At the beginning of the twentieth century, there were several organisations campaigning for women’s right to vote in Portsmouth. The most prominent one was the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), with the local branch established in 1909. Other local societies also involved in the suffrage movement included the Women’s Labour League, the Conservative and Unionist Women’s Franchise Association, and the Portsmouth Women’s Liberal Association. A branch of the Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage was also founded in 1909. All of these societies can be distinguished from the more militant Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), whose members were nicknamed suffragettes by the press. Although a branch of the WSPU was founded in Portsmouth in 1909, there does not seem to have been much activity by the organisation in the area. The other local societies increasingly disassociated themselves from the WSPU as it became more militant; instead they elected to continue the fight by conventional means. The only recorded act of violence in Portsmouth took place in 1913, when Frederick Blessley broke a window during a demonstration. He was arrested and fined.
The activities of the Portsmouth societies were mainly concentrated on meetings and demonstrations. The Portsmouth branch of the NUWSS also took part in the ‘Great Pilgrimage’ which was held in 1913. Women marched to London from around the country. The Portsmouth branch left from the Town Hall Square on the 17th of July. The march culminated in a rally in Hyde Park on the 26th of July, which was attended by around 50,000 women.
The Portsmouth City Records Office holds diaries kept by Harriet Blessley (the sister of Frank Blessley) at this time. A woman from a middle-class background, she was a member of the NUWSS and took part in the Great Pilgrimage. Her accounts reveal the reactions of the public; this varied from lively encouragement to downright hostility. She wrote: ‘It is difficult to feel a holy pilgrim when one is called a brazen hussy.’ She was dismissive of the working-class people she met on the way and remarked that the crowds got more intelligent and tolerant as they closer they got to London. She was impressed with the hospitality they received from wealthy sympathisers during their journey.
I have been unable to find any written or oral testament of active support for the campaign by the large number of working-class women in Portsmouth. It is possible these women were too busy working to support their often large families. Young unmarried working-class women largely worked either as domestic servants in the large houses in Southsea, or in the many local factories. They worked very long hours and had little time off. It is easy to understand that it would be difficult for them to find the time and energy for attending meetings and marches. It is also likely that they would not be able to see any particular advantage to them as, at that time, the campaign could only expect to gain votes for women who owned property, which would have seemed unlikely for most working-class women at that time.
Everything changed with the outbreak of war in 1914. The First World War gave a much higher profile to working women as they took on the jobs of men who went off to war. This is evident locally by the number of women who took up jobs in the Portsmouth Dockyard. Their records show that only 30 women were working at the dockyard at the beginning of the war, but by the end of war the number had increased to 2,760. In my opinion, the war did more than anything to accelerate votes for women, as they were able to prove their vital contribution to society outside the home.
By Carol Evans, a U3A Shared Learning Project researcher for the Citizens Project
Sources
Diary of Harriet Blessley, Portsmouth City Records Office.
Crawford, Elizabeth. The Women’s Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, 1866-1928. Routledge, 2001.
Crawford, Elizabeth. The Women’s Suffrage Movement in Britain and Ireland: A Regional Survey. Routledge, 2013.
Robinson, Jane. Hearts and Minds: The Untold Story of the Great Pilgrimage and How Women Won the Vote. Doubleday, 2018.
Header image:
Katherine Douglas-Smith, a member of the WSPU, campaigning in Portsmouth. Image from LSE Library at Wikimedia Commons.
