Why Did a Campaign for Women’s Suffrage Develop in the Years After 1870?
In the years after 1870, various organisations campaigning for women’s right to vote were formed. There was also huge public support for women’s suffrage. In 1897 Millicent Garret Fawcett formed the NUWSS (National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies) otherwise known as the Suffragists, and in 1903, Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters, Christabel and Sylvia formed the WSPU (Women’s Social and Political Union) who were nicknamed the Suffragettes, who used more militant tactics to obtain the vote than the Suffragists. In 1918 after many years of protesting, the Representation of the People Act was passed and most women over 30 were given the vote.
In 1838, Attwood and Feargus O’Connor formed the chartist movement. The Chartists were the first organisation to campaign for an extension of the right to vote. They wanted the right to vote for all men. They collected one and a quarter million votes for their cause, but the House of Commons rejected their charter. Although the chartists failed, they paved the way for many other groups to campaign for suffrage. The first group to campaign for women’s suffrage were the National Society for Women’s suffrage, formed in 1867 by Lydia Beckers, a feminist writer from Manchester. This organisation is not as famous as the suffragists or the suffragettes, but they campaigned for women’s suffrage right up until 1919.
