The National Union of Women Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), also known as the ''suffragists'' (not to be confused with the

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to member ...

s) was an organisation founded in 1897 of

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

societies around the United Kingdom. In 1919 it was renamed the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship.

Formation and campaigning

The team was founded in 1897 by the merger of the National Central Society for Women's Suffrage and the

Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage was a committee formed in 1872 in London to lobby parliament. It was initially led by activists from Manchester. History Jacob Bright suggested in 1871 that it would be useful to cre ...

, the groups having originally split in 1888. The groups united under the leadership of Millicent Fawcett, who was the president of the society for more than twenty years. The organisation was democratic and non-militant, aiming to achieve women's suffrage through peaceful and legal means, in particular by introducing Parliamentary Bills and holding meetings to explain and promote their aims. In 1903 the

Women's Social and Political Union The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership an ...

(WSPU, the "suffragettes"), who wished to undertake more militant action, split from the NUWSS. Nevertheless, the NUWSS continued to grow, and by 1914 it had in excess of 500 branches throughout the country, with more than 100,000 members. By February of the previous year, it had already spent £60,000 on meetings and propaganda. Many, but by no means all, of the members were middle class, and some were working class. For the

1906 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1906. Asia * 1906 Persian legislative election Europe * 1906 Belgian general election * 1906 Croatian parliamentary election * Denmark ** 1906 Danish Folketing election ** 1906 Danish Landsting electi ...

, the group formed committees in each constituency to persuade local parties to select pro-suffrage candidates. The NUWSS organized its first large, open-air procession which came to be known as the Mud March on 9 February 1907. Mrs Fawcett said in a speech in 1911 that their movement was "like a glacier; slow moving but unstoppable".

Political bias

Up to July 17, 1912 the NUWSS was not allied with any party, but campaigned in support of individual election candidates who supported votes for women. In parliament, the Conciliation Bill of 1911 helped to change this position. The bill had majority support but was frustrated by insufficient time being given to pass it. The Liberal government relied on the nationalist

Irish Parliamentary Party The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nation ...

for a majority and was insistent that time was given instead to the passage of another Irish Home Rule bill and the Unionist Speaker,

Sir James Lowther James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale (5 August 173624 May 1802) was an English country landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons for 27 years from 1757 to 1784, when he was raised to the Peerage of Great Britain as Earl of Lonsda ...

, opposed votes for women. Consequently, it did not become law. Labour from 1903 was tied into an alliance with the Liberals and its leadership was divided on the issue of female emancipation. However, the 1913 party conference agreed to oppose any franchise bill that did not include extension of the franchise for women after a suffragist campaign in the north west of England effectively changed party opinion. The party consistently supported women's suffrage in the years before the war. Fawcett, a Liberal, became infuriated with that party's delaying tactics and helped Labour candidates against Liberals at election time. In 1912 the NUWSS established the Election Fighting Fund committee (EFF) headed by Catherine Marshall. The committee backed Labour and in 1913–14 the EFF intervened in four by-elections and although Labour won none, the Liberals lost two. The NUWSS, by allying itself with Labour, attempted to put pressure on the Liberals, because the Liberals' political future depended on Labour remaining weak.

NUWSS during World War I

The NUWSS was split between the majority that supported war and the minority that opposed it. During the war. the group set up an employment register so that the jobs of those who were serving could be filled. The NUWSS financed women's hospital units, employing only female doctors and nurses, which served during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

in France, such as the

Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service The Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Services (SWH) was founded in 1914. It was led by Dr. Elsie Inglis and provided nurses, doctors, ambulance drivers, cooks and orderlies. By the end of World War I, 14 medical units had been outfitted an ...

(SWH). The NUWSS supported the women's suffrage bill agreed by a Speaker's Conference even though it did not grant the equal suffrage for which the organisation had campaigned.

Activities after World War I

Officers and members of National Union of Societies to Equal Citizenship after Royal Assent to the Equal Franchise Act on 2 July 1928 In 1919, the NUWSS renamed itself as the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship and continued under the leadership of

Eleanor Rathbone Eleanor Florence Rathbone (12 May 1872 – 2 January 1946) was an independent British Member of Parliament (MP) and long-term campaigner for family allowance and for women's rights. She was a member of the noted Rathbone family of Liverpool. ...

