Reform bills

Reform bills, 3 acts of Parliament passed in Britain during the 19th century to extend the right to vote. The first (1832) abolished rotten boroughs (localities that sent members to Parliament long after their populations had disappeared) and enfranchised industrial cities, such as Birmingham and Manchester, and the propertied middle class. The second bill (1867) gave the vote to urban dwellers, and the third (1884) extended it to agricultural workers.