Electoral Rolls - London

[Daisy Loo]

I thought the B referred to the Business premises.  Therefore, I assumed that (O) Occupation, meant the job of the man, and I was therefore surprised that the man could qualify through the "job" - ie occupation of the woman.  Did I misunderstand the codes completely?

[stanmapstone]

Occupation does not mean Job, it means occupation of premises. The 1918 Act abolished the property qualifications, and gave the vote to men at 21 and women at 30, that right being dependent on six months' residence, or occupation of business premises worth £ 10 a year.

Men
R. = Residence Qualification
B.P. = Business premises qualification
O. = Occupation Qualification
H.O. = Qualification through husband's occupation
N.M. = Naval or Military Voter
D. = Qualification through wife's occupation (qualification)

Women
Rw = Residence qualification
Bw = Business premises qualification
Ow =  Occupation Qualification
Dw = Qualification through husband's occupation (qualification)

Stan

[Daisy Loo]

okay...sorry for being a bit dense, but if occupation meant occupation of premises, why was there separate codes for  Residence, and for Business Premises.

so the six month' residence would be the residence (R) qualification, the business premises worth £10 a year would be the business premises (BP) - isn't this the "occupation of premises"?

SO why the need for O...

I'm really sorry I'm not understanding this.  My ancestor didn't own any of the properties he lived/worked at.  I'll double check the codes that were marked for him.

[stanmapstone]

A man was entitled to be registered as a parliamentary elector for a constituency (other than a university constituency)if he was of full age and not subject to any legal incapacity and (a) had the requisite residence qualification; or (b)had the requisite business premises qualification.
) A woman was entitled to be registered as a parliamentary elector for a constituency (other than a university constituency)if she (a) had attained the age of thirty years; and(b) was not subject to any legal incapacity; and (c) was entitled to be registered us a local government elector in respect of the occupation in that constituency of land or premises (not being a dwelling-house) of a yearly value of not less than five pounds or of a dwelling-house, or is the wife of a husband entitled to be so registered.
The business premises qualification, involved the occupation for the purposes of business, trade, or profession, of land or premises of the annual value of not less than 10/.
The residence qualification; included the householders, the lodgers,and the service voters, and also many residents who were not in any existing class of voters. There was no requirement for the qualifying premises under this head to be of any minimum yearly value, nor for rating or payment of rates.

If you want you can see the full text of "The Representation of the people act, 1918 : with explanatory notes" at
http://archive.org/stream/representationof00frasrich/representationof00frasrich_djvu.txt

Stan
 

[stanmapstone]

If they met the requirements under the Act then I assume they would just be put on the list of electors.

Forms were required to be filled in by Householders, Occupiers, Owners, Agents &c. to assist the Registration Officer in compiling the Parliamentary and Local Government Registers.
You could also fill in forms to claim to be registered, which were sent to the Registration Officer for the constituency.
These are shown in the schedules to the Act.
Stan