This graph from Google shows how frequently “proportional representation” was mentioned in the vast Google Books archive. As you can see, the proportion of books which mentioned PR grew sharply in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, reaching a peak in the inter-war years (when a minority Labour Government got an alternative vote bill through the Commons but it then stalled in the Lords and was abandoned when the government fell):
An excellent book on the early history of proportional representation in the UK is Jenifer Hart’s Proportional Representation.
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3 Comments
I seem to recall the proposals to introduce Proportional Representation were rejected by the Liberal Party. I think I read it in Asquith’s or Lloyd George’s biography.
How on earth are enthusiasts of PR and all students seeking to learn more by reading about the history of British Electoral Reform, if the main book on the subject, is priced new at £66?
@RichardSM
I seem to remember Asquith wasn’t too keen on giving women the vote either, so we can hardly be tarred for ever with ALL of his views.
But seriously though, the peak around 1920 is probably related to many, but not all, women getting the vote then and the emergence of a multiparty system.