Page 15 - All About History - Issue 09-14

Democracy

DAY JOB
How do we know this?
Much of the information for this article comes As positions for members of Parliament were unpaid
from The Nineteenth Century Constitution: until 1911, many of them had jobs in order to make
Documents And Commentary by HJ Hanham, first a living, which they undertook before entering
published by Cambridge University Press in 1969. Parliament. As well as aristocrats and lords, common
As well as providing a series of invaluable insights
into the daily working life of a British member of professions among MPs included barristers, retired
Parliament, it helpfully offers a series of insights businessmen and manufacturers.
and first-hand accounts from renowned politicians
of the time, regaling readers with a number of
witty, funny and poignant asides relating to the HOUSE MEETS
House and the faults of its infrastructure and the
people who inhabited it. The House of Commons would normally meet in
It provides information relevant to this article, the afternoon to allow its members the time to earn
and goes into depth on the effect of the Reform a living or sit on committees. The House would
Acts on life in the House, in addition to discussing occasionally meet earlier on in the day in order to
other bills and incidences that had the effect of
helping to shape the House into what it is day – a allow more time for particularly important issues to
platform from which the country is governed. be discussed, as well as to ensure a full attendance.
PRIVATE TIME

As well as attending the sessions in the House of
Commons, members of Parliament also had other
responsibilities to keep them occupied. In particular,
governmental ministers could retire to private rooms
to avoid the potentially distracting chatter of the
House and get on with departmental work.

RETURNING TO SESSION

The time members spent debating in the House
of Commons varied depending on the person. For
instance, the more hard-working and dedicated MPs
might spend upwards of 12 hours a day in the House,
although this wasn’t by any means the norm; young
men were often bored by extended sessions, while
the older ones found it uncomfortable.
DINNER

As well as acting as a break in which to divide up
the often long and hard working days, dinner also
marked the point where some members that had
been working during the day appeared in the House
of Commons for the first time.
DIVISIONS

As many members of Parliament chose not to
appear in the House until after dinner, the divisions
of the assembly – the voting method by which the
assembled members of the House either took a rising
vote (standing up) or departed to different areas of the
chamber as a means of casting their vote – literally
divided them into groups.
HOME

When all business was finished with the MPs would
depart from the House. This usually occurred at a
fairly reasonable time, as plenty of time for debate was
allowed during the course of the day. All-night sittings
occasionally took place for discussions of more serious
issues, but these were rare before 1880.
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