Women's suffrage

 

'The first humble beginnings of an agitation...'  Helen Taylor, 1866.

Background

Our collections contain primary source material relating to the campaign for women’s suffrage. The majority of this collection forms part of the Women’s Library, whose roots are founded in the suffrage movement. This collection includes personal papers of suffragists and suffragettes, records of suffrage organisations and the newspapers, journals and pamphlets published by these organisations. There are also badges, postcards, posters, banners and other 3D objects on this subject.

Here are some highlights selected by Gillian Murphy, Curator for Equality, Rights and Citizenship.

Millicent Garrett Fawcett and the early suffrage movement

• Mill-Taylor collection contains correspondence between John Stuart Mill and Helen Taylor with the main suffrage campaigners of the time.

• Millicent Garrett Fawcett  was a suffragist who campaigned for women’s suffrage from 1866 until the passing of the Equal Franchise Act in 1928 when women over 21 gained equal voting rights with men.

• London National Society for Women’s Suffrage was founded in 1867, and it is from this, that the Fawcett Society, renamed in 1953, traces its decent.

• Common Cause, the journal of the National Union for Women’s Suffrage Societies provides insights into the suffrage campaign.

• Oral histories on the suffragist movement  carried out in the 1970s.

The Pankhursts and Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU)

Material relating to Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters, Christabel and Sylvia, is dispersed throughout the collection. Papers relating to the WSPU can be found in the personal papers of suffragettes.

• Independent Labour Party  collection contains correspondence between Emmeline Pankhurst and Keir Hardie, along with the letters of many other women’s suffrage campaigners.

• Emily Wilding Davison's  personal papers relate to her work with the WSPU and papers and objects relating to her death.

• Emily Wilding Davison Centenary online exhibition of key documents.

• Oral histories on the suffragette movements  carried out in the 1970s.

• Women’s Freedom League was formed in 1907 following a split within the Women’s Social and Political Union.

• Votes for Women and the Women’s Dreadnought provide insights into the campaign.

Pro-suffrage men's groups

• Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage was founded in 1907 and supported the work of the WSPU and Women’s Freedom League. Records of other men’s suffrage societies are dispersed throughout the collection. 

Anti-suffrage societies

• Women's National Anti-Suffrage League was founded in 1908 at a time when support for the women’s suffrage movement was rising again. Records of other anti-suffrage societies are dispersed throughout the collection.

Popular resources

• Was your (great) grandmother a suffragette? A blog post with tips for researching suffrage history.

• Digitised suffrage images High resolution images are ready for download from Flickr.

• Women’s Walks, an iOS app that enables you to engage with archive materials from women’s history on a tour of London streets. Download from the iTunes app store.

How to search 

You can find more material on this topic using a person’s name, by organisation, by event eg 'Black Friday', or by keyword such as anti-suffrage, emancipation, franchise, suffrage, suffragette, suffragist, in these catalogues.

• The Women's Library archive catalogue

• Archives catalogue

• Library Search

View lists of further resources covering:

• Suffrage organisational papers

• Personal papers of suffragists and suffragettes

• Suffrage letters

How to access

Most of the material highlighted here is stored in closed access and must be consulted in The Women’s Library Reading Room. Find out how to book your place and order material on our reading room access page.

Further information

If you need specific help with any of the collections mentioned here get in touch with our Curator for Equality, Rights and Citizenship, Gillian Murphy.