Description

Victoria, 1837-1901. Silver Medal 1884, 37.53 g. Extension of the Electoral Franchise. By Maher & Son. British lion standing resolutely before rocks. THE CONSTITUTION IN ALL ITS FULLNESS FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM 1884. In exergue: GLADSTONE AND THE FRANCHISE FOR TWO MILLIONS. Rv. A crown decorated with two ribbons inscribed JUSTICE FOR ALL and PEACE . LAW . ORDER within wreath. OUR QUEEN OUR COUNTRY AND OUR RIGHTS. Plain edge. 43.4 mm. Eimer 1708. BHM -. FDC / Mint State. Prachtvolle Erhaltung mit herrlicher Patina / Beautiful condition with magnificent patina.

From the auction Gerhard Hirsch Nachf. 224, Munich, November 2002, lot 1880.

The Representation of the People Act 1884, also known informally as the Third Reform Act, and the Redistribution Act of the following year were laws which further extended the suffrage in the UK after the Derby government's Reform Act 1867. Taken together, these measures extended the same voting qualifications as existed in the towns to the countryside, more than doubling the electorate in the counties, and essentially established the modern one-member constituency as the normal pattern for parliamentary representation.

However, it did not establish universal suffrage: although the size of the electorate was increased considerably, all women and 40% of men were still without the vote. Male suffrage varied throughout the kingdom, too: in England and Wales, two in three adult males had the vote; in Scotland, three in five did; but in Ireland, the figure was only one in two.