Rotten and pocket boroughs

For centuries, constituencies electing members to the House of Commons did not change to reflect population shifts, and in some places the number of electors became so few that they could be bribed or otherwise influenced by a single wealthy patron.

Thus an MP might be elected by only a few voters (although the number of constituents would usually be higher), while at the same time many new towns, which had grown due to increased trade and industry, were inadequately represented.

Before 1832 the town of Manchester, which expanded rapidly during the Industrial Revolution from a small settlement into a large city, was merely part of the larger county constituency of Lancashire and did not elect its own MPs.

Despite this dramatic loss of population, the constituency of Old Sarum retained its right to elect two MPs, putting them under the control of a landowning family.

They also commonly sold them for money or other favours; the peers who controlled such boroughs had a double influence in Parliament as they held seats in the House of Lords.

Before being awarded a peerage, Arthur Wellesley, later Duke of Wellington, served in the Irish House of Commons as a Member for the rotten borough of Trim.

A wealthy patron therefore had merely to buy up these specially qualified houses and install in them his own tenants, selected for their willingness to do their landlord's bidding, or given such precarious forms of tenure that they dared not displease him.

[4] Specifically, they thought that the rotten borough system was unfair and they called for a more equal distribution of representatives that reflected the population of Britain.

[5] However, legislation enacted by William Pitt the Younger caused these societies to disband by making it illegal for them to meet or publish information.

[3] It was argued in defence of such boroughs that they provided stability and were also a means for promising young politicians to enter Parliament, with William Pitt the Elder being cited as a key example.

In his book The Age of Consent (2003), George Monbiot compared small island states with one vote in the United Nations General Assembly to "rotten boroughs".

In Hong Kong and Macau, functional constituencies (with small voter bases attached to special interests) are often referred to as "rotten boroughs" by long-time columnist Jake van der Kamp.

[12] The Electoral Reform Society produced a list of "Rotten Boroughs" for the 2019 United Kingdom local elections, with Fenland District Council at the top.

[13] The Corporation of the City of London has been referred to as the UK's Last Rotten Borough[14] due to the fact that only four of its 25 electoral wards hold elections where voting by residents decides the result.

The other wards are decided on votes cast by business leaders, not residents, making this the only local government authority in the UK that now lacks a popular franchise.

"When Colonel Dobbin quitted the service, which he did immediately after his marriage, he rented a pretty country place in Hampshire, not far from Queen's Crawley, where, after the passing of the Reform Bill, Sir Pitt and his family constantly resided now.