The research project set out in 1985 to investigate the claim made by Martin J. Wiener in <i>English culture and the decline of the industrial spirit: 1850-1980</i> (Cambridge University Press, 1982) that Tory political support was inimical to the growth of industrial capitalism. An ancillary aim of the project was to explore the political allegiance of the membership of the Sheffield Club. In order to achieve both of these aims information from the poll books for the 1852 and 1857 Sheffield elections were entered into a database and then linked to occupational data from local commercial directories. The material consists of a transcription of the contents of the parliamentary poll books for Sheffield for the general elections of 1852 and 1857. Each record consists of: the voter's name; the ward containing the qualifying property; the address of the qualifying property; the voter's vote; an occupational description of the voter; and an occupational coding.