History The History of Suffrage This year marks the centenary of the first Representation of the People Act. We all know something about Emmeline Pankhurst and her suffragettes who chained themselves to railings and endured force-feeding in prison, but how did a movement that changed the course of history begin? In 1918, after years of battle by the suffragette movement in which women were routinely arrested, assaulted and even lost their lives, legislation was passed giving certain women the right to vote in public elections. The legislation allowed home-owning women aged over 30 to have a say at the ballot box. This meant that for the first time 8.4 million women could vote, but many working class women continued to be excluded. It wasn’t until 1928, with the second Representation of the People Act, that this right was extended to all women over 21. Sadly, Emmeline Pankhurst, founder of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), did not live long enough to see this historic day but Emmeline wasn’t the first to argue for women’s right to vote. In 1865, The Kensington Society was founded, which campaigned for the higher education of women who, at that time, were excluded from many academic institutions. The society also formed a committee to head a petition for the enfranchisement of women, which MP John Stuart Mill agreed to present to Parliament. Mill was a champion of women’s rights who campaigned in vain for an amendment to the 1867 Reform Act that would have given equal rights to women, and in 1869 presented an essay to Parliament entitled The Subjection of Women. By 1866 there were nearly 1,500 signatures on the petition, including that of Florence Nightingale, but although presented to Parliament on three separate occasions, each time it was out-voted and the whole notion scorned and ridiculed, as many men believed women were physically and mentally inferior and did not possess the intelligence to vote. In 1868, the first public meeting to discuss women’s suffrage took place in Manchester. Two of the speakers were Lydia Becker, who had been inspired by the Kensington Society petition, and Dr Richard Pankhurst. Among those in the audience was Emmeline Goulder who was then 15 years old. She went on to marry Dr Pankhurst and become the woman who would take suffrage to the next level. By 1903, women had been campaigning peacefully but unsuccessfully for the right to vote in England for 50 years, while other countries such as New Zealand, South Australia and some states in the US had already enfranchised women over 21 before the end of the 19th century. It was in this year that political activist Emmeline Pankhurst founded the militant organisation WSPU. A breakaway group from the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, originally founded by Milicent Fawcett to encourage peaceful protest, the WSPU’s motto was ‘Deeds not 72 Log into www.cr5.co.uk your local community website! By Catherine Rose Words’, which reflected their decision to turn to direct physical confrontation, even if that broke the law, to get their message across. Emmeline encouraged suffragettes to learn jiu jitsu to defend themselves in the inevitable skirmishes that occurred with the police and public. Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, co-editor of the suffrage magazine Votes for Women, came up with the three colours that went on to define the movement: violet representing loyalty, white purity and green hope. One of the first confrontations was in 1905 between Christabel Pankhurst (Emmeline’s eldest daughter) and Annie Kenney with young Liberal politicians Winston Churchill and Sir Edward Grey. The women went to prison. In prison, women who went on hunger strike were force-fed. After a public outcry, Prime Minister Herbert Asquith introduced what became known as the ‘Cat and Mouse Act’. Force-feeding was stopped but at the point when it looked as though the women might die in prison, they were released – with the ‘bonus’ that they were too ill to take part in campaigning and demonstrations. In 1914, the year after suffragette Emily Davison was killed by the King’s horse at the Epsom Derby, World War One broke out. Emmeline decreed that there was to be no more militant activism while women helped with the war effort. The suffragettes had many supporters, including men. 5.4 million working class men also benefitted from the 1918 Representation of the People Act. Before this, men who did not own property were not allowed to vote either.
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