The term ‘rotton borough’ was used in England from the eighteenth century. It meant an electoral district where population changes meant a tiny population that had a disproportionate number of Parliamentary representatives for its size. For example, Old Sarum, a borough on the land of the Pitt family, had three houses, seven voters and three Members of Parliament. William Pitt the Elder was one of those MPs. Another rotton borough was Appleby, which William Pitt the Younger was elected to represent when he was 21. The rotton boroughs were valuable properties, and sold for well over market price, since they included the right to more or less elect any Member of Parliament they chose.

At the same time, huge cities had no voters at all, since they had grown in places that historically had tiny populations.

At the time (and through until the late 19th century), voting in England was confined to men who own a certain amount of property. From the fifteenth century, all owners of land worth more than forty shillings were able to vote. Women weren’t specifically excluded, but for the most part they didn’t own land; it belonged to their fathers and husbands.

Voting was regarded as a public service. Those with the responsibility would make their vote known in public, and might expect to be rewarded (or treated)–or threatened, if the vote wasn’t what the strong men of the borough wanted. The secret ballot didn’t come in until 1872.

Rotton boroughs disappeared earlier, in the Reform Act of 1832. Fifty-six Parliamentary Boroughs lost their Members of Parliament, their remaining voters becoming eligible to participate in County elections. The idea that the House of Representatives should be occupied by… well… representatives had taken a great step forward.