated on the electoral community. Chapter 3 reflects on some of the electoral consequences of the 1832 Reform Act, focusing in particular on the level of contestation. Mitchell’s analysis reveals a link between constituency size and the number of election contests between 1832 and 1868. Yet, given that he identifies various reasons why seats might go uncontested, it is puzzling that he subsequently equates a lack of contests with a lack of political mobilization. As he shows when he examines canvass books from Lancaster and elsewhere, parties could predict the outcome of elections with a high degree of accuracy. Thus the decision to eschew a contest might reflect a highly politicised constituency in which the result was a foregone conclusion, rather than an apathetic one. If there is a criticism of the synthesis provided in these three general chapters, and indeed with the work as a whole, it would be that the historiography with which Mitchell chooses to engage is rather dated—there is room here for D. C. Moore and John Vincent, but not, for example, for James Vernon’s Politics and the People: A Study in English Political Culture, c. 1815–1867 (1993). This perhaps reflects this work’s origins in a PhD thesis of 1976, and diminishes its potential utility as an introductory guide for students of this period.

At the heart of this work—and providing the bulk of the original material—are two chapters of statistical analysis (using the technique of nominal record linkage) of poll books and canvassing returns from Lancaster and Bedford. Chapter 4 takes a short-term perspective, considering changing patterns of voting behaviour at Lancaster between the 1847 election and the 1848 by-election prompted by the unseating of one MP for bribery, while chapter 5 provides a longitudinal study of Bedford elections between 1832 and 1868. Mitchell’s painstaking poll book analysis gives us a clear picture of the “regular pattern of . . . change and renewal” within the electorate in a way that the aggregate statistics on the number of registered voters cannot (87). At Lancaster he demonstrates how the Liberal advantage among “new” voters (added at the 1847 registration) contributed to their victory in 1848, and, drawing on the notebooks of Mr. Jackson, a local political agent, emphasises the importance of party canvassing activity in establishing a voter’s social and by extension political identity. Some other interesting trends emerge, such as differing voting patterns among householders and freemen. Breaking down the Bedford electorate into cohorts (based on the election at which voters were first eligible), Mitchell finds a high degree of partisan voter stability between elections, again making the recruitment of new voters important. All the information presented in the statistical tables is explained in an admirably lucid and accessible manner, with further...