Sheep magazine Archive 2: issues 10-17

conditions. Throughout this whole period, life and work in Rochdale was
characterized by riots and strikes over food shortages, pay and working
conditions.
From Manchesterhistory.net
20
The Right to Vote
1832 Great Reform Act. Before this time only landowners could vote for
MPs to sit in the House of Commons. This meant 1 in 7 men could vote.
(440,000 people) After 1832 the male urban middle classes gain the
vote, and so the electorate increases to 1 in 5 men (650,000 people).
1867 Second Reform Act. This extends the vote to the skilled urban male
working class. The electorate increases to 1 in 3 men.
1884 Third Reform Act. The vote is now given to working class men in
the countryside. The electorate is now 2 out of 3 men.
1918 Representation of the People Act. Almost all men over 21 years
old, and women over 30 years old now have the vote.
1928 Effectively all women and men over 21 now have the vote.
So scandalously, women had to fight on for their right to vote
until, because some Suffragettes supported the War, over 30s
got the vote in 1918 ... but others had to wait for equality until
finally all citizens over 21 had the vote in 1928.
SHEEP IN THE ROAD : NUMBER 16