How and when did England become a democracy?
Sorry about the other answers. I have some sympathy for their ideas, but it’s not what you want. So let me try. Democracy was a dirty word in British politics for a long time. In 1815 the word conjured up visions of barricades and fighting in the streets and people hanging from lampposts. In 1850 it conjured up images of people chewing and spitting tobacco and engaging in corrupt deals. One thing the framers of the 1832 Reform Act were not aiming at was democracy, but once they got the ball rolling, it was impossible to stop. The franchise was further estended in 1867 and in 1885. The reform of 1885 gave the vote to, amongst others, agricultural labourers, and that’s when the aristocracy lost their predominance in the countryside. The term ‘democracy became more respectable. In 1918 alll men over 21 and women over 30 got the vote, and in 1928 it was all men and women over 21.
