The Women’s Suffrage movement is not often associated with male supporters in the popular imagination. Whilst we often remember the women who fought for the vote, their male counterparts can be left by the wayside. But the women’s suffrage movement did have its male supporters, the most famous of which included James Keir Hardie, founder of the Labour Party, and John Stuart Mill, philosopher, writer and Member of Parliament. Hugh Arthur Franklin (1889-1962) was another supporter, one whose efforts for the cause led to multiple imprisonments.
Franklin’s involvement with the movement for women’s suffrage may have been, in part, influenced by the strong female role models he had at home. His mother Caroline Jacob, was an active supporter of women’s enfranchisement and she was eventually elected to the executive committee of the Jewish League for Women’s Suffrage. His elder sister, Alice Franklin, was also an energetic feminist.[1]
In 1909 Franklin joined the Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage. He actively supported the movement, organising meetings for constitutional suffragists, including Millicent Garrett Fawcett and Lady McLaren, at Cambridge where he was educated. The League published a list of prominent men who were in favour of women’s suffrage in 1909. These included eighty-three former government ministers, forty-nine church leaders, twenty-four high-ranking army and navy officers, eighty-six academics and the writers E. M. Forster, Thomas Hardy, H. G. Wells, John Masefield and Arthur Pinero. By 1910 it had ten branches in Britain; clearly there was male support for the enfranchisement of women.
Franklin’s true sympathies, however, were with the militant suffragettes. In 1910 the Men’s Political Union for Women’s Enfranchisement was founded by Victor Duval and Franklin joined immediately.[2] Franklin’s involvement in the organisation of the procession ‘From Prison to Citizenship’ (18th June 1910) meant that he missed several of his final papers at Cambridge. He eventually left Cambridge without graduating and took a job as the private secretary to Sir Matthew Nathan.[3]
Franklin was arrested, but not charged, following the events of Black Friday on 10th November 1910. The demonstration against the government’s failure to pass the Conciliation Bill, which would have given limited suffrage to female property owners, turned violent and there were accusations of physical and sexual assault made against the police. On 26th November 1910, outraged at the police brutality of Black Friday, Franklin attempted to whip the Home Secretary Winston Churchill, whom he felt was responsible. As a result he was imprisoned in Pentonville for six weeks during which time he went on hunger strike. After his release, Franklin attempted to smash the window of Churchill’s home and he was arrested once more, again going on hunger strike and enduring force feeding.[4]
Franklin travelled the country speaking on women’s suffrage and criticising the treatment of the male suffragist William Ball whilst he had been in prison. It was believed that the process of force feeding had actually driven Ball insane. Following an arson attack on an empty railway carriage at Harrow Station, Franklin was imprisoned again, this time for nine months. He went on hunger strike once more and was force fed over one hundred times. Franklin was the first person to be released under the 1913 Prisoners’ (Temporary Discharge for Ill-Health) or ‘Cat and Mouse Act,’ as it became more commonly known. He then disappeared in order to avoid re-arrest, adopting the alias Henry Foster. He escaped to Dresden and then went on to Belgium where he remained until the outbreak of the First World War when an amnesty to suspend all militant action was called for.[5] As a result of his poor eyesight, Franklin was excused from active duty during the war and worked in a munitions factory. Although all militant action was suspended between 1914 and 1918, Franklin remained in close contact with the suffragettes, including Sylvia Pankhurst.
In his later years, Franklin continued to engage with politics, becoming a member of the Labour Party in 1931 and attempting to become a Member of Parliament on two occasions. The first time he stood for election was in 1931 in Hornsey and the second was in 1935 in St Albans. Franklin was unsuccessful on both occasions. He did, however, remain active in local politics and eventually he won a seat on the Middlesex County Council. He was then able to join the Labour Party National Executive Committee.
So when we commemorate the centenary this month for the passing of the Representation of the People Act, it is not just the female supporters of women’s suffrage to whom we should look. The issue of women’s suffrage had support from men and women from a variety of pro-suffrage organisations.
By Claire Kennan. Claire is a PhD researcher and Citizens Project Officer at Royal Holloway, University of London.
[1] D. Doughan, ‘Hugh Arthur Franklin (1889-1962) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Accessed 09/01/2018) http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-63848
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
