Did you know there’s a suffragette monument in London half-way between Victoria and Westminster? I had no idea until I stumbled upon a reference to it on a London blog the other day, and today I went to look for it. There’s a little patch of grass opposite New Scotland Yard called Christchurch Gardens, with … More Suffragette Fellowship memorial
In the UK women were allowed to become MPs in 1918, which was the same year some women got the vote. Curiously, this was not always the case elsewhere. During the debates on women MPs, the hostile Mr Peto MP argued that in New Zealand for twenty-five years women had… been eligible to sit as … More Early women MPs: New Zealand, Australia, Finland
2011 marks the 100th anniversary of the 1911 census, famously boycotted by some suffragettes. One of the best-known census protests took place in Parliament, when Emily Wilding Davison hid overnight in a cupboard in the crypt chapel in order to give her residence on the form as the Houses of Parliament. I was looking at Votes … More Emily Wilding Davison, Parliament and the 1911 census
Before 1918,women’s suffrage campaigners like Emily Davies were focused on getting the vote rather than making a case for women MPs. A great pioneer in women’s education, Davies had been among the very first women to campaign for the vote back in the 1860s. She was still doing so in 1907 as a constitutional suffragist (she … More The woman MP: a peril to women and the country
I went to a lecture this week on the politician F E Smith, also known as Lord Birkenhead. Beforehand, about the only thing I knew about ‘F E’ was that he consistently opposed women’s rights, including the vote, except when government policy forced him to support them. I now have a much more rounded picture … More F E Smith and women
This week I visited the Museum of London’s wonderful Modern London galleries, and particularly enjoyed mooching around their women’s suffrage display. I’m not researching the suffragettes myself, there is so much work already done on them, but I do find them fascinating and of course they are of interest generally in terms of women’s interactions … More The Museum of London
Parliament and Women in the early 20th century 