‘Votes for Women'

Many women in the nineteenth century were politicised. The attention of historians has always concentrated on their enfranchisement campaign but this was not the focal point of most women's concerns, at least before the 1870s. The pioneer organisation for Women's Suffrage appears to have been the Manchester Women's Suffrage Committee, founded in January 1867. It was quickly joined by similar organisations in London, Birmingham and Bristol. The effective contributions made by mainly propertied women on School Boards or as Poor Law Guardians did influence members of parliament. The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) halted its campaigns after the first general election of 1910 when a majority of MPs confirmed that they supported votes for women. An all-party Conciliation Committee recommended that women should be able to vote in parliamentary elections on the same basis as for municipal elections. The WSPUs militant tactics, orchestrated by Christabel Pankhurst, were highly controversial.