Anti-suffrage groups were then formed in 1908 protesting against the vote for women. They too used similar methods of campaigning to the NUWSS by petitioning, producing newspapers and leaflets, and holding meetings. The Anti-suffrage League was founded by Mary Humphrey Ward in 1908 consisting of male and female members that had 320,000 signatures in a petition against the right for women to vote by 1910. In that same year, 15,000 people had become members of the organisation, whereas at its peak the WSPU only had 2,000 members, 1,000 of which had gone to prison. Humphrey Ward had produced propaganda criticising the women’s suffrage campaigners, suggesting women had no time or place in the electoral system, and that they were physically, mentally, morally and socially incapable of voting. Therefore, the Anti-suffrage groups had a substantial amount of support opposed to the WSPU causing the Government to believe that the UK’s overall interest was in women not having the right to vote.
Although some leading politicians such as, Robert Cecil one of the main figures in the Conservative Party, and David Lloyd George of the Liberals, supported the women’s suffrage, most men in the Government completely opposed the idea of women being able to vote. In 1906 however the Liberals won a landslide victory and came into power with Herbert Asquith as Prime Minister in 1908. When Asquith came into power he completely opposed the suffrage campaigners, refusing to meet with them and ruling out various Conciliation Bills for the women’s right to vote. Therefore, Asquith as Prime Minister proved to be a key obstacle to women getting the right to vote, especially because the only of getting it was if the Government agreed.
The suffragettes at this point were becoming increasingly militant, committing arson attacks on property and damaging famous paintings as publicity stunts. Emily Davison demonstrated one of the most famous publicity stunts during the women’s suffrage campaign. In 1913 she had thrown herself in front of the King’s horse at the Grand National and was killed. Some say she was too extreme in drawing attention to the women’s suffrage and that it made the women’s position in the UK worse. In that same year the suffragettes partly destroyed Lloyd George’s house during an arson attack. This was ironic because Lloyd George had been one of the men in Parliament that had actually supported the women’s suffrage and so the suffragettes were then seen as unclear of what they truly wanted, and that they were irrational when campaigning for their cause.
This development of militancy caused the Government to be put off the women’s suffrage. Therefore, more and more women were being arrested and sent to prison, leading to hunger strikes prompting the Government to introduce forcible feeding until the women agreed to eat again. As women were going on hunger strikes, their health was becoming increasingly damaged, especially because of the forcible feeding. Therefore, the Liberals introduced the ‘Cat and Mouse’ Act in 1913 as part of the Government’s plan to discourage the hunger strikes, where they dismissed using forcible feeding and would release the women once they were extremely ill. This took the blame off the Government if any fatalities occurred, and prevented the women from protesting as they were too weak. The women would then be watched until they had recovered so they would be arrested, starting the process again.
The suffragettes’ methods of campaigning soon became more organised and extensive resulting in bad health and bad publicity. Lady Constance Lytton, the daughter of Robert, first Earl of Lytton, made the point that votes for women were for all classes by going on hunger strikes in response to the Anti-suffrage groups, who had mocked the campaigners obtaining the ‘vote for ladies’, and to aware Britain of the violent treatment women faced in prison. Many saw this as another of the suffragette publicity stunts while other suffragettes saw it as the best way of campaigning, no matter how damaging it was to their health. Therefore, even more barriers were in their way because they were becoming weaker and weaker, both literally and metaphorically as their campaigning was becoming ineffective.
Between 1912 and 1914, the Government blocked the suffragette’s access to legal methods of publicity by banning hall owners from renting to suffragettes. They also banned pro suffrage articles from being published in national newspapers, which caused the amount of support to decrease for the women’s suffrage campaigners. The Government then discussed other issues in the House of Commons such as the threat of a civil war with Ireland and the naval race with Germany, causing their concern with the suffragettes to fade. The women’s suffrage campaigners’ only way of obtaining the vote was through the Government so the suffragists would write letters to MPs and the Prime Minister, whilst the suffragettes would intervene in public meetings. Therefore, the decisions the Government made left a large impact on the campaign contributing to the failure of women gaining the vote by 1914.
The press was influenced by the Government’s actions, as they would need to censor pictures in favour of the women’s suffrage, for example Evelyn Manesta refused to have her picture taken and so was restrained by a guard who put his arm around her neck. However, the Government had the arm erased and used the tampered photograph to show the public. Therefore, this created a biased view of the women’s suffrage, that they were not victims and that they needed to be stopped from intervening with the electoral system. Before 1909, newspapers did not take the women’s suffrage seriously and would ridicule and insult their intelligence with cartoons used to show the public they were incapable of voting. After 1909, when the suffragettes were becoming more militant, they gained an increased amount of publicity, however in a negative light. The London Standard described militancy as the act of ‘deranged lunatics’ and the Times referred to them as ‘demented creatures’, influencing the public to think the same.
This influence over public opinion caused people to oppose the women’s suffrage and criticise their beliefs. The majority of the UK believed women weren’t clever or strong enough to have the right to vote; they didn’t fight for their country and were too impulsive to make logical decisions in politics. Even Queen Victoria had claimed a vote for women was ‘mad wicked folly’ and the Government enforced into education and church that women had no right to vote, causing anyone who supported them to be ridiculed and treated with suspicion. Therefore, this proved to be a large obstacle in the women’s suffrage campaigners’ way, as they relied heavily on support, especially the NUWSS who used petitioning as their main method of campaigning.
In conclusion, women failed to gain the vote between 1900 and 1914 because they had too many obstacles in their way which were hard to overcome. The Government, press, public opinion and the Anti-suffrage league all proved to be a large barrier which could not be moved, decreasing the amount of support the suffrage societies had in the early 20th century. Also, the fact the suffragettes used a more militant, forceful approach to gaining the vote resulting in an extensive amount of damage also affected their reputation as they proved to many people that they were incapable of voting, even though they had a gained a large amount of publicity in doing so. However, the women did finally gain the vote in 1918, whether this was as a result of the suffragettes’ militant tactics, or the suffragists’ peaceful petitioning, they were able to eventually sway Government opinion.
