BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

148
principles which I believe to be sound in the interests
of the country.35
Salisbury advocated the right of women to vote in parliamentary
elections at the annual 1896 Grand Habitation, fully cognizant of the
divisions within his own party regarding this issue.
I am one of those—I speak only for myself
individually—who are of opinion that women have not
the voice they ought to have in the selection of the
representatives of the people-(hear, hear)-but I warn
you that there is no question at present which divides
parties more completely—and I am not certain even
whether I express the opinion of the majority of my own
party. (Laughter.)36
The ongoing debate concerning whether women were entitled to
the parliamentary franchise raises the larger issue as to whether the
League in general promoted or hampered women's suffrage and the larger
issues surrounding the feminist movement.
At first glance it might
well appear that the Primrose League was a restrictive influence in the
emancipation process, particularly given the professed subordinate
status of the LGC to the Grand Council and the explicit disapproval
aired regularly toward women's issues at the Ladies 1
executive
meetings.
However, on closer examination a somewhat different image
emerges.
The Primrose League provided prominent women and
representatives of the growing middle class with an opportunity to
35 Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, 4th Series, 3 (1892):
1527; 1530; 1453; 1508; 1523-24. The bill was introduced by Sir A.
Roll it, a member of the executive of the Grand Council and the National
Union. A similar measure was also introduced in 1897, but likewise
failed to achieve passage. The Primrose League Gazette, 2 May 1898, p.
8.
36 The Primrose League Gazette, 1 June 1896, p. 8.