Historica Wiki
Historica Wiki
Advertisement

The Radicals were an radical party in the United Kingdom that existed from the 1750s until 1859. The Radicals arose to support parliamentary reform, and the party supported freedom of the press and relief from economic distress. Throughout the 18th century, the working-classes were mostly excluded from British politics, but they were able to exercise their voices in "pot-walloper" boroughs, where all householders had the vote. One of these constituencies was Westminster, where prominent radicals such as John Wilkes, Charles James Fox, and John Stuart Mill were elected to Parliament.

After the success of the Napoleonic Wars, the Radicals agitated for reform, and the Radicals would assist the Whigs in forming the new Liberal Party in 1859. The Radicals remained an important faction of politics until the early twentieth century, pressuring the 1872 secret ballot reform, the 1885 Corrupt and Illegal Practices Act, and the Third Reform Act. The Radicals were overshadowed by the success of the Labour Party in the early 1900s.

Advertisement