Enquiry 5 To what extent did women have different views, aims and aspirations throughout the nineteenth century?

Enquiry overview Lesson 1: Were all Victorian women the same? Lesson 2: What if you had to work? Lesson 3: Step by step Lesson 4: Did all women want the vote? Lesson 5: How did women get the vote? Outcome activity: Write an extended answer as to how divided Victorian women were and its impact on the campaign for women’s suffrage.

Lesson 5 How did women get the vote?

Lesson 4 overview Content covered in the lesson: She got the vote in 1867: Lily Maxwell. Tactics: petitions, other actions. Born out of desperation: militant actions.

To what extent did women have different views, aims and aspirations throughout the nineteenth century? Recap: Why did some women oppose votes for women? How effective was this opposition?

She got the vote in 1867 Q: Why was Lily able to vote? Shop owner and rate payer in Manchester. Unmarried head of household. Mistakenly included in the voter roll for the 1867 by-election in Manchester. Returning officer allowed her to vote. Voted for the Liberal, Jacob Bright, who was a supporter of female suffrage. Over 5,000 other female ratepayers encouraged to register to vote. Court case in 1868 says male suffrage only allowed! Died in the workhouse in 1876. Image credit: Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council. Lily Maxwell, c1867 Q: Why was Lily able to vote? Q: Was she the first female to vote, as is suggested by some writers?

Activity 1: Tactics Image credit: University of Cambridge Mary Wollstonecraft, 1792: ‘Vindication of the Rights of Women’. Peterloo 1819: lots of female support for adult suffrage, some female casualties. Support for 1832 Reform Bill, including an amendment demanding ‘adult’ suffrage. Chartists 1830s and 1840s, many female supporters. Petition 1866 – 1,521 signatures in three weeks. National Society for Women’s Suffrage 1867 (became NUWSS in 1897). WSPU 1903. Mostly – to begin with – middle-class women with quite limited demands. Florence Nightingale (for example) – good idea in principle; will take a long time; but there are other more important short-term targets. Image credit: University of Cambridge

Activity 1: Petitions Q: Why so ineffective at this time? 3 May 1832 – Mary Smith – ‘Orator Hunt’, presented it to Parliament. 1866 – John Stuart Mill asked for 100 signatures to introduce an amendment to 1867 Reform Bill – in a few weeks 1,521 signatures. 1871 – 186,000 signatures. 1873 – 328,000 signatures. 18 debates in Parliament between 1870 and 1904. Image credit: LSE Library Q: Why so ineffective at this time? Q: Can you think of modern-day examples where petitioning has proven effective?

Activity 1: Other actions public meetings ask the candidate (many refuse to answer questions from women as they have no vote) processions newspapers including ‘Votes for Women’ chalking letters to newspapers supporting candidates – whichever party – who are pro-female suffrage songs merchandise to raise funds propaganda pamphlets branches across the country non-party Image credit: US Library of Congress Millicent Fawcett Tactics like these were very effective for the Anti-Slavery and Anti-Corn Laws campaigns. Q: Why were they so ineffective for female suffrage?

Activity 2: Born out of desperation chaining themselves to railings interrupting Parliament breaking windows riots stone-throwing deliberately getting arrested hunger striking in prison letter box bombs digging up parts of golf courses setting fire to stands at racecourses setting fire to houses of opponents of votes for women slashing pictures in art galleries stepping out in front of the King’s horse during a race Image credit: LSE Library Q: How effective were these tactics? Q: Did support for suffragettes increase as militancy increased?

To what extent did women have different views, aims and aspirations throughout the nineteenth century? Outcome activity: Your challenge is to build a ‘Big Picture’ of the female population during this period. Tasks: Build up a ‘Big Picture’ of the female population during Victorian and Edwardian times: their ideas, aims and aspirations. Reach two conclusions: (a) Just how divided were women? (b) Did these divisions – if there were any – help or hinder the fight for the vote?

To what extent did women have different views, aims and aspirations throughout the nineteenth century? Plenary: Tasks: Search the database using the fields ‘main suffrage society’ and ‘more on suffrage activity’. Which of these activities can you find evidence of? Can you date the various activities from the ages of the people in the database? Do the activities change over time? Are all women fighting for the vote in the same way? Which are the most effective tactics? Why?