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The Women's Victory—and After: Personal Reminiscences, 1911-1918 cover

The Women's Victory—and After: Personal Reminiscences, 1911-1918

Chapter 15: FOOTNOTES
By Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett
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About This Book

The author records personal recollections of the campaign for women's parliamentary enfranchisement, tracing parliamentary deputations and bills, grassroots organizing and fundraising, public demonstrations and pilgrimages, and the tactical debates within the movement; she describes the impact of the Great War on women's public service and on shifting public opinion, the eventual legislative success that placed many women on the electoral register, and concludes with reflections on how the vote altered women's public responsibilities and social standing.

APPENDIX
A List of Acts of Parliament specially affecting the Welfare, Status, or Liberties of Women passed in the United Kingdom between 1902 and 1919 (both inclusive).

1902. The Midwives Act.—This Act aimed at securing for women in childbirth attended by midwives a reasonable security that these should have received a proper training. The Act was in many ways imperfect, but, such as it was, it took twelve years' hard and absorbing work from a group of able women to get it passed.

1905. Married Women's Property Amendment Act.—This Act rendered a married woman capable of disposing of a trust estate without her husband, as if she were a femme sole.

1907. Qualification of Women (County and Borough Councils) Act.—A similar Act was passed for Scotland in the same year, and for Ireland, with modifications, in 1911. These Acts removed the disqualification of sex and marriage, and rendered eligible on local councils married women living with their husbands, and daughters living with their parents. Fourteen years' strenuous work up to 1907 was necessary to secure their adoption. The necessary legislation was announced in the King's Speech as part of the Government programme of that year. It was the first time in the 700 years of British parliamentary history that an extension of the civil liberties of women had occupied such a position.

1914. County and Borough Councils Qualification Act, and similar Act for Scotland in the same year. These Acts provide for men and women alike a residential as distinct from the rate-paying qualification.

1914. Affiliation Orders Act sought to improve the position of the unmarried mother, but was very imperfect on account of its failure to provide any proper machinery for carrying it out.

1918. The Representation of the People Act (passed in February, 1918).—It placed nearly eight and a half million women upon the registers of voters in parliamentary elections. It also multiplied the number of women local government electors from one million to over eight and a half millions. It applies equally to every part of the United Kingdom.

1918. Eligibility of Women Act (November, 1918) rendered the election of women to the House of Commons a possibility. No work was required to get the Act passed. It was all but unopposed. Owing to the very short time between the passing of the Act and the General Election the opportunity for women to select constituencies and work up their candidature was very inadequate. Nevertheless, there were seventeen women candidates, one of whom, in Ireland, was elected.

1918. Affiliation Orders (Increase of Maximum Payment) Act, 1918, amends the Bastardy Laws Act of 1872, which fixed five shillings a week as the maximum which the father could be made to pay towards the maintenance of an illegitimate child, raising this sum to ten shillings a week.

1918. Midwives Amending Act, 1918, removes some of the weaknesses of the Act of 1902, and is sufficiently described in the foregoing chapter.

1919. Sex Disqualification Removal Act.—This Government Act has already been sufficiently described. The wider and more sweeping measure introduced by the Labour Party passed all its stages in the House of Commons, notwithstanding Government opposition.

1919. The Intestate Moveable Succession (Scotland) Act enlarges a Scottish mother's rights of succession to the intestate moveable estate of her children.

1919. Nurses' Registration Act, 1919.—Trained nurses without the vote had been working for registration for thirty-two years. The principle of registration was accepted by the Government, and the Act embodying it carried into law the year following the enfranchisement of women.

1919. The Industrial Courts Act was improved by the Government accepting the amendment of the Labour Party that one or more members of these courts should be women.

It will be seen from the foregoing survey of the legislative activity of Parliament in the eighteen years under review that they divide themselves into two unequal portions, 1902-1914 and 1918-1919. The war years are omitted for obvious reasons. In the first and longer period of fifteen years we find five measures of varying importance—that is, at the rate of one to every three years. By far the most important of these measures are the Midwives Act, 1902, and the series of Acts dealing with the qualifications of women for local government elections; both of these were due to years of hard work—twelve in one case, and fourteen in the other—of very active and efficient women's societies. In the second, and far shorter, period, of less than two years—February, 1918, to November, 1919—we find seven Acts of value and importance slipping through Parliament without any trouble at all; ministerial swords leaping from their scabbards to remove impediments from the path of the free citizenship of women. This is the "difference" the vote has made.

FOOTNOTES

[1] This pointed to the probable application of the Parliament Act to the proposed Reform Bill.

