Email: e.j.green@qmul.ac.uk
Cumulative voting at English and Welsh school board elections 1870-1902, and its impact on the development of mass democracy
The 1870 Education Act was a milestone in the extension of universal primary education, a development intrinsically linked to emergent mass democracy. It created elected school boards in England and Wales whose members would be returned by the cumulative vote. This system of voting, which led to the election of minority candidates and particularly favoured organised minorities, endured for over 30 years until the abolition of school boards. The aim of my project is to analyse cumulative voting at school board elections: both its impact on the process of ‘practicing democracy’, as well as its effect on school board composition, its main winners, losers, and legacy.