The Scottish Suffragettes
This is a summary of an excellent book written by Leah Leneman
and distributed and published via the National Museums of Scotland Publishing
Limited. It's £6,99 at the moment . The author has written extensively
on women's issues. Other books are: "A Guid Gause- The Suffrage Movement
in Scotland (Mercat Press)",
"Elsie Inglis: Founder of the Battlefront Hospitals run entirely by
Women" and "Into the Foreground: A century of Scottish Women
and photographs" (both via National Museums of Scotland Publishing).
Short Introduction:
The term "suffragette" applied only to members of
the militant branch of the movement, but the book is also about the non-militant
"suffragists". Scottish is hereby used as for any women having a substanial
connection to Scotland. But the main activities of the suffragettes lied in
London, chaining themselves to railings, marching, breaking windows, being arrested
and forcibly fed in Holloway. But there was far more local democracy and far
less centrality of political life as we know nowadays.
The non-militant "suffragists" outnumbered the "suffragettes",
but were scarcely remebered en masse, let alone as individuals. The suffrage
movement was mainly active in between 1860 and 1918. Women were excluded from
voting, not even in local government elections, they could not obtain higher
education (and certainly not a medical one), and the property laws were iniquitous
for married women.
History:
In 1860 the parliamentary franchise was extended beyond landowners
to include the rising middle classes. In the 1832 Reform Acts, voting was restricted
to male persons.When the bills for the English and Scottish Reform Acts of 1867
and 1868 were going through parliament, John Stuart Mill put forward a women's
suffrage amendment. It led into the formation of the women's suffrage societies
in London, Manchester and Edinburgh. There were suffrage bills debated nearly
every year, but none of them got anywhere, and in 1884 the Third Reform Act
gave many more men the vote - but no women. Progress was made on other fronts:
higher education was opening up , married women 's property acts were being
passed, and women could vote in local government elections. Also the parties
began to rely on the unpaid assistence of women. However the tactics they employed,
like petitions to parliament, were those which had proven unsuccessful since
1867. A whole new approach was needed, this came from an English widow, Emmeline
Pankhurst and her daughter Christabel.They formed the Women's Social and Political
Union (WSPU)in Manchester 1903. So they began heckling speakers at poltical
meetings and opposing candidates whatever thyeir view on women's suffrage. In
1907 some members broke away from the WSPU and formed the Women's Freedom League,
they believed more in a democratic organisation, whereas Christabel Pankhurst
insisted that the WSPU was fighting a war that demanded blind loyalty and obedience
from its followers. All the organisations had their own newspapers, the WSPU
had "Votes for Women", the WFL "The Vote", the National
Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) "The Common Cause".
In 1909 the first militant demonstrations in Scotland took place in Glasgow
and Dundee, where a group of women tried to force their way into a political
meeting. Whether one agreed or disagreed with militant tactics, they kept the
suffrage campaign in the news, and more and more women flocked to join the cause.
A grand suffrage pageant and procession in October 1909 took place. In March
1912 a three-day window-smashing raid in London resulted in over 200 arrests
and imprisonment. And then, a guerilla warfare and secret arson were proclaimed
by the Pankhursts. At the beginning of 1913 the favoured form of militancy in
Scotland was attacks on post boxes. Corrosive acid was poured into pillar boxes
to destroy letters. The scale of the attacks on property escalated, with racecourse
stands, cricket pavilions, Farington Hall in Dundee, various mansions, and Leuchars
railway station burnt down. Many public buildings- including Holyrood Palace
- were closed for the fear of attack, and security was tightended around others.
If a suffragette was caught and imprisoned, thy would go on hunger (later hunger
and thirst) strike. Forcibly feeding caused damaging publicity for the government,
so for a while it was not attempted. When the health of the prisoners got endangered,
they got released and should return to prison as soon as their health was recovered,
but then, of course, they didn't return. The level of arson attacks was stepped
up, and the Whitekirk in East Lothian, one of Scotlands most beautiful churches,
was burnt down. Then it was decided to introduce forcibly feeding in Perth,
where Dr. Fergus Watson, who had forcibly fed Ethel Moorhead to a double pneumonia
as a result of food getting into her lungs, was now officer. The women in Perth
prison underwent a terrible ordeal. They were in solitary confinement. Attempts
were made to feed two women by the rectum, and when this was discovered there
was a terrible outcry.
On 4 th of august, war was declared against Germany, and the WSPU announced
a truce on militancy. Although Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst threw themselves
into the war effort as frevently as they had thrown themselves into the suffrage
struggle, not all women followed them. Many got involved in peace organisations.
And the war opened up many opportunities for women to work and earn good wage.
Dr. Elsie Inglis created all-women hospital units to serve Allied armies in
the field.
It was inconceivable, that working-class men who were fighting for their country
would not be granted the vote, and when this happened it would be crucial to
see that women were also included. The right was restricted to the over-30s,
and in the new statute passed on 6 February 1918 women got the right to stand
for parliament. In 1928, by which time it was clear, that women voters did not
upset the system in any way, the franchise was extended to the under-30s.
Many of the former suffragettes kept on working within feminist organisations.