Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom

Women were not formally prohibited from voting until the 1832 Reform Act and the 1835 Municipal Corporations Act.

It was in 1832 that reinstating became on some level a political topic, although it would not be until 1872 that it would become a national movement with the formation of the National Society for Women's Suffrage and later the more influential National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. Little victory was achieved in this constitutional campaign in its earlier years up to around 1905. It was at this point that the militant campaign began with the formation of the Women's Social and Political Union.

The outbreak of the First World War led to a halting of almost all campaigning, but some argue that it was the competence of women war workers that led to the extension of the franchise to single women over the age of 30 in 1918. Universal suffrage for all adults over 21 years of age was not achieved until 1928.

Women had the franchise in local government, school boards (see London School Board), and health authorities from the late 19th century. Their successes in these areas contributed to their acquiring parliamentary suffrage.

Timeline

• 1832 – Suffrage Reform Act - women expressly forbidden from voting.
• 1865 – John Stuart Mill elected as an MP showing direct support for women's suffrage.
• 1867 – Reform Act - Male franchise extended.
• 1883 – Conservative Primrose League formed.
• 1886 – Suffrage Reform Act - More working class men enfranchised
• 1894 – Local Government Act (women could vote in local elections, become Poor Law Guardians, act on School Boards)
• 1897 – NUWSS formed (led by Millicent Fawcett).
• October 1903 – First meeting of WSPU (led by Emmeline Pankhurst)
• 1905 – Militancy began (Christabel Pankhurst interrupted a Liberal Party meeting and spat at a policeman.
• February 1907 – NUWSS "Mud March (Suffragists)" – largest open air demonstration ever held (at that point)- over 3000 women took part
• 1907, 1912, 1914 – major splits in WSPU
• 1905, 1908, 1913 – 3 phases of WSPU militancy (Civil Disobedience – Destruction of Public Property – Arson/Bombings)
• July 5, 1909 – Marion Wallace Dunlop went on the first hunger strike – was released after 91 hours of fasting
• September 1909 – Force Feeding introduced in prisons
• 1910 – Lady Constance Lytton disguised herself as a working class criminal, Jane Wharton, and was arrested and endured force feeding to prove prejudice in prisons against working class women. Lady Lytton was instrumental in reforming conditions in prisons. The force feeding shortened her life considerably
• February 1910 – Cross-Party Conciliation Committee (54 MPs). Conciliation Bill (that would enfranchise women) passed its 2nd reading by a majority of 109 but Asquith refused to give it more parliamentary time
• November 1910 – Asquith changed Bill to enfranchise more men instead of women
• November 18, 1910 – Black Friday
• February 1913 – David Lloyd George's house burned down by WSPU (had previously supported the movement – after this he publicly opposed it)
• April 1913 – Cat and Mouse Act passed, allowing hunger-striking prisoners to be released when their health was threatened and then re-arrested when they had recovered
• June 4, 1913 – Emily Davison threw herself under the King’s Horse at the Epsom Derby
• March 13, 1914 – Mary Richardson slashed the Rokeby Venus painted by Diego Velázquez in the National Gallery with an axe, protesting that she was maiming a beautiful woman just as the government was maiming Emmeline Pankhurst with force feeding
• August 4, 1914 – First World War declared in Britain. WSPU activity immediately ceased. NUWSS activity continued peacefully - The Birmingham branch of the organisation continued to lobby Parliament and write letters to MPs.
• 1918 – The Representation of the People Act of 1918 enfranchised all women over the age of 30. This was probably so that women would not outnumber men in the voting process and most women over 30 were married so it was hoped they would vote as their husbands told them to.
• 1928 – Women received the vote on equal terms as men (over the age of 21)

The seeds of political feminism

Early political movement

Although the vast majority of women did not have the vote in 1832 (most regions at this time required some sort of land ownership), it was the Reform Act of the same year that explicitly banned women from participating in local and national elections. After the bill was passed, MP Henry Hunt argued that any woman who was single, a tax payer and had sufficient property should be allowed to vote. One such wealthy woman, Mary Smith, was used in this speech as an example.

The Chartist Movement, which began in the 1830s, has also been suggested to have included supporters of female suffrage. There is some evidence to suggest William Lovett, one of the authors of the People's Charter wished to include female suffrage as one of the campaign's demands but chose not to on the grounds that this would delay the implementation of the charter. Although there were female Chartists, they largely worked towards universal manhood suffrage. It must be noted that at this time most women did not have aspirations to gain the vote.

Outside pressure for women's suffrage was at this time diluted by feminist issues in general. Women's rights were becoming increasingly prominent in the 1850s as some women in higher social spheres refused to obey the sex roles dictated to them. Feminist campaigns at this time included the right to sue an ex-husband after divorce (achieved in 1857) and the right for married women to own property (fully achieved in 1882 after some concession by the government in 1870).

