hold roughly the same number of electors. Boundary commissions were set up by subsequent Acts of Parliament to maintain this principle as population movements continued. Reform In the late 18th century, many political societies, such as the London Corresponding Society and the Society of the Friends of the People, called for parliamentary reform. Specifically, they thought that the rotten borough system was unfair and they called for a more equal distribution of representatives that reflected the population of Britain. However, legislation enacted by William Pitt the Younger caused these societies to disband by making it illegal for them to meet or publish information. In the 19th century, there were moves toward reform, which broadly meant ending the over-representation of boroughs with few electors. The culmination of the process of Catholic Emancipation in 1829 finally brought the reform issue to a head. The reform movement had a major success in the Reform Act 1832, which disfranchised the 56 boroughs listed below, most of them in the south and west of England. This redistributed representation in Parliament to new major population centres and places with significant industries, which tended to be farther north. Buckinghamshire Wendover Amersham Cornwall Bossiney Callington Camelford East Looe Fowey Lostwithiel Mitchell or St Michael's Newport Saltash St Germans St Mawes Tregony West Looe Devon Beeralston Okehampton Plympton Erle Hampshire Newtown, Isle of Wight Stockbridge Whitchurch Yarmouth, Isle of Wight Kent New Romney Queenborough Northamptonshire Brackley Higham Ferrers Suffolk Aldeburgh Dunwich Orford Somerset Ilchester Milborne Port Minehead Surrey Bletchingley Gatton Haslemere Sussex Bramber East Grinstead Seaford Steyning Winchelsea Wiltshire Downton Great Bedwyn Heytesbury Hindon Ludgershall Old Sarum Wootton Bassett Yorkshire Aldborough, West Riding Boroughbridge, North Riding Hedon, East Riding Other counties Appleby, Westmorland Bishop's Castle, Shropshire Castle Rising, Norfolk Corfe Castle, Dorset Newton, Lancashire Weobley, Herefordshire Contemporary defences A substantial number of Tory constituencies were rotten and pocket boroughs, and their right to representation was defended by the successive Tory governments in office between 1807 and 1830. During this period they came under criticism from figures such as Thomas Paine and William Cobbett. It was argued in defence of such boroughs that they provided stability and were also a means for promising young politicians to enter Parliament, with William Pitt the Elder being cited as a key example. Some MPs claimed that the boroughs should be retained, as Britain had enjoyed periods of prosperity while they were part of