How did someone become eligible to be on the electoral rolls in 1874?

I am reliably informed that my g...grandfather Shadrach Jenkins was on the roll for Bream in 1874 - always wondered if this gave him some sort of status i.e. was it anyone over the age of 21 who were on the roll or were there qualifying conditions e.g. property, income ?

The first (or 'Great') Reform Act of 1832. However, the Act gave the vote in towns only to men who occupied property with an
annual value of £10, which excluded six adult males out of seven from the voting process.

Described the second Reform Act (1867) as 'a leap in the dark'. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_Act_1867 And yet only two in
every five Englishmen had the vote in 1870.

Even the third Reform Act (1884) - which enfranchised all male house owners in both urban and rural areas and added 6 million
people to the voting registers

I am reliably informed that my g...grandfather Shadrach Jenkins was on the roll for Bream in 1874 - always wondered if this gave him some sort of status i.e. was it anyone over the age of 21 who were on the roll or were there qualifying conditions e.g. property, income ?

http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives/

http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?mode=thread&id=42645

The above prior thread may help, looks like you need Gloster Archives. From their website comes this pdf document, it takes a while to load but looks a usefull guide, including the following Summary:

"There are no separate absent voter’s lists for Gloucestershire districts . These are lists of people who needed a postal vote because they were away from home with the army.
Gloucestershire Archives holds electoral rolls for the Gloucestershire Constituencies 1832-1915 (with some gaps).
No electoral rolls were produced between 1916 - 1918 and 1940 - 1945 inclusive, because of the world wars.
Between 1918 and 1974 Cheltenham electoral rolls are held at Cheltenham Local Studies Library.
Cheltenham registers 1975 onwards are held at Gloucestershire Archives.
From 1974 onwards Kingswood, North Avon and South Gloucestershire registers are held by the South Gloucestershire Electoral Services.
For all other districts Gloucestershire Archives hold registers from 1918 onwards."

http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=56532&p=0

Failing that the National Archives site may also guide you, I do hope so.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/electoral-registration.htm

Many of my family moved to Surrey/South London during the 1920's. Ancestry have published the electoral register 1920 to 1950. The Surrey electoral register has provided some very useful information. Is similar information available for The Forest?

Regards

Tony Jenkins