February 6th 1918

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The Campaign for Female Suffrage
February 6th 1918 The Representation of the
People Act decreed All women over 30 who were
married to property owners or who owned property
themselves were allowed to vote in parliamentary
elections.
ERH
This enfranchised 8 million women
2
Olive Schreiner 1918
Many women have now the vote and are part of the
governing power of their nation all will have
it soon.
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The Campaign for Female Suffrage

• You will assess
• Why did women not get the vote by 1914?
• Why did women get the vote in 1918?

• Both these questions are potential exam
  questions.
• You will complete one of these questions under
  exam conditions before the end of June.

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A bit of background
In 1850 women were thought of as second class
citizens.
People believed women were inferior to men
physically and mentally.
Women were paid less than men, and tended to do
less skilled work. They were excluded from many
professions and it was thought that a womans
place is in the home.
Women were not allowed to vote in general
elections.

• Women would lose their femininity in politics.
• Women werent well educated enough to vote.
• If women became involved in politics the home
  would suffer.
• Women were too emotional to handle the
  responsibility of the vote.

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A bit of background
Conservatives against women voting, worried
they would vote for liberal or labour.
Liberals worried if property owning women were
given the vote then they would vote conservative.
Labour, started in 1900, were in favour of
female suffrage but wanted all working class
women to get the vote first.
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From 1850 women gained educational, civil and
political equality.
Politically
1869 Municipal Franchise Act gave single women
the right to vote in local elections.
1870-1894 women are allowed to be elected to
school boards, poor law guardianship, parish and
district councils.
1870 Married Womens Property Acts meant husbands
no longer owned their property. Women were able
to sue for desertion without going to the
workhouse.
Education and Work
1870 Education Act ( 1872 Scotland) assured girls
the same basic education as boys.
1876 Medical schools opened their doors to women
and in 1878 London university opened all its
degrees to women.
1871 Newnham College Cambridge was founded.
Women could attend Cambridge.
Better education gave women more employment
opportunities in civil service, post office and
private business.
1860 Nightingale School of Nursing helped make
nursing a proper profession.
1888 Match Girls Strike women won better
working conditions.
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Surely women would get the vote soon?
The Vote?
8
Suffragists - National Union of Womens Suffrage
Societies.
Established 1897 by Millicent Fawcett. Methods
Peaceful protest.

• Petitions to parliament
• E.g. 1910 presented petition with 250,000
  signatures in favour of female suffrage.

• Propaganda
• Newspaper The Suffragist. Leaflets etc. In 1913
  spend 45,000 on publicity.

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• Processions
• February 1907, 3,000 suffragists campaigners
  marched in London. Known as the mud march due
  to torrential rain.
• 1908 Massive pageant from Embankment to Albert
  Hall of 13,000 marchers.
• Summer 1913 Womens Pilgrimage. Held meetings
  over 6 weeks across the country. Finished with a
  march in Hyde Park on 26th July with 50,000
  people.

• Worked with politicians
• Up to 1910 Suffragists helped pro female suffrage
  Liberal candidates with their campaigns.
• 1910 Suffragists started to support their own
  candidates against Liberals.
• 1912 Suffragists started to support Labour
  candidates that were pro female suffrage.

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(No Transcript)
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• Large membership
• 1909 13,000 members
• 1913 100,000 members and 500 branches nationwide.

• Maintained support for peaceful respectful
  methods. Processions gained publicity.

• Peaceful methods easy to ignore. By 1905 the
  press had were virtually ignoring them.

• Large membership and propaganda meant they had a
  wide influence across Britain. Benefits of male
  membership.

• Concentrated on a wide range of issues not just
  female suffrage.

• Lost essential political support from Liberals
  from 1910.

• S. Holten argues pre war campaigning before the
  war was important for bringing womens issues to
  the fore.

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What do historians think?
Suffragists
Sandra Holten Argues pre-war campaigning was
vital for women to get the vote.
Sir Robert Ensor the propaganda of the
suffragists effect was beyond question.
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The Suffragettes Womens Social and Political
Union - 1903
Founded by Emmeline Pankhurst
Motto deeds not words.

• Methods
• Believed in using militancy to gain the vote.

• Gained publicity through propaganda, leaflets,
  newspapers, marches and demonstrations.
• Series of 6 meetings in 1908 attracted more than
  25,000 women to attend.
• 1908 Demonstration Hyde Park 1,000 spent on
  publicity.

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• 1911 Womens Coronation Procession. Joint march
  with suffragists. Over 40,000 women attended.
  Procession stretched for 7 miles.
• The Star it proves that women as well as men
  can contribute together in the common pursuit of
  a high ideal.
• 1912 month long pilgrimage from Edinburgh to
  London attracted 1,000s of supporters.

• Membership
• 1909 Votes for Women Newspaper sold 20,000
  copies per week.
• 1910 membership 2,000 Annual income 33,027.
  Employed 98 women in London. 34 out of 88
  branches were in London.
• By 1914 membership low, number of suffragettes
  able to campaign effectively was reduced ( Exile
  or weak from hunger striking.)

