John Stuart
Mill put his case to Parliament for female suffrage.
Parliament passed Parliamentary Reform Act giving the vote to many
working class men.
London Society for Women's Suffrage formed to campaign for female
suffrage.
1870
Married Women's Property
Act allowed married women to own their own property - until this point
all women's property belonged to the husband.
Elementary Education Act passed, which allowed women ratepayers
(property owners) to vote for and serve in school boards.
1875
Women allowed to be
elected as Poor Law Guardians.
1885
Parliamentary Reform
Act extended the vote to most men over the age of 21.
1888
Local Government Act
allowed women to vote in elections for county and borough councils.
1894
Parish Councils Act
allowed women to serve on urban and district councils.
1897
Formation of NUWSS
- National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (the main Suffragist
movement) - under leadership of Millicent Fawcett.
1903
Formation of WSPU
- Women's Social and Political Union (the main Suffragette movement)
- under Emmeline Pankhurst.
1904
Beginnings of militant
action. Emmeline Pankhurst disrupted a Liberal Party meeting in Manchester.
1905
First arrests of Suffragettes
for disrupting a Liberal Party meeting.
1906
Election of Liberal
government. Four hundred of 650 MPs were in favour of women's suffrage.
1907
Women's Suffrage Bill
introduced in March but ran out of time to become law.
1909
Liberals introduced
a radical Suffrage Bill proposing women's suffrage for some women
and the vote for virtually all men. The Bill was passed in the Commons
but then delayed by Parliamentary disputes over the People's Budget
(see Gallery 2). The Bill was dropped when a new election was called
in 1909.
1910
In June an All Party
Committee of MPs put forward a Conciliation Bill to give some women
the vote. The Bill was passed by the House of Commons but then dropped
when another election was called in November. Furious Suffragettes
stepped up their campaign of violence resulting in many clashes with
police and arrests.
1911
Conciliation Bill
reintroduced in May and passed with large majority. In November the
Liberal PM Asquith then changed his position. He decided to drop the
Conciliation Bill and bring in a new measure to give more men the
vote. He then indicated that MPs could add an amendment to give some
women the vote.
1913
Government's Male
Suffrage Bill introduced. However, the Speaker of the House of Commons
ruled that a Male Suffrage Bill could not also give votes to women.
The amendment to give votes to women was withdrawn. Militant suffragette
action became even more intense, including arson attacks and the destruction
of the London to Glasgow telephone line.
1914
Great War broke out
in August 1914. All women's suffrage campaigners stopped campaigning
and supported the war effort. Despite this, the NUWSS continued to
represent women and to press for recognition of the work that women
were doing.
1918
Government passed
a Representation of the People Act, which gave the vote to all men
over 21. Some women also got the vote: women over 30, and women over
21 who were householders (owned their house) or married to householders.
