Poll Books 1696 - 1872: A Directory To Holdings In Great Britain

For this 4th edition record offices have been freshly circulated, numerous changes of repository are also updated and new finding aids and publications are shown.

Until 1832 the right to vote was restricted to those with a “forty shilling” property qualification. Nevertheless these number tens of thousands. With reform vastly more were enfranchised. However, it was only in 1872 that the ballot became secret. Throughout the 18th century and until 1872 the names of those voting and the way they voted were frequently published, and survive as printed Poll Books.