2-979-745 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Division Lobby, House of Commons: Taking the Votes, 1857. '...the recording of the votes of members of the House decides every question of policy and administration...a two-minute glass is turned by one of the clerks in order to give time to members dispersed all over the purlieus of the House...to come in, and notice is given to them by the ringing of bells all over the building, which is effected simultaneously by means of electricity...The Speaker...then gives the direction, "The 'ayes' to the right, the 'noes' to the left," and the former file out of the door at the back of the chair; the latter pass up the gangway on the Opposition side...The members thus driven out of the body of the House find themselves in a long corridor...Although in description this may appear a cumbrous mode of collecting votes, it is in practice remarkably expeditious and very precise...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1857.