When did women get the vote in the UK and what was the Suffragette movement? Voting rights and the 1918 Representation of the People Act
It is 100 years since women were first able to vote in this country
ONE hundred years have come and gone since suffragettes achieved what seemed impossible at the time - equal votes for women.
The suffragettes' relentless battle led to women finally achieving the right to have their say. Read on to discover more about their monumental fight...
What was the suffragette movement?
Suffragettes violently campaigned for the female right to vote as early as the late 18th century.
Emmeline Pankhurst, long associated with the militant campaign for the vote, adopted the motto "Deeds not Words" for the Women's Social and Political Union, a group known for hunger strike protests.
After 50 years had passed and no sign of change, she suggested drastic action was needed in order to secure their right.
WSPU members were determined to obtain the right to vote for women by violent means.
But there were also moderate women's groups who campaigned for the right to vote in a more peaceful manner, known as suffragists.
The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, led by Milicent Fawcett, helped to build the legal support for women.
Voting rights timeline
- 1832 Mary Smith presents the first women's suffrage petition to Parliament. In the same year, The Great Reform Act specifies that only "male persons" can vote - despite some women with property being able to vote before that
- 1865 The issue of parliamentary reform declined with the Chartists, and only returned when MP John Stuart Mill stood for office showing support for female suffrage
- 1867 Mill presents the Second Reform Bill to Parliament. It fails, but the National Society for Women's Suffrage is formed in the same year
- 187 The Married Women's Property Act allows married women to own their own property. Previously, when women married, their property transferred to their husbands
- 1881 The Isle of Man grants votes to women
- 1884 An amendment to the Third Reform Bill to give women the vote is rejected
- 1897 The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) forms with more than 20 national societies in support. The party is led by Millicent Garrett Fawcett, based in Gower Street, central London
- 1903 Emmeline Pankhhurst found the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) with her daughters Christabel and Sylvia Pankhurst. The group's tactics diverged from the NUWSS, and included hunger strikes, throwing stones, smashing windows and arson of unoccupied churches.
- 1905 Militant campaigns began, and Annie Kenney and Christabel Pankhurst were arrested. The slogans "deeds, not words" and "votes for women" became mantra for the campaign.
- 1906 Prime Minister Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and 400 of 670 MPs are in favour of women's suffrage. A daily newspaper coins the term "suffragette".
- 1908 Up to 500,000 activists attend a mass rally in Hyde Park. Liberal Prime Minister Herbert Asquith doesn't attend, so suffragettes smash windows in Downing Street and chain themselves to railings to get his attention
- 1910 The Conciliation Bill, which would give women the vote, is favoured by MPs but Asquith decides not to carry it through.
- 1913 The Prisoners Temporary Discharge for Ill Health Act, more commonly known as the Cat and Mouse Act, was an attempt to stop suffragettes from becoming martyrs. Rather than being force-fed during their time in prison while on hunger strike, they would be released once they became extremely weak to prevent them dying in custody
- 1913 In the same year, campaigner Emily Davison was killed by a horse at the Derby (see below)
- 1917 The Electoral Reform Bill is finally passed. This gives votes to some women only - those over the age of 30, those over 21 who own property or those married to householders
- 1918 The Representation of the People Act is passed, allowing men over 21 and women over 30 to vote
- 1928 Everyone over the age of 21 is given the right to vote
- 1969 The voting age was lowered to 18
When did women get the right to vote and what was the Representation of the People Act?
In 1918 the Representation of the People Act was passed, allowing women over the age of 30 who met a property qualification to vote.
Although 8.5 million women met these criteria, it only represented 40 per cent of the total population of women in the UK.
The same act abolished property and other restrictions for men and extended the vote to all men over the age of 21.
Additionally, men in the armed forces could vote from the age of 19.
It wasn't until 1929 that the Equal Franchise Act was brought in, finally allowing men and women aged 21 and over the same rights.
Who was Emily Davison?
Emily Davison was a suffragette who dedicated her life to fighting for women's rights.
She was noted for her dedication to Emmeline's motto 'Deeds not Words' as it essentially led to her death.
On 4 June 1913, the south-east London born campaigner was knocked down by the King's horse at Epsom Derby, and died by her injuries four days later.
Davison was born in 1872, but moved to her family home in Longhorsely, after her father died in 1893.
In 1906 she signed up to join the women's suffrage movement, Emmeline WSPU group, as she often adopted radical methods to promote her own personal messages.
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Her death is long seen as an iconic image that encapsulates women's struggle to gain the right to vote.
It is not clear whether Davison intended to kill herself for her beliefs.
She was laid to rest at St Mary the Virgin, Morpeth and her grave is inscribed with the Suffragette's 'Deeds not Words' slogan.