The issue of parliamentary reform declined along with the Chartists after 1848 and only reemerged with the election of John Stuart Mill in 1865. He ran for office showing direct support for female suffrage and was an MP in the run up to the second Reform Act.

Early suffragist societies

In the same year that John Stuart Mill was elected, the first Ladies Discussion Society was formed, debating whether women should be involved in public affairs. Although a society for suffrage was proposed, this was turned down on the grounds that it might be taken over by extremists.

However, later that year Leigh Smith Bodichon formed the first Women's Suffrage Committee and within a fortnight collected 1,500 signatures in favour of female suffrage in advance to the second Reform Bill.

The Manchester Suffrage Committee was founded in February 1867. The secretary, Lydia Becker wrote letters both to Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli and to The Spectator. She was also involved with the London group, and organised the collection of more signatures.

However, in June the London group split, partly a result of party allegiance, and partly the result of tactical issues. Conservative members wished to move slowly to avoid alarming public opinion, while Liberals generally opposed this apparent dilution of political conviction. As a result, Helen Taylor founded the London National Society for Women's Suffrage which set up strong links with Manchester and Edinburgh.

Although these early splits left the movement divided and often leaderless, it allowed Lydia Becker to have a stronger influence.

The formation of a national movement

Women's political groups

Although women's political party groups were not formed with the aim to achieve women's suffrage, they did have two key effects. Firstly, they showed women who were members to be competent in the political arena and as this became clear, secondly, it brought the concept of female suffrage closer to acceptance.

The Primrose League

The Primrose League was set up to promote Conservative values through social events and supporting the community. As women were able to join, this gave females of all classes the ability to mix with local and national political figures. Many also had important roles such as bringing voters to the polls. This removed segregation and promoted political literacy amongst women.

The Women's Liberal Associations

Although there is evidence to suggest that they were originally formed to promote female franchise (the first being in Bristol in 1881), WLAs often did not hold such an agenda. They did, however, operate independently from the male groups. They became more active when the came under the control of the Women's Liberal Federation, and canvassed all classes for support of women's suffrage.

External groups

The campaign first developed into a national movement in the 1870s. At this point, all campaigners were suffragists, not suffragettes. The term suffragette is only used to describe those who used violent protest, although the term is widely misused to describe all campaigners. Up until 1903, all campaigning took the constitutional approach. It was after the defeat of the first Women's Suffrage Bill That the Manchester and London committees joined together to gain wider support. The main methods of doing so at this time involved lobbying MPs to put forward Private Member's Bills. However such bills rarely pass and so this was an ineffective way of actually achieving the vote.

In 1868, local groups amalgamated to form a series of close-knit groups with the founding of the National Society for Women's Suffrage (NSWS). This is notable as the first attempt to create a unified front to propose women's suffrage, but had little effect due to several splits, once again weakening the campaign.

Up until 1897, the campaign stayed at this relatively ineffective level. Campaigners came predominantly from the landed classes and joined together on a small scale only. However, 1897 saw the foundation of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) by Millicent Fawcett. This society linked smaller groups together and also put pressure on non supportive MPs using various peaceful methods.

The suffragette

Main article: Suffragette

The title of suffragette was given to members of the women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom. The word was originally coined to describe a more radical faction of the suffrage movement in the UK Suffragist is a more general term for members of the movement, whether radical or conservative, male or female. American women preferred this more inclusive title, but people in the United States who were hostile to suffrage for the American woman used the UK word.

The term suffragette comes from the word suffrage, which means the right to vote. Suffragettes carried out direct action such as chaining themselves to railings, setting fire to the contents of mailboxes, and smashing windows. One suffragette, Emily Davison, died after she stepped out in front of the King's horse at the Epsom Derby of 1913. Many of her fellow suffragettes were imprisoned and went on hunger strikes, during which they were restrained and forcibly fed (see Force-feeding).

The so-called Cat and Mouse Act was passed by the British government in an attempt to prevent suffragettes from obtaining public sympathy; it provided the release of those whose hunger strikes had brought them sickness, as well as their re-imprisonment once they had recovered.

During World War I, a serious shortage of able-bodied men ("manpower") occurred, and women were required to take on many of the traditional male roles. This led to a new view of what a woman was capable of doing. Political movement towards women's suffrage began during the war and in 1918, the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed an act granting the vote to: women over the age of 30 who were householders, the wives of householders, occupiers of property with an annual rent of £5, and graduates of British universities. Finally, women in the United Kingdom achieved suffrage on the same terms as men in 1928.