Shropshire Routes to Roots

1. Introduction

Background information

Today, men and women in Britain over the age of 18 are allowed to vote in local, national and European elections. This has not always been the case. Up until 1918, women were not allowed to vote in national elections, in other words, elections that selected a Member of Parliament (MP) to represent a local area.

Suffragettes - who and what? 'Suffragettes' is the name given to a large group of women who campaigned to secure their right to vote. The name is derived from the word, 'suffrage' meaning 'vote'. These women campaigned from the 1860's up until 1918, in order to get the vote, using a variety of methods, from petitions, letters and Parliamentary Bills, to protests and demonstrations, such as the Great Window Smashing Demonstration of 1912. It was Shropshire born, Violet Ann Bland's involvement in this demonstration that resulted in her spending 4 months in Aylesbury Prison.

Shropshire's Suffragette, Violet Ann Bland Larger image, in a new window [25kb] [Shropshire Archive reference: BB64 v.f]

What changed?

In August 1914, the Suffragette campaign was stopped as an 'act of patriotism' to the soldiers fighting and also in expectation that the war would be over by Christmas, as everyone expected.

During the First World War, women's role within society changed as they began to take up jobs that were traditionally held by men. Women's greater participation in every day life, combined with a more democratic society society and a supportive Prime Minister (Lloyd George), all came together to give women the vote in 1918.

In 1918, the Members of Parliament introduced the 4th Reform Act, also known as the Representation of the People Act, which gave women over 30 and men over the age of 21 the vote. The introduction of this legislation created 8 million more voters, bring the total number of people eligible to vote in Britain up to 21 million.

The sources

The sources in this collection have been found at Shropshire Archives. They show some of the methods used by the Suffragettes, both locally and nationally, during the later part of the 19th century.

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