Franchise Extension and the British Aristocracy

Using evidence from the S econd R eform A ct, introduced in the U nited K ingdom in 1867, we analyze the impact of extending the vote to the unskilled urban population on the composition of the C abinet and the background characteristics of M embers of P arliament. Exploiting the sharp change in the electorate caused by franchise extension, we separate the effect of reform from that of underlying constituency‐level traits correlated with the voting population. Our results are broadly supportive of a claim first made by Laski (1928): there is no causal effect of the reform on the political role played by the B ritish aristocracy.