Parliamentary Electors 1832

This list (drawn up by the Louth overseers of the poor) of persons whose qualification to vote related to property in Louth is useful in identifying persons described as proprietors in R1838 and to a lesser extent in R1823. It may be seen from the list that some did not live in Louth. The occupations given are those declared at the subsequent poll. In the list below “#” indicates someone not shown in the subsequent poll book as voting; for these I have added the occupations where known from other sources.

Under the system introduced by the 1832 Act the publication of the parish overseers’ lists began a period for the consideration of objections to the omission or inclusion of names, after which the parish lists were consolidated into constituency lists. A few of the names (eg Edward Abbott) on Louth overseers’ list were for unknown reasons excluded from the final list. The constituency lists for 1832 and many later years are available on the Findmypast website.

The printed lists omitted Edward Adlard, whose entitlement to vote was accepted at the poll. Although the number of freeholders in Louth is not known, it certainly exceeded the number (230 freeholders out of 278 persons) on the list; some qualified people chose not to register.