[2] In view of the promise which had just been exacted of me not to use violence towards the Chancellor, the presence of his wife and daughter might have been explained on the hypothesis that in the event of assault and battery on our part they could have flung their persons between their husband and father and his assailants. But this possible explanation of the presence of these ladies did not occur to me at the time.

[3] Antisuffragists in the country had taken up the campaign of calumny against us, and had spoken of suffragists as "purveyors of vile literature," disseminators of "pestilential doctrines," and had used other flowers of rhetoric of the same description.

[4] See correspondence in the Morning Post, January 14th to 21st, 1918.

[5] The Bill was named the Franchise and Registration Bill, not a Bill to Amend the Representation of the People.

[6] Of these 8,654,467, more than 7,000,000 were white men enlisted within the British Empire. (See Report of War Cabinet published in August, 1919.)

[7] In March, 1919, the Council of the N.U.W.S.S. changed the name of our society to the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship, and elected Miss Rathbone as its president.

[8] The report of the Speaker's conference was dated January 27th, 1917. The clause recommending woman suffrage ran as follows:

VIII. Woman Suffrage.

The conference decided by a majority that some measure of woman suffrage should be conferred. A majority of the conference was also of opinion that if Parliament should decide to accept the principle, the most practical form would be to confer the vote in the terms of the following resolution:

"Any woman on the Local Government Register who has attained a specified age, and the wife of any man who is on that register, if she has attained that age, shall be entitled to be registered and to vote as a parliamentary elector."

Various ages were discussed, of which thirty and thirty-five received most favour. The conference further resolved that if Parliament decides to enfranchise women, a woman of the specified age who is a graduate of any University having parliamentary representation shall be entitled to vote as a University elector.

