In
January, 1917, Parliament began discussing the possibility of granting
the vote in parliamentary elections. Herbert
Asquith, the British Prime Minister during the militant suffragette
campaign, had always been totally against women having the vote. However,
during the debate he confessed he had now changed his mind and now
supported the claims of the NUWSS and the
WSPU. On 28th March, 1917, the House
of Commons voted 341 to 62 that women over the age of 30 who were
householders, the wives of householders, occupiers of property with
an annual rent of £5 or graduates of British universities, should
be given the vote. Parliament rejected the idea of granting the franchise
to women on the same terms as men.
Women had their first opportunity to vote in the 1918
General Election. Several of the women involved in the suffrage
campaign stood for Parliament. They were all defeated, including Margery
Ashby, who stood as the Liberal Party
candidate at Ladywood in Birmingham. However, in East Grinstead, most
of the members of the NUWSS, including Countess
Muriel de la Warr, Lady Emily Lutyens and Maud Palmer, favoured
the Labour candidate, Major Graham-Pole who had supported the NUWSS
campaign, whereas the Conservative Party
candidate, Henry Cautley, had been strongly opposed to granting women
the vote.
Margaret Bondfield, a former member of
the Brighton branch of the NUWSS,
spoke at several meetings for Major Graham-Pole in the East Grinstead
constituency. In 1923 General Election Bondfield
was elected as the Labour Party M.P. for
Northampton. Six years later she became
the first woman to be appointed as a British cabinet minister.
(1)The
East Grinstead Observer (16th February, 1918)
On Friday
8th February, the East Grinstead Society for Women's Suffrage held
its last meeting as the reform for which it existed was now obtained.
(2)
The East Grinstead Observer (28th November, 1918)
The Labour Party held a public meeting at Queen's Hall, East Grinstead.
The chair was taken by Maud Palmer, who in her opening speech, emphasized
two of the points in the Labour Reconstruction Programme, the first
the need of adequate provision for our returning soldiers and the
need of the comprehensive national housing scheme. Margaret Bondfield
spoke with regret of the lack of plans for the demobilization of women
workers and said there were many thousands of unemployed women workers.
(3)
Lady Emily Lutyens, speaking at West Hoathly in support of Major Graham-Pole,
the Labour candidate in East Grinstead.
Blood
has been shed to make the new world. Those who had made the sacrifice
had left a legacy and we should see that the sacrifice was not in
vain. There is a great many grievances which must be remedied. There
is the question of children. The death-rate of infants in the country
was more than that of fighting men. The housing conditions are very
bad, especially in the larger towns. Women want to see their men back
but they hope that it does not mean a return to the old drudgery or
to be treated as an unpaid servant. They want to see the end of the
degradation of women. They are not content to remain in the dark any
longer.
(4)
The East Grinstead Observer (21st December, 1918)
Polling on Saturday was conducted very quietly and there was an entire
absence of the usual excitement. Weather had its effect on polling
for out of 2,400 persons entitled to record these votes only about
1,500 did so. The majority of these were women. Polling took place
in the Parish Hall.
(5)
The East Grinstead Observer (4th January, 1919)
The official announcement of the result of the election in the East
Grinstead Division was made by Mr. W. Hughes: Mr. Henry S. Cautley
(Conservative) 12,584; Major Graham-Pole (Labour) 6,208. Major Graham-Pole
expressed his firm conviction that the Labour Party was bound to win
in the end as it stood for these very ideals for what the Christian
Church was founded 2,000 years ago. The Labour Party intended to make
Christians practical, and to inculcate the principal of give instead
of grab. England unfortunately was not yet a Christian nation but
they were going to try and make it one.
(6)
Margery Ashby, Memoirs (1972)
I hoped to get the women's vote and that of the new and inexperienced
voters. The women were the most sympathetic to me. The result of the
election was a resounding victory for Lloyd George and the coalition
government, but I had the satisfaction of polling as many votes as
did the nine Liberal candidates in neighbouring constituencies. Being
a woman was neither an advantage or disadvantage.
Last
updated: 20th August 2002
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