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• Militant Tactics
• 1905 Christabel Pankhurst arrested for pretending
  to spit at a police man.
• 1908 started stone throwing
• 1909 First Scottish militant demonstration takes
  place in Glasgow and Dundee.
• 1909 Imprisoned suffragettes start hunger
  striking. When government introduces force
  feeding 150 councils sent petitions to the
  government protesting about this action.
• 1910 18th November Black Friday 150
  suffragettes hurt in violence outside parliament.
• 1912-14 Wild Period begins arson attacks, acid
  on golf courses, letter boxes. Telephone wires
  cut. David Lloyd Georges house burnt. Emily
  Wilding Davison, Slasher Mary attacked painting
  in National Gallery. 1,000 imprisoned by 1914.

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• Brought much needed publicity to the movement. By
  1905 the suffragists were being ignored.
• During Wild Period issue of female suffrage
  discussed daily in parliament.
• Some politicians claimed they gave women the vote
  in 1918 to prevent a return to the wild period.
• M Mackenzie prior to 1914 it was the WSPU who
  revitalised the question of votes for women.
• Force feeding and cat and mouse act good
  publicity.

• Argued delayed the vote government could never
  give in to terrorist tactics.
• Morrison criticises their targets. If they had
  hit docks, or railway ( economic tactics) the
  government would have taken them far more
  seriously.
• Lost public support.
• Pro female suffrage candidates tended to do badly
  in by elections.
• Posters ripped up.
• Membership dropped.
• Caused divisions in the movement.
• Times 1910 demented creatures.

17
Millicent Fawcett David Lloyd George in 1912.
18
A letter from the Home Counties Union of Women's
Liberal Associations commenting on Suffragettes,
1912
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(No Transcript)
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What do historians think?
Suffragettes

• C.P Hill
• Violent tactics did more harm than good. It
  shocked the public and split the Suffragette
  movement.

• Sir Robert Ensor
• Violence and attacks on property were profound
  errors the exasperated parliament, doing less
  than nothing to help womens suffrage.

• H.L Peacock
• In general their tactics did little to further
  their cause. They annoyed and embarrassed the
  government whose support they had to win.

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What do historians think?
Suffragettes

• D.Richards and J Hunt
• Militancy proved to many at the time not their
  fitness but their unfitness for political
  responsibility.

• Martin Pugh
• Evidence suggests politicians, voters and the
  public turned against the WSPU. Few complaints
  when police used violence against them.
• There are no grounds for the view that the WSPU
  shifted public opinion in its favour, rather the
  reverse.
• Their tactics failed to make an impact on the
  government.

22
What do historians think?
Suffragettes

• M Mackenzie
• Prior to 1914 it was the WSPU who revitalised the
  question of votes for women.

Sue Cossan argues the importance of the
suffragettes is shown in that there had been no
womens suffrage movement before the war in
France and there was thus no pressure on the
government.
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What was the government doing?
1905 Parliament spent hours discussing the
issue of car tail lights so they wouldnt discuss
the next issue on the agenda votes for women.
1908 Asquith became P.M. He was against women
getting the vote and in 1909 he refused even to
meet with suffrage campaigners.
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1867 John Stuart Mills proposed bill to give
women the vote laughed out of parliament. 71
votes for 123 against but most abstained. These
bills were proposed more and more yet never
passed. From then on these bills were proposed
nearly every year.

• Conciliation Bills 1910 onwards.
• To give 1 million women the vote a compromise

25
1910 1st conciliation bill 300 MPs voted for it
on 1st reading Passed 2nd reading by 100
votes. Asquith stopped the bill by calling a
general election.
1911 2nd Conciliation bill Passed 1st reading 2nd
reading failed to get a majority. Presented again
in 1912 but ruled out.
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1913 Bill presented to parliament again Passed
1st reading Failed 2nd reading by 47 votes.
Restricted Suffragette activity in wild period.
E.g. banned hall owners from renting them to
suffragettes.

• Government was busy with other issues.
• Naval race with Germany in the lead up to W.W.I
• Miners and Dockers strike
• From 1910 Liberals depended on support from Irish
  nationalists. They would lose this support if
  they debated women instead of Ireland.

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Government Attitudes and Actions.
Actions of the suffragists.
Actions of the Suffragettes.
Why did women not have the vote by 1914?
Attitude of public and press.
Splits in the suffrage movement.
To answer this essay question you need to explain
how the factors above made it hard for women to
get the vote. E.g. What were the splits in the
movement AND how did this make it hard for women
to get the vote.
28
Government Attitudes and Actions.
Actions of the suffragists.
Actions of the Suffragettes.
Why did women not have the vote by 1914?
Attitude of public and press.
Splits in the suffrage movement.

• Task 1
• Keyring revision note will also help.
• Wider reading