Register of Electors - 1930

Transcribed by R W Standing

The Electoral Reform of 1918 eliminated the old form of ownership electors and brought in all males over the age of 21 as well as women over 30, for national elections.

The lists indicate the basis of a person’s qualification, by residence or occupation of a house or by that of a  husband, but that indicates where a person was qualified to vote in parliamentary elections not the fact of property providing the right to vote. The list was therefore much expanded to include adult children and servants living in a household. 

However the qualification for Local elections was still based on property, and therefore R – simple residence, was no qualification, and ownership of a house can be deduced from the qualification letters for local elections  - that is the Letter O, but in some cases the husband is not on the list being presumably absent for some reason. The occupiers were not always husband and wife, but family relations, and so it is not always clear what the relationships were.

In 1928 the franchise was extended to permit women over 21 to vote in local elections. It was not until 1945 that everyone registered for parliamentary elections could vote in local elections – which brought in adult children of households.

Men
O          Occupation qualification
D          Qulification through wife's occupation
Women
OW       Occupation qualification
DW       Qualification through husband's occupation
i.e. Occupation of the property or D being the wife of husband of the occupier, and over the age of 21

Qualification was generally based on houses but could also be based on land.

R or residence occupation for national elections not included

NM – naval and military absent voters transcribed separately.

Addresses are still very uniformative, often only giving the street name, or the house name. However, we have added some road names where known, e.g. [High Street], to assist researchers.

RW Standing
June 2010

(Page first uploaded - 14.06.10)