INDEX

  • Aberconway, Lord, 151-152
  • Acland, Mr. F. D., 32-48
  • Alberta, province of, returns a woman member of L.A., 119
  • Anderson, Dr. L. G., 97
  • Antisuffrage press, 71
  • Antisuffragist Association, 11, 41, 43
  • —— —— meeting, 70
  • Antisuffragist Association Review, 71
  • Antisuffragists, calumnies of, 26 n.
  • —— rapid conversion of, 117-118
  • Archbishops, the, support women's suffrage, 149
  • Asquith, Mr. H. H., rooted hostility to women's suffrage, 1, 11, 12, 13, 14, 27, 44
  • —— becomes Prime Minister, 2
  • —— announces intention of bringing in a Reform Bill, 2, 39, 49
  • —— characteristic blow from, 7, 8
  • —— speech on second reading of Reform Bill, 1912, 27
  • —— Punch's pictures of, 16, 52
  • —— promises regarding women's suffrage, 5, 49
  • —— deputations to, of suffragists, 8, 17, 18, 61
  • —— —— of antisuffragists, 11
  • —— questions addressed to him by N.U.W.S.S., 9
  • —— forms Coalition Government, 124
  • —— compares himself to Orpheus, 15
  • —— —— —— to Stesichorus, 144
  • —— ceases to be Prime Minister, 139
  • —— contrasted with the third Duke of Devonshire, 52, 53
  • —— conversion of, to women's suffrage, 133, 144
  • —— speech on the death of Edith Cavell, 115
  • —— moves women's suffrage resolution in House of Commons, 144
  • —— speech on Women's Clauses of Representation of the People Bill, 144
  • —— Miss Violet (now Lady Bonham Carter), 17
  • —— Mrs., 17
  • Astor, Lady, returned as M.P. for Plymouth, 162
  • Balfour, Mr. A. J., 32, 114, 121-122, 124
  • —— of Burleigh, Lord, 148
  • Bath, Mr. Lloyd George speaks on women's suffrage at, 1912, 24
  • Beaconsfield, Earl of, 32, 143.
  • See also Disraeli
  • Blair, Dr. Mary, 100
  • Brailsford, Mr. H. N., 5, 37
  • Bright, Mr. John, 64, 107
  • Bryce, Lord, 148
  • Bull, Sir W., M.P., 138
  • Burnham, Lord, 149
  • Burton, Mr. W., M.P., 73
  • Camborne, 57
  • Campbell-Bannerman, Sir H., 14, 32
  • —— deputation to, 14
  • Canada, women's suffrage granted in, 118, 119
  • Carson, Sir Edward, 74
  • "Cat and Mouse" Act, 65
  • Cave, Sir George, 147
  • Cecil, Lord Robert, 31-2, 74, 124, 132
  • Chamberlain, Mr. A., 4
  • Chaplin, Lord, 149
  • Church Congress, 75
  • Churchill, Mr. W., 4, 112
  • Coalition Government formed, 1915, 124
  • "Common Cause" quoted, 7
  • Conciliation Bill and Committee, 4
  • Conciliation Bill, full-dress debate on, in House of Commons, 4
  • —— —— second reading carried, 1910, 1911, 5
  • —— —— defeated, 1912, 20, 23, 29
  • Conservative and Unionist Women's Franchise Association, 80
  • Courtney, Lord, 149
  • Crewe by-election, 1912, 35
  • Curzon, Lord, 11, 114
  • —— Chairman of Antisuffrage League, 114
  • —— speaks in House of Lords, 72, 73, 151, 152
  • Czech woman returned to Diet in Bohemia, 1912, 41
  • Daily Telegraph, 78, 145
  • Davidson, Miss Emily, 66-67
  • Davies, Miss Emily, LL.D., 16
  • Deputations to Ministers, 1-19, 61-64, 131, 143, 146
  • Devonshire, third Duke of, 52, 53
  • Dickinson, the Rt. Hon. Sir W., 45, 138
  • Disraeli, see Beaconsfield, 32, 143
  • Election-fighting policy, 30-38
  • —— —— put in force at by-elections, 1912, 13, 35
  • Electoral Reform Conference, 137
  • —— —— —— report of, 140-142
  • Fawcett, Mrs., sends message to societies of N.U.W.S.S., August, 1914, 88
  • Federal amendment carried with S.A. House of Representatives, 150
  • Finlay, Lord, 149
  • Foch, Field-Marshal, quoted, 30
  • Forcible feeding, 65
  • Ford, Miss I. O., 16
  • Franchise difficulties arising from war, 121-126
  • Friends, annual epistle of Society of, 76
  • Garvin, Mr., editor of the Observer, 134
  • George, Mr. Lloyd. See Lloyd George
  • Gilhooley, Mr., M.P., 23
  • Goldstone, Mr., M.P., 138
  • Goschen, Lord, 62
  • Grey, Earl, 149, 157
  • —— Sir Edward (now Viscount of Fallodon), 6, 13, 20, 32, 44
  • Haldane, Lord, 149
  • Halsbury, Lord, 149
  • Hanley by-election, 35
  • Harley, Mrs., 53, 58-61
  • —— killed at Monastir, 59
  • Healy, Mr. Timothy, M.P., 23
  • Henderson, Rt. Hon. A., 7, 45, 125, 132
  • Henry, Sir C., M.P., 11
  • Hills, Major, M.P., 165
  • Holmfirth by-election, 35
  • Horticultural Hall, W.L.F. meeting, 13
  • Hutchinson, Dr. Alice, 101
  • Inglis, Dr. Elsie, 95, 101
  • —— life of, by Lady F. Balfour, 95
  • —— her services to Serbia, 100
  • Insurance Act, 69
  • —— —— memorial from Antisuffrage Society, 68
  • International Woman Suffrage Alliance meets at Buda Pest, 83
  • Irish Nationalist vote on suffrage question, 23, 44
  • Ivens, Dr. Frances, of Royaumont, 103
  • Joffre, General, 99
  • Keogh, Surgeon-General Sir Alfred, 97
  • Labour Party support for women's suffrage, 3, 31, 33, 45, 73, 163
  • —— —— members absent from division in 1912, 22
  • Ladies Gallery, removal of grille from, 166
  • Law, Mr. Bonar, 124, 131
  • League of Nations Charter recognizes sex equality, 162
