Suffragists and Suffragettes

Who were the Suffragists
1. The campaign for the vote started in the mid 19th century, although attempts at parliament had been made before, none of them had proved successful
  1. 1867, Lydia Becker, an educated middle class woman set up the Manchester Society for Woman's Suffrage; suffrage meaning the right to vote
    1. Similar constitutions were set up across the country but none had truly made an impact
      1. 1897, Millicent Fawcett, another educated middle class woman, started a new organisation that aimed to unite the smaller groups into one national body called the National Union of Woman's Suffrage Societies
        By 1914, the NUWSS or suffragists boasted 400 branches and 100,000 members of mainly middle class women but also some working class in the north as well as some men
        The suffragist movement are identified as the more peaceful of the two movements and example tactics proving this statement include:
        Making Speeches
        Marches
        Giving lectures
        Writing letters, articles and books
        Working alongside MPs and politicians in a peaceful way
        Petitions to parliament and the prime minister
        Trying to educate men into believing women deserved the vote
        These methods were thought to be ineffective by some
Who were the Suffragettes
1. Angered by the slow progress of the so far unsuccessful NUWSS, a new movement, led by Emmeline Pankhurst, called the Women's Social and Political Union or Suffragettes was formed in 1903
  1. The Suffragettes were almost exclusive to middle class and upper class women with very few working class joining and no men because they were banned
    1. Fired by their dislike of the Suffragists peaceful ways, the Suffragettes were identifiable by their violent and illegal tactics of which included:
      1. Marches
      2. Making Speeches
      3. Arson
      4. Breaking windows
      5. Assaulting MPs
      6. Disrupting meetings
      7. Disrupting public events
      8. In some cases, bombing churches and cricket pitches
      9. These methods aimed to gain publicity and get people talking about the WSPU and succceded in doing this but whether this is what earned women the vote is largely debatable
Campaign for the Vote Timeline
1. 1906
  1. The liberal party, who supported women's suffrage, win a big victory in the general elections but the party is divided over what to do
  2. NUWSS campaigns continue
  3. WSPU members protest at Parliament and are arrested and sent to prison
2. 1907
  1. The NUWSS organises processions over London later nicknamed "Mud March"; over 3000 women take part gaining huge publicity
3. 1908
  1. Herbert Asquith, against women's suffrage, is elected PM
    1. As Asquith does nothing for women's suffrage the WSPU start window smashing and chaining themselves to railings outside the Houses of Parliament and 10 Downing Street
4. 1909
  1. Direct action continues along with WSPU arrests
    1. Women in prisons start hunger striking and nearly die so the government orders the force feeding of the women in prison
5. 1910
  1. WSPU withhold violent campaigns in the hopes Asquith produces a conciliation bill; he doesn't
  2. WSPU protest resulting in many arrests; during the arrests many women are sexually assaulted and the event is later dubbed "Black Friday"
6. 1911
  1. WSPU drop violent campaigns again in anticipation of Liberals introducing votes for men but instead the liberals look to give votes to all men and campaigns continue
7. 1912
  1. WSPU reintroduce a campaign of window smashing resulting in more arrests, more hunger strikes and the reintroduction of force feeding in prisons
8. 1913
  1. Violence increases as buildings are bombed, letter boxes are set alight and golf courses are dug up
  2. Emily Davison (of the WSPU) throws herself under the King's horse at the Derby racecourse holding a banner saying "Votes For Women"
    1. It is unsure whether this is an accident or an act of martyrdom but the event produces massive publicity nevertheless
  3. NUWSS continue peaceful protest
  4. The Cat and Mouse Act
    1. Women were treated harshly in prison being humiliated and treated as if ordinary criminals
      1. As a result hunger striking became commonplace in the previous years resulting in the force feeding of protesters involved which was a gruelling experience
        To try and prevent this the Government developed was popularly yet derogatorily known as the "Cat and Mouse Act" which allowed hunger strikers to be released then, once recovered, rearrested to serve the rest of their sentence
        The act was criticised in parliament for punishing the victims several times over but despite this the act was passed 236 votes to 43
        The reaction in the press to this varied; newspapers such as the Times were against women's suffrage and would report on the act in a biased way; women were often called lunatics and the behaviour was explained as an act of hysteria
        Despite this many papers probably did support votes for women but felt a conscious duty to condemn the violent protests of the suffragettes; peaceful protests, however, were often reported in favour of women's suffrage
9. 1914
  1. WSPU violence increases and public opinion turns drastically against the suffragette movement to the point where museums and galleries banned women for fear that the WSPU damage any more exhibits
  2. The great war breaks out and the WSPU promise to help the nation's war effort resulting in all WSPU prisoners being released

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Suffragists and Suffragettes

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