Conservative Suffragists: The Women's Vote and the Tory Party (International Library of Political Studies)

One of the most significant gaps in our knowledge of modern British history is how the Conservative Party dealt with the controversial issue of the women's suffrage movement. While most suffrage studies focus on the activities of Liberal and Labour suffragettes in the fight for the parliamentary vote, the role of Conservative women in the suffrage movement is rarely considered in any detail and the attitude of the party towards their activities is generally thought to be of little interest. In this important reassessment of Conservative women's suffrage, Mitzi Auchterlonie examines new evidence enabling readers to understand the social, political, economic and imperial issues which most concerned Conservative suffragists. She reveals how Tory women played an important yet often invisible and under-researched part in the suffrage campaigns, while the Conservative Party itself contained an unexpectedly diverse range of views towards the idea of votes for women. "As the suffragette movement was becoming increasingly militant what was the Conservative reaction to successive parliamentary bills on women's suffrage and what was the level of support for votes for women within the Tory party? After the 1867 Reform Bill, Conservatives were hesitant about supporting further measures to widen the franchise. Although a few party members supported John Stuart Mill's proposal for women's suffrage, and some notable individual Conservative women were part of the early organised campaigns for female enfranchisement, the period before the 1880s saw little interest in this issue among the party faithful. It was only when the grassroots Primrose League was created in 1883 that the suffrage question was taken up by a number of its women members.One of the most significant gaps in our knowledge of the British women's suffrage movement is how the Conservative Party dealt with this controversial issue. In this important reassessment of Conservative women's suffrage, Mitzi Auchterlonie looks at the political activities of Conservative women between 1867 and 1914. As the campaigning by the women's suffrage societies intensified and became more militant, Conservative suffragists responded by founding the Conservative and Unionist Women's Franchise Association (CUWFA) in 1908. This became the third largest women's suffrage party of the pre-World War One period.Auchterlonie looks at the activities of this organisation and its publication "The Conservative and Unionist Women's Franchise Review" in depth, enabling readers to understand the social, political, economic and imperial issues which most concerned Conservative suffragists. She charts their campaigning activities at local and national level using primary sources including memoirs of prominent Conservative supporters of women's suffrage. She discusses the relationship between the CUWFA and politicians of all parties as well as their links with other suffrage organisations. Auchterlonie concludes that Conservative women, dismissed by some as marginal to suffrage history, played a significant part in the suffrage campaigns, while the party itself contained an unexpectedly diverse range of views towards the idea of votes for women."--Bloomsbury Publishing. Contents......Page 6 List of Tables......Page 7 Acknowledgements......Page 8 Introduction......Page 10 1. Setting the Scene......Page 20 2. The Primrose League and the Suffrage Question......Page 40 3. The Conservative Response in Parliament to the Women's Suffrage Question......Page 66 4. The Formation of the Conservative and Unionist Women's Frachise Association......Page 94 5. The Conservative & Unionist Women's Franchise Review and the Women's Suffrage Debate......Page 118 6. Conservative Suffragists and the 1910 Conciliation Bill......Page 142 7. The Role of Conservative Suffragists in the 1911-1914 Women's Suffrage Campaign......Page 168 Conclusion......Page 202 Appendices......Page 206 Notes......Page 210 Bibliography......Page 246 Index......Page 260