In the early nineteenth century only a small minority of men — those who owned substantial property — could vote. The Reform Act of 1832 abolished many "rotten boroughs" with almost no voters and gave seats to new industrial cities. The Reform Act of 1867 extended the vote to most male householders in towns; the Reform Act of 1884 extended it to most adult men in the countryside as well.
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Even after these reforms, women could not vote in parliamentary elections and many working-class men were still excluded. The vote was given to women aged 30 and over and to almost all men in 1918, and to women on equal terms with men in 1928. Together these Acts transformed Britain from a country ruled by a small landed elite into a parliamentary democracy.
You may be asked which Act first reformed the franchise (1832), or which year women got the vote on equal terms with men (1928).
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