| Description | LOCAL ELECTIONS The city's constitution established by the 'Great Charter' of 1506 and procedures for electing the mayor, sheriffs, aldermen and common councilmen are described under CHARTERS, MAYOR, SHERIFFS and ASSEMBLY. Procedures after 1835, are described under COUNCIL. PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION An Act of 1543 enabled Chester for the first time to send two representatives to parliament and it is believed that the city's first members of parliament were Richard Sneyd and William Aldersey, elected in 1547. Chester's representation was reduced to one member in 1885 and in 1918, the constituency was enlarged to include much of the surrounding rural area. Chester's freemen alone formed the city's electorate between 1543 and the Reform Act, 1832. That Act, together with the Reform Act, 1867, widened the franchise by introducing property qualifications. From 1918, all adult men and women over thirty had the vote and from 1928, women over twenty one. Freemen retained voting rights until 1918. Formal and regular registration of electors only took place after the Reform Act, 1832 and the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835. Between 1832 and 1878, lists of burgesses (those who could vote in local elections) and lists of parliamentary voters were drawn up separately by the overseers of the poor. After the Registration Act, 1878, a single register including both classes of electors was compiled annually. For the history of parliamentary representation in Chester see J. S. Morrill, 'Parliamentary Representation' in Victoria History of Cheshire, volume. 2, 1979. |