The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 (5 & 6 Will 4 c 76), sometimes known as the Municipal Reform Act, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in the incorporated boroughs of England and Wales. The legislation was part of the reform programme of the Whigs and followed the Reform Act 1832, which had abolished most of the rotten boroughs for parliamentary purposes. Royal commission The government of Lord Grey, having carried reform out of parliamentary constituencies, turned its attention to local government. In February 1833 a select committee was appointed "to inquire into the state of the Municipal Corporations in England, Wales, and Ireland; and to report if any, and what abuses existed in them, and what measures, in their opinion, it would be most expedient to adopt, with a view to the correction of those abuses". The committee made their report in June 1833, having enquired into a handful of boroughs. The committee found that: The committee did not believe that they had sufficient powers to carry out a full review of the existing system. They instead recommended the appointment of a royal commission, and that the country be divided into districts with a commissioner responsible for enquiring into boroughs in each district. The royal commission was appointed by letters patent passed under the great seal. The commission, which was dominated by Radicals, had eighteen members, with two assigned to each district or circuit: North Midland: Richard Whitcombe and Alexander Edward Cockburn Eastern: George Long and John Buckle South Western: Henry Roscoe and Edward Rushton Southern: John Elliot Drinkwater and Edward John Gambier Western: Charles Austin and James Booth Midland: Peregrine Bingham and David Jardine Northern: Fortunatus Dwarris and Sampson Augustus Rambull North-Western: George Hutton Wilkinson and Thomas Jefferson Hogg South-Eastern: Thomas Flowers Ellis and Daniel Maude The commission's secretary was Joseph Parkes. Report The commission issued its report in 1835. Altogether 285 towns had been investigated. The main conclusions of the report were: The corporations were exclusive bodies with no community of interest with the town after which they were named. The electorate of some corporations was kept as small as possible. Some corporations merely existed as "political engines" for maintaining the ascendancy of a particular party. Members of corporations usually served for life and the corporate body was a self-perpetuating entity. Roman Catholics and Dissenters, although no longer disabled from