The Women’s Suffrage Movement Votes for Women in Britain and Ealing

The Women’s Suffrage Movement Artist/Photographer/Maker: F. Kehrhahn and Co, 1905 AD - 1914 AD; 004086 © Museum of London The Women’s Suffrage Movement Votes for Women Handbill 50.82/647b, © Museum of London Votes for Women in Britain and Ealing

Suffrage means “the right to vote” It is worth remembering that the right to vote was a right that men, women and people who were not landowners fought for. The right to vote in Britain was directly connected to big land ownership. The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the Great Reform Act), extended the vote to small landowners, tenant farmers and shopkeepers. This still excluded those who did not own property, mainly the working class. As a response to that, the Chartist movement emerged; the first mass movement driven by the working classes. In 1838 a People's Charter was drawn up for the London Working Men's Association (LWMA).

Suffrage means “the right to vote” Municipal Franchise Act of 1869 enabled female ratepayers to vote for local municipal councils (although a court case in 1872 restricted this right to single or widowed women). Approximately 58% of the adult population was able to vote by 1900

Different approaches to women’s suffrage Suffragists – The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) Suffragettes - Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) Working-class Suffragettes – Sylvia Pankhurst and the East London Federation of Suffragettes

Men and the pro- suffrage movement Frederick Pethick-Lawrence with his wife Emmeline. Other leading politicians also supported women’s votes, despite the fact that their parties’ official line was against them. E.g. James Keir Hardie (Labour), Robert Cecil (Conservative Party), David Lloyd George (Liberal). Men’s Political Union for Women’s Enfranchisement

Means of protest advocated by the WSPU Processions Large-scale smashing of shop-windows (WSPU campaign, 1912) Disrupting public meetings  Emmeline Pankhurst gave permission for her daughter, Christabel, to launch a secret arson campaign.

As a result… Over 1,000 Suffragettes went to prison. Some suffragettes went on hunger strike as a protest against their prisoner status, believing they should be treated as political prisoners rather than criminals. “Cat and Mouse Act” - Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill- Health) Act,1913: The government wanted to deal with the hunger strikes.

Anti-Suffrage movement Some women actively campaigned against votes for women. These included the author Mary Ward (known as Mrs Humphrey Ward) who led the Women's National Anti-Suffrage League from 1908. This organisation merged with the Men's League for Opposing Women's Suffrage in 1910, to form the National League for Opposing Woman Suffrage. Among its Presidents was the politician Lord Curzon.

Why do you think some women were against women’s right to vote?

The First World War In a display of patriotism, Emmeline Pankhurst instructed the Suffragettes to stop their campaign of violence and to support the government and its war effort in every way. The East London Federation was the only suffrage organisation that refused to support the war.

Victory? In 1918, the Representation of the People Act was passed by Parliament. Women who were householders over the age of 30 (about 6 million women) got the vote. Women over 21 did not get the vote until 1928.

Why did women get the vote? Was it because of their support and contribution to the war effort? Was it due to the fact that working class women and Sylvia Pankhurst kept on protesting during the war? Was it due to the peaceful protests of the Suffragists? Was it due to the fact that pro-suffrage politicians, such as Lloyd George, were placed in key positions?

Thus, the Act did not bring equality for women. Still, the 1918 Representation of the People Act gave the vote to all men over the age of 21. Thus, the Act did not bring equality for women.

Suffrage in Ealing A 'poster parade' of Ealing suffragettes on Ealing Common. Artist/Photographer/Maker: F. Kehrhahn and Co, 1905 AD - 1914 AD; 004086 © Museum of London

Why Ealing? Ealing was a mainly middle-class area. As such, one can conclude that it was “natural” for Ealing to be one of the centres of the suffrage movement. It demonstrated an exceptionally rich history of events, protests and meetings that both supported and opposed the “Cause”, especially between 1907 and 1914. The local press, ‘The Middlesex County Times (MCT) and the Acton Gazette (AG) are very good primary sources, where we can find frequent letters of opponents and sympathisers of the movement, and reports on meetings and rallies that took place in Ealing and Acton.