In this series of blog posts we are showcasing the work from GCSE and A-Level students who have worked with the Citizens Project to research and write blog posts on key moments of protest and reform throughout British history. In this blog post Iria Rodriguez, a pupil at Cambourne Village College, looks at the main political parties and … Read more
Vicwardian women’s emancipator Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy is best known for her work as a campaigner for the parliamentary vote for British women. However, that is far from the only cause she espoused. Born in the twilight of the reign of William IV, on 1 December 1833, Elizabeth was the youngest of three children and doubly … Read more
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 … Read more
Dame Margery Corbett Ashby was a dedicated supporter of women’s rights. She spent much of her long life fighting for women’s right to equal suffrage and citizenship around the world. Born in 1882, she spent her childhood in the family home of Woodgate House (now called Cumnor House), in the village of Danehill in East … Read more
When we come to think about nineteenth-century feminism, we can’t celebrate its achievements without recognising what it was achieved on the back of. In so many cases, women’s greater contribution to the public sphere [was] through social action, through social work, through philanthropy […], so often those things were achieved on the basis of … Read more
Although the writer Mary Hays is unknown to many today, she was an important early feminist, whose ideas were well ahead of her time. She lived in an era when women had few legal and social rights and their options were restricted by social convention. Born in 1759, Hay came from a family of religious … 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
The campaign for the vote was not all stone throwing, picture slashing, placard waving and building burning. Of more importance was the struggle for hearts and minds. This blog will look at the role of the visual arts, pictures, posters and postcards, in the women’s suffrage movement. Two organisations were at the forefront of this campaign: the … 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
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
