British Suffrage Movement
Suffragists
- The Suffragists' main goal was to achieve the right to vote for women through peaceful methods.
- The Manchester National Society for Women's Suffrage was one of the earlier suffragist groups, founded in 1895 by Elizabeth Wolstenholme-Elmy. The group organized a petition and gave it to two members of parliament who were supportive of universal suffrage, Henry Fawcett and John Stuart Mill. The petition was presented to parliament and John Stuart Mill proposed an addition of an amendment to the 1867 Reform Act that would give women the same political rights as men. Sadly, it was out-voted 192 votes to 73. The Manchester National Society continued to meet and campaign after this loss, and in 1897 the group became a part of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies.
- In 1897, seventeen regional groups came together and founded the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies led by Millicent Fawcett. The NUWSS only campaigned for women's rights constitutionally. Their main tactic was lobbying, trying to influence the parliament through public meetings, petitions, letters, newspapers, and distributed free literature.
Millicent Fawcett was born on June 11, 1847 in Suffolk, England. In 1867 she joined the executive committee of the London National Society for Women's Suffrage, which held public meetings and lobbied to parliament. She made her first speech on women's suffrage in 1868. In 1871 she helped found one of the first English universities for women, Newnham College. In 1871 she joined the Central Committee for Women's Suffrage. In 1897 she founded the NUWSS. With the NUWSS, she frequently spoke at girl's schools and colleges. In 1899 she was awarded an honorary LLD for her services in education by the University of St Andrews. She also was involved improving the social and political status of women in India. In 1919 she retired from her leadership of the suffrage movement. She passed away ten years later on August 5, 1929.
Suffragettes
- The Suffragettes' main goal was to achieve the right to vote for women through any means possible, including violence. Demonstrations included window smashing, arson, and hunger strikes.
- The Women's Social and Political Union was founded in 1903, led by Emmeline Pankhurst. With the motto "Deeds, not words", the WSPU used more violent tactics to get their point across. In 1908 they led a "rush" on parliament, in which 60,000 people attempted to invade the House of Commons. They also attacked property, leading to many suffragettes becoming imprisoned and taking part in hunger strikes. Their radicalism and violence attracted a lot of attention to the suffrage movement.
- The Suffragettes were known for their hunger strikes. Marion Wallace-Dunlop was the first women to undertake a hunger strike. In 1909 she refused to eat in prison as a protest because she was not given political prisoner status. These hunger strikes led to authorities force feeding the women who were participating in a hunger strike. The suffragettes used this dangerous act in their propaganda to make it more powerful. In 1913, the "Cat and Mouse Act" was passed, permitting the early release of women who were at risk of death because of their hunger strike, but the act required that they return to prison once they became healthy again.
- About 70 members of the WSPU broke away from the group and formed the Women's Freedom League in 1907 because they were displeased with Pankhurst's leadership. Their methods differed from the WSPU because instead of directly attacking people and property, they resisted taxation and refused to cooperate with the census. One of the League's most famous protests was in 1908 when two women chained themselves to the grille covering the Ladies' Gallery. Authorities had to remove the grille with the women still attached.
- In 1914, the WSPU (as well as most other suffrage organizations) suspended their activities towards the suffrage movement to focus on aiding in the war effort.
Emmeline Pankhurst was born on July 14, 1858. She began attending suffrage meetings with her mother and sister in 1872. She received her education at a girls' school in Paris that taught science and bookkeeping as well as what girls of the time typically learned (housekeeping, embroidery, etc). She was married to Richard Pankhurst, who was a lawyer and also an advocate for women's suffrage. She founded the Women's Franchise League in 1889, which focused on women's right to vote at a local level. In 1903 she founded the more militant WSPU, which was the first group of women to be known as suffragettes. She was arrested six times between the years 1908 and 1912 because of her militant campaigning. Her two daughters Sylvia and Christabel were also very active in the suffrage movement. Emmeline Pankhurst died on June 14, 1928, only about two weeks before the Equal Franchise Act was passed, giving women the same voting rights as men.
Anne Cobden Sanderson was born on March 26, 1853. Sanderson joined the London Society for Women's Suffrage soon after attending the Women's Suffrage Conference in London in 1871. She grew frustrated with the lack of progress in the suffragist movement, and joined the Women's Social and Political Union in 1905. She was the first important suffragist to join the suffragettes at the time. In 1906, along with several other WSPU members, she was arrested at a demonstration outside the House of Commons. In court she famously said, "We have talked so much for the cause, now let us suffer for it... I am a law breaker because I want to be a law maker." In 1907 Sanderson and 70 other women broke away from the WSPU to form the Women's Freedom League. She tirelessly campaigned, speaking at outdoor meetings and taking part in militant protests. She was one of the founders of the Tax Resistance League in 1909, which supported women refraining from paying taxes until they earned the right to vote. Anne Cobden Sanderson died in 1926.
Getting Their Rights
- In 1910, the Conciliation was read and voted upon in parliament. This bill would have granted women the right to vote, but it failed to become a law.
- The Representation of the People Act passed in 1918 gave women over the age of 30 who met a property qualification the right to vote in national elections. Although this was a huge step forward, the act only applied to 40% of Britain's population of women.
- The Parliament Act (also known as the Qualification of Women Act) of 1918 allowed women to become members of parliament.
- In 1928 the Equal Franchise Act granted all women over the age of 21 the right to vote, giving women the same voting rights as men.