John Archer is often held up as an icon of black British history. He was the first black man to become mayor of a London borough, and only the second in the whole country. In April 2013, he was selected by the Royal Mail as one of the subjects for a series of stamps celebrating … 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
Feminists have accused domestic magazines published during the 1950s of helping to establish a culture in which married women have no alternative to full-time housewifery. This post examines their accusations as they relate to Woman’s Weekly, a weekly magazine targeting housewives. Throughout 1958, Woman’s Weekly gives the impression that full-time housewifery is enjoyable and fulfilling. … Read more
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 … 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
It might be tempting to think, given the name ‘Women’s March’, that the protests held on the 21st of January 2017 were voicing, chiefly, women’s issues. It’s true that there is more than sufficient reason for women to be outraged to see a man like Donald Trump, whose misogynist comments and behaviour were exposed by … Read more
Jayaben Desai, living a quiet life in Willesden in the 1970s, would not have been tipped by many at the time as an influential political activist and defender of rights. And yet, circumstances, together with her sense of justice and her determination to see justice done, took her into national and international headlines as one … Read more
‘Those who formed the Open Door Council have for some time been viewing with increasing alarm the present tendency to legislate with the ostensible object of improving the lot of the woman worker.’ [1] So began the first report of the Open Door Council (ODC) in 1927. On the surface, legislation to improve the lot of … Read more
Constance Gore-Booth (1868-1927), a leading figure in the Irish Revolution and a prominent campaigner for women’s suffrage, was the first woman elected to Westminster. The eldest of five children, Constance came from a privileged, upper-class Irish Protestant family. Prior to embarking on her political career, Constance studied art in London and Paris. In Paris, she … Read more
