Great English Dates No 10: 1832

Why did the English not rise up in revolution like the French?

The question that should dominate the history of England in the 19th century is why it saw no imitation of the French revolution. An election in 1830 was consumed by talk of political reform, but the Tories retained a majority and their leader, the Duke of Wellington, remarked that "as long as I hold any station … I shall hold it my duty to resist" any change in the franchise.

Radical mobs took to the streets and a public clamour f...