TIMELINE

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1832– Great Reform Bill

August- Henry Hunt brings a petition to Parliament for enfranchisement of unmarried ladies with property qualification

 

1838– First drafts of the Charter includes women, but final draft excluded women.

 

1857- The Matrimonial Causes Act- allows women to divorce their husbands if they prove adultery and cruelty, desertion, incest, rape, sodomy, or bestiality. Beforehand, only a man could divorce his wife and he only needed to prove adultery.

 

1865– John Stuart Mill is the first to bring the movement to electors.

 

1866– In June, John Stuart Mill and Henry Fawcett present a petition signed by 1499 women.

Societies begin to form in Manchester, Edinburgh, and London including The Society in the National Society for Women’s Suffrage.

 

1867– Societies form in Birmingham and Bristol.

 

1869– Municipal Corporations Act of 1869 gives women tax payers the vote unless they are married

 

1870– Married Women’s Property Act- women can be legal owners of the money they make and inherit land.

In every year of the 1870s, except 1875, a private member’s bill for Women’s Suffrage was introduced.

 

1872– Formation of the Central Committee

 

1874– Forsyth added clause to Women’s Suffrage Bill that no married woman would vote.

 

1880– Suffragists stop introducing private member’s bills and try to reform the Great Reform Bill

 

1882- Married Women’s Property Act- women can own, sell, and buy property.

 

1884- The Parliamentary Reform Act- most male householders over 21 get the vote, adding 6 million electorates.

 

1886– As of July, there are 343 “known friends”

 

1887– In June, a Committee of Members of Parliament forms that supports Women’s Suffrage. It includes 71 members and liasoned with the societies through Lydia Becker.

 

1888– Central Committee branches into Central National Society for Women’s Suffrage and Central Committee Society for Women’s Suffrage

 

1894– Local Government Act- Qualified married women could vote in local elections if qualification is not the same property as her husband’s.

 

1897– Formation of National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies

 

1903– Formation of the Women’s Social and Political Union

 

1905– Christabel and Annie Kenney arrested for interrupting Manchester Meeting

 

1907– Mud March

 

1908– WSPU splits into Women’s Freedom League and Women’s Tax Resistance League (neutral on militant and non-militant tactics)

July 2- First instance of hunger striking by Mrs. Wallace Dunlop

Asquith becomes Prime Minister

Hyde Park Rally

 

1909– Stone throwing begins

August- Hunger striking and force feeding changes the movement

 

1910– Formation of Men’s Political Union for Women’s Enfranchisement

King George V becomes King.

The first Conciliation Bill and Black Friday.

 

1911– The bill called A Bill to extend Parliamentary Franchise to Women Occupiers was changed to A Bill to Confer the Parliamentary Franchise on Women. This bill would make free amendment possible and abolished the 10-pound occupation qualification.

 

1912- Irish Home Rule Bill

 

1913– Emily Wilding Davison dies after throwing herself in front of the king’s horse at the Derby.

Cat and Mouse Bill

The Pilgrimage

 

1914– World War I Begins- The suffrage movement is put on hold while the country is at war.

 

1918– World War I Ends

Eligibility of Women Act- allows women to be elected into parliament

Representation of the People Act- women over 30 get the vote

 

1928– Women get vote on same terms as men (21+) as a result of Representation of the People Act