. It focused on a campaign to equalise suffrage, which was achieved in 1928. It then split into two groups, the

National Council for Equal Citizenship National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

, a short-lived group which focused on other equal rights campaigns, and the Union of Townswomen's Guilds, which focused on educational and welfare provision for women.

Notable members of NUWSS

Margaret Aldersley Margaret Aldersley (1852–1940) was a British suffragist, feminist and trade unionist. Biography Born in 1852 in Burnley in Lancashire into a working-class family, Margaret Aldersley originally worked in the textile industry before becoming invo ...

* Catherine Alderton *

Betty Balfour Betty Balfour (born Florence Lilian Woods; 27 March 1902 – 4 November 1977) was an English screen actress, popular during the silent era, and known as the "British Mary Pickford" and "Britain's Queen of Happiness". She was best known to au ...

* Florence Balgarnie * Anna Barlow *

Annie Besant Annie Besant ( Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was a British socialist, theosophist, freemason, women's rights activist, educationist, writer, orator, political party member and philanthropist. Regarded as a champion of human ...

Vera Brittain Vera Mary Brittain (29 December 1893 – 29 March 1970) was an English Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) nurse, writer, feminist, socialist and pacifist. Her best-selling 1933 memoir '' Testament of Youth'' recounted her experiences during the Fir ...

* Elizabeth Cadbury *

Margery Corbett Ashby Dame Margery Irene Corbett Ashby, ( Corbett; 19 April 1882 – 15 May 1981) was a British suffragist, Liberal politician, feminist and internationalist. Background She was born at Danehill, East Sussex, the daughter of Charles Corbett, a bar ...

* Lady Florence Dixie * Millicent Fawcett *

Helen Fraser Helen Fraser may refer to: * Helen Fraser (actress) (born 1942), English actress * Helen Fraser (executive) (born 1949), British executive and businesswoman * Helen Fraser (feminist) Helen Miller Fraser, later Moyes (14 September 1881 – 2 D ...

Alison Garland Alison Vickers Garland (10 April 1862 – 26 September 1939), was a suffragist and British Liberal Party politician. Background Garland was born in Birkenhead in 1862. She was the second daughter of Alfred Stephen Garland, master silversmith and ...

* Sarah Grand * Katherine Harley *

Margaret Hills Margaret Hills (née Robertson 1882 – 1967) was a British teacher, suffragist organiser, feminist and socialist. She was first female councillor on Stroud Urban District Council and later served as a Councillor on Gloucestershire County Counci ...

(née Robertson) * Margaret MacDonald * Chrystal Macmillan * Louisa Martindale *

Catherine Osler Catherine Osler or Catherine Courtauld Osler; Catherine Courtauld Taylor (26 February 1854 – 16 December 1924) was a British social reformer and suffragist. Biography Osler was born in Bridgwater in 1854 to William and Catherine Taylor. Her Un ...

* Clara Rackham *

* Amelia Scott *

Evelyn Sharp Evelyn Sharp may refer to: * Evelyn Sharp (aviator) (1919–1944), American aviator * Evelyn Sharp (businesswoman) (died 1997), American hotelier * Evelyn Sharp (suffragist) (1869–1955), British suffragist and author * Evelyn Sharp, Baroness Shar ...

Nessie Stewart-Brown Nessie Stewart-Brown JP (née Muspratt; 5 September 1864 – 7 April 1958) was a British suffragist and Liberal Party politician. Her name and picture is on the plinth of the statue of Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square. Background Nessie ...

Janie Terrero Janie Terrero (14 April 1858 – 22 June 1944) was a militant suffragette who, as a member of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), was imprisoned and force-fed for which she received the WSPU's Hunger Strike Medal. Early life Born ...

* Mary Ward * Edith Grey Wheelwright * Ellen Wilkinson

Commemoration

In 2022

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

announced that the NUWSS would be commemorated with a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term ...

at site of their headquarters in Westminster during the years immediately before the passing of the

Representation of the People Act 1918 The Representation of the People Act 1918 was an Act of Parliament passed to reform the electoral system in Great Britain and Ireland. It is sometimes known as the Fourth Reform Act. The Act extended the franchise in parliamentary elections, al ...

Formation and campaigning

Political bias

NUWSS during World War I

Activities after World War I

Notable members of NUWSS

Archives

Commemoration

See also

References

Further reading