  • Legislation specially affecting women, periods before and after women's suffrage conferred, 169-172
  • Lloyd George, the Rt. Hon. D., supports women's suffrage, 6, 10, 11, 13, 32, 132, 139, 145
  • —— —— opposes the Conciliation Bill, 4, 22
  • —— —— praises women's national work, 112
  • Liberal associations' hostility to women's suffrage, 73
  • Liberal Men's Association for Women's Suffrage, 73
  • Lichfield, Bishop of, 75
  • Local Government Register, 147, 167
  • London, Bishop of, 149
  • London School of Medicine for Women, 114
  • Long, Mr. Walter, 114, 115, 136, 138
  • Loreburn, Lord, 149
  • Lyttelton, Hon. Alfred, 45
  • Lytton, 5, 6, 72, 125, 149
  • MacAdams, Miss, returned for L.A. of Alberta, 119
  • Macassey, Sir Lynden, article by, in Quarterly Review, 113
  • Markham, Miss Violet, 11, 117
  • Martindale, Dr. Louisa, 24
  • McKenna, Rt. Hon. R., 24-26, 60
  • McLaren, Mr. Walter, M.P., 31
  • McLaren, Mrs. Priscilla, 151
  • Manners, Lord John, 32
  • Maternity benefit paid to husbands, 69
  • Midlothian by-election, 1912, 35
  • Midwives Act, 1902, 157
  • —— —— amended, 1918, 158
  • Militantism, 5, 65, 67, 97
  • Mill, John Stuart, 32, 153
  • Milner, Lord, 149
  • Montagu, Rt. Hon. E., 112
  • Motor Traffic Legislation, 40-41
  • Murray, Dr. Flora, 97
  • Nineteenth Century and After, 81
  • Norway, women's franchise in, 143
  • Nurses, registration of, 163, 171
  • N.U.W.S.S., intrigues in House of Commons against, 24, 26
  • —— organization of, 54, 55
  • —— addresses letter to Mr. Asquith on franchise situation, 1916, 127, 8
  • —— recasts election policy, 29, 30-38, 43
  • —— changes its name, 155, 160
  • —— enlarges its objects, 161
  • —— indignation of, on fiasco of Government Reform Bill, 1913, 50-53
  • —— action on outbreak of war, 86-105
  • —— medical units for Russia, 104, 105
  • N.U.W.W. (now National Council of Women), Hull meeting, 76
  • O'Brien, Mr. W., support of women's suffrage, 23
  • Obscene literature, trumped-up charges in House of Commons, 24-26
  • Observer, conversion of the, 132
  • Palmer, the Hon. Robert, 81
  • Palmerston, Viscount, 62
  • Parliament Act used against women's suffrage, 22
  • Parliamentary intrigues against women's suffrage, 23, 26, 48-49
  • Pilgrimage, the, suggested by Mrs. Harley, 54-58
  • "Posts," the Three, 79, 145
  • Pott, Miss Gladys, 97
  • Press support of women's suffrage, rapid growth of, 117, 145
  • Prothero, Mr. R. (now Lord Earle), on Insurance Act, 69
  • Punch quoted, 78
  • Qualifications for Parliamentary Franchise, 122
  • Quarterly Review, 113
  • Queen Mary's interest in women's war work, 92
  • Rackham, Mrs., 61
  • Rathbone, Miss Eleanor, 131, 147, 155
  • Redmond Mr. John, 44
  • Reform Bill, Government, fiasco over, 39-53
  • Registration (Parliamentary) neglected during the war, 122
  • Registration of Nurses Act, 163, 171
  • Revelstoke, Lord, on women's labour, 114
  • Robertson, Miss Margaret, 61
  • Royal College of Surgeons, 41
  • Royaumont, hospital at the Abbaye de, 95, 98, 102
  • Royden, Miss A. M., 39, 61, 75
  • Salisbury, the late Marquis of, 32
  • Scott, Mr. MacCallum, M.P., 11, 12, 21, 81
  • Scottish women's hospitals, 95-105
  • Selborne, Earl of, services to suffrage in House of Lords, 72, 125, 149, 151
  • —— —— praises women's work in agriculture, 113
  • —— Countess of, 80
  • Serbian tribute to Mrs. Harley, 59
  • Sex Disqualification Removal Act, 1919, 163-165
  • Simon, Sir John, M.P., 32, 48, 134-135
  • Simpson, Rev. Canon, 57
  • Speaker, the, 49, 50, 137, 138
  • Speaker's Conference on Electoral Reform, 137
  • Special Register Bills, 120, 129, 133, 139
  • Sterling, Miss Frances, 16
  • St. Paul's, service in, 57
  • Strachey, Lady, 16
  • Sweden, women's suffrage in, 31, 32
  • The Times' opposition to women's suffrage, 4
  • —— —— —— gradually weakened, 82
  • —— —— supplement on Pacific Coast of U.S.A., 82
  • Trades Union support of women's suffrage, 3
  • Troyes, Scottish women's hospital at, 100
  • Tullibardine, Marquis of (now Duke of Atholl), 24
  • Ulster Unionist Council, 74
  • U.S.A. victories for suffrage, 41, 150
  • —— questionnaire addressed to, 80-81
  • Venizelos, M., 163
  • Villiers, the Hon. Charles, 32
  • War, outbreak of, in 1914 and women's work, 86-105
  • Ward, Mrs. Humphry, 11, 41-43, 71, 76-77, 97, 150-151
  • Waste in Training Camps, 107
  • Weardale, Lord, 149
  • Weinberg, Dr., in Royaumont, 102-103
  • Williams, Mr. Aneurin, M.P., 138
  • Winchester, Bishop of, 156
  • Wollstonecraft, Mary, 154
  • Women's suffrage, a short history of, by Mrs Fawcett, 1
  • —— —— growing support of, by Press, Pulpit, Stage, etc., 77-85
  • —— —— victories in House of Commons, 146-148
  • —— —— victory in House of Lords, 148-153
  • —— Emancipation (Labour Party) Bill, 1919, 163
  • Years before and after suffrage compared, 169-172

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