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Property titles and the use of British urban poll books for social analysis*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2009

R. J. Morris
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Extract

The poll books produced before the Ballot Act of 1872 are a major source for political and social history. Those which have an occupational title for most or all entries have been increasingly used since Vincent's pioneering work. Others have been linked to other sources so that voting can be related to occupation. This is either time-consuming or expensive and often both. The alternative is a very selective sampling tactic guided by the directories. The use of occupational titles has been criticized because of the lack of social homogeneity within the groups designated by such titles. This is slightly unfair but a relevant warning against using such titles to do more analytical work than the meaning of the titles justifies. Those who want a more precise measure of status must link with the rate books and the census manuscripts.

Type
Research Article
Information
Urban History Yearbook , Volume 10 , May 1983 , pp. 29 - 38
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

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Footnotes

*

This research has been supported by grants from the S.S.R.C. and from the Travel and Research Committee of Edinburgh University. I am grateful for this help.

References

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8 The Poll Book of the Leeds Borough Election, printed and published by Hernaman and Perring at the Intelligencer Officer, Commercial Street, Leeds, 1833. A xerox of the copy of the poll book in the Thoresby Society Library, Leeds, was used for the project.

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17 Cross-tabulation with the 1834 directory produced very similar results, so that both sets of tables have not been quoted here.

18 Fraser, , op. cit., 106.Google Scholar In fact this problem was less than anticipated. The 19 lawyers voted as follows

A high proportion of lawyers abstained because many were involved in the election as deputy returning officers. If allowance is made for this information from the linked sample the merchants were still more Tory than the total voting population.