Representation of the People Act 1918

The Representation of the People Act 1918 (7 & 8 Geo. 5. c. 64) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, passed to reform the electoral system in Great Britain and Ireland, which received royal assent on 6 February 1918. It extended the vote to all men over the age of 21 resident in their constituency and, for the first time, to women over the age of 30 who met a property qualification, nearly tripling the electorate from 7.7 million in 1912 to 21.4 million by the end of 1918. Nancy Astor became the first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons on 1 December 1919, in the wake of the act's passage. It remains in force, though substantially amended by later franchise legislation including the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928, the Representation of the People Act 1948 and the Representation of the People Act 1983.