 Despite the fact that we are in the middle of one of the most fraught election campaigns since the Second World War things are fairly quiet in Yetholm - not many canvassers knocking on doors or election posters on show yet! Perhaps it's because the recent weather has been so dismal - everyone is staying at home, huddled in front of the fire for warmth. There have been equally fraught elections in the past - the 1830s saw crucial changes that extended the voting base in Britain from 6 per cent of the population to 12 per cent. This inevitably led to competition between politicians and parties to win the support of the new voters, and among the tools used by the opposing sides were campaign leaflets like the one shown above. The candidate it recommends, Captain George Elliot, (1784-1863) clearly supported the Reform Bill, and was a Whig. He was captain of H.M.S. Victory from 1827-1832. He was the son of Gilbert Elliot, 2nd Earl of Minto, who was Whig MP for Roxburghshire from 1812-14. Lord John Douglas Scott, (1809-1860), was a prominent Tory and opponent of the Reform Bill. Efforts to present him to the new electorate as a 'reformer' are ridiculed here. Elliot defeated Scott in the first election after the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832, but the tables were turned in the election of 1835. Yetholm - and Morebattle - were, it would appear, strongly in favour of Elliot. The newspaper cutting below is from the Morning Advertiser of the 8th of August 1832 and shows that things were a lot more boisterous in Yetholm in those days. No doubt the warm weather had something to do with it ...  'Groans and hisses' during the 1832 election in Yetholm.
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