Reform League

The Reform League was established in 1865 to press for manhood suffrage and the ballot in Great Britain. It collaborated with the more moderate and middle class Reform Union and gave strong support to the abortive Reform Bill 1866 and the successful Reform Act 1867. It developed into a formidable force of agitation at the very heart of the country.

During the autumn and winter of 1864–65 members of the Universal League for the Material Elevation of the Industrious Classes planned to form a new organisation which would concentrate solely on manhood suffrage. As a result, the Reform League was established on 23 February 1865 and the Universal League for the Material Elevation of the Industrious Classes became defunct. The leadership of the League, which was to remain consistent throughout its life, drew heavily on personalities from the International Working Men's Association, including George Howell, George Odger, William Cremer and Benjamin Lucraft. The father of the International, Karl Marx was delighted but he soon came to be disappointed by the outlook of the League. The League leadership also included a number of respectable figures including the barrister, Edmond Beales, as President of the League and Sir Wilfrid Lawson.

The League excluded a number of trade unionists, including Thomas Vaze of the Painters and John Bedford Leno the shoemaker poet because they had supported the South during the American Civil War.

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