Dame Margery Corbett Ashby was a dedicated supporter of women’s rights. She spent much of her long life fighting for women’s right to equal suffrage and citizenship around the world. Born in 1882, she spent her childhood in the family home of Woodgate House (now called Cumnor House), in the village of Danehill in East … Read more
On Sunday 3rd June 2018, the Festival of History brought to life the struggle for democracy and freedom in a family-friendly extravaganza. In the heart of Royal Holloway’s iconic Founder’s Building, visitors witnessed suffragette self-defence classes, participated in arts and crafts activities and observed First World War soldiers and Medieval knights in demonstrations and drills. In … Read more
On 6th February 2018, celebrations were held across Britain to commemorate the centenary of the 1918 Representation of the People Act, which gave some women the right to vote for the first time. Whilst this was pivotal for women’s suffrage, it was also an important milestone for men’s suffrage. Prior to the Act, property qualifications … Read more
1918 and 1928 are landmark years in histories of women’s involvement in British parliamentary politics. In December 1918, following the passage of the Representation of the People Act in February, some women voted for the first time in a UK General Election. In July 1928, the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act made all … Read more
Barbara Bodichon was a key figure in the early women’s suffrage movement, organising one of the first women’s suffrage committees and coordinating the first mass petition to go before parliament on the question of enfranchising women. Bodichon was born in East Sussex in 1827 as the illegitimate daughter of Benjamin Leigh-Smith and Anne Longden, a … Read more
For many people, organisations dedicated to women’s issues, and feminist groups, are one and the same. The first British Women’s Institute (WI) was founded in Anglesey in September 1915, to encourage the rural community to engage with food production for the war effort. By the end of World War One, 760 local WIs had been … Read more
We’re clearly soldiers in petticoats And dauntless crusaders for woman’s votes Though we adore men individually We agree that as a group they’re rather stupid! In 1903 Emmeline Pankhurst, her daughters, Christabel and Sylvia, and a small group of other supporters founded the Women’s Social and Political Union (WPSU). The group adopted the slogan … Read more
In this post Abbie Evans interviews Kathy Atherton, a local historian and Exhibitions Team leader at Dorking Museum, and Royal Holloway PhD researcher, Katie Broomfield, about the Citizens project upcoming short film on the Pethick Lawrences and Women’s Suffrage. Abbie: Kathy, can you start by telling our readers about Dorking Museum? Kathy: Of course, Dorking … Read more
The argument of the broken window pane is the most valuable argument in modern politics. Emmeline Pankhurst The Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) was founded by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel and Sylvia in 1903. The Pankhursts felt that the constitutional efforts of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) … Read more
