Between 1831 and 1832 the Whig government brought three Reform Bills (which included a limited extension of the franchise and measures to reduce electoral corruption) before parliament. The third Bill finally became law on 7 June 1832.

This pamphlet by the cartoonist George Cruikshank was produced in support of the first Bill and is an updated version of the 1819 pamphlet ‘The Political House that Jack Built’ (illustrated by Cruikshank and published by William Hone). Whilst the earlier pamphlet attacked the Prince Regent as a profligate, fat dandy who was complicit in the killing of his subjects at Peterloo, this version praises his successor William IV as “Old England’s Patriot King”.

'Reform!!!' is included in the University of Warwick Library Special Collections (reference: DA 540.R3), and is available to read in full through our online collection of (mostly Warwickshire) political ephemeraLink opens in a new window from 1774-1874.