Women's Freedom League
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/Edith_How-Martyn%2C_Mrs_Sproson%2C_Charlotte_Despard%2C_Miss_Tite_standing_outside_the_Women%27s_Freedom_league_offices_in_the_Victoria_Institute_%2825200500208%29.jpg/220px-Edith_How-Martyn%2C_Mrs_Sproson%2C_Charlotte_Despard%2C_Miss_Tite_standing_outside_the_Women%27s_Freedom_league_offices_in_the_Victoria_Institute_%2825200500208%29.jpg) Edith How-Martyn, Mrs Sproson, Charlotte Despard, Miss (Constance) Tite standing outside the WFL offices in the Victoria Institute
|
Abbreviation
| WFL
|
---|
Formation
| 12 October 1907
(
1907-10-12
)
|
---|
Founder
| Charlotte Despard
Edith How-Martyn
Caroline Hodgson
Alice Abadam
Teresa Billington-Greig
Marion Coates-Hansen
Irene Miller
Bessie Drysdale
Maude Fitzherbert
|
---|
Type
| Political movement for women's rights
|
---|
Purpose
| Votes for women
|
---|
Headquarters
| 1 Robert Street, Westminster, London;
30 Gordon Street, Glagow;
144 High Holborn, London
|
---|
Motto
| "Dare to be free"
|
---|
Colours
| Green, White and Gold
|
---|
|
Votes For Women badge
Dare to be Free, Women's Freedom League flag c. 1908
The
Women's Freedom League
[1]
was an organisation in the
United Kingdom
from 1907 to 1961 which campaigned for
women's suffrage
,
pacifism
and
sexual equality
. It was founded by former members of the
Women's Social and Political Union
after the
Pankhursts
decided to rule without democratic support from their members.
[2]
Foundation and naming
[
edit
]
After the announcement that the 1907 Annual Conference of the
Women's Social and Political Union
(WSPU) would be cancelled and the organisation's committee replaced by one hand-picked by
Emmeline Pankhurst
, a meeting was held to discuss the unconstitutional action in
Eustice Miles
' restaurant, a
vegetarian
restaurant in Chandos Street,
Charing Cross
, near the
Strand
. As a result, a letter dated 14 September 1907 and signed by
Charlotte Despard
,
Edith How-Martyn
, Caroline Hodgson,
Alice Abadam
,
Teresa Billington-Greig
,
Marion Coates-Hansen
,
Irene Miller
,
[3]
Bessie Drysdale and Maude Fitzherbert was sent to Mrs Pankhurst insisting that the constitution be honoured, and the Conference be allowed to go ahead.
[4]
The Pankhursts refused the request, however the meeting was still held on 12 October 1907 at Caxton Hall. Officers and committee members were duly elected for a new organisation. One of the group's first actions was to choose a name for the new organisation via a referendum of the branches. The name "Women's Freedom League" was announced in the
Women's Franchise
suffrage newspaper as the winning choice on 28 November 1907.
[4]
Objectives and ethos
[
edit
]
The League's main objectives were stated in a banner on the front page of
The Vote
. From 1909 until 6th July 1928, this read:
OBJECTS: To secure for Women the Parliamentary Vote as it is, or may be, granted to men; to use the power thus obtained to establish equality of rights and opportunities between the sexes, and to promote the social and industrial well-being of the community.
[5]
After the
Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928
became law, the banner changed from the 13th July 1928 issue to read:
OBJECTS: To use the power of the Parliamentary vote, now won for Women upon equal terms with men, to elect women to Parliament, and upon other public bodies; to establish equality of rights and opportunities between the sexes, and to promote the social and industrial well-being of the community.
[6]
The League opposed violence in favour of
non-violent forms of protest
such as the
non-payment of taxes
, refusing to complete census forms and organising
demonstrations
, including members chaining themselves to objects in the
Houses of Parliament
.
The League continued their
pacifism during the First World War
, supporting the
Women's Peace Council
. On the outbreak of war, they had suspended their campaigns and undertook voluntary work.
Growth of the Women's Freedom League
[
edit
]
The Women's Freedom League grew rapidly throughout Great Britain. In October 1909, How-Martin wrote in
The Times
that the League consisted of sixty-five branches and had nearly five thousand members, and many more sympathisers.
[7]
Leadership and organisation
[
edit
]
Sarah Benett
was the League's Treasurer until her resignation in 1910. In 1912, Dr
Elizabeth Knight
took over as Treasurer from Constance Tite and improved the WFL's financial situation.
[8]
Before her appointment, the League suffered serious financial problems and on occasions had to appeal to its members for loans. Knight introduced new fundraising schemes for the League. However, finances were also improved by large donations by an "anonymous" person. It is suspected that this person was Knight.
[9]
4 July 1930 issue of
The Vote
In 1912,
Nina Boyle
became head of the WFL's political and militant department.
[10]
Boyle started a campaign for women to become
Special Constables
. This campaign coincided with the outbreak of the
First World War
in 1914 and the call for volunteers for the war effort which Boyle wished to see taken up by women as well as men.
[11]
When the request was officially refused, Boyle, together with
Margaret Damer Dawson
, a wealthy
philanthropist
and herself a campaigner for women's rights,
[12]
established the first voluntary women's police force-the Women Police Volunteers (WPV).
The executive committee included women from around the country, such as
Amy Sanderson
, a Scottish suffragette.
[13]
Communications and publications
[
edit
]
Initially, the league published their communications and notices in
Women's Franchise
. These appeared alongside news from the
National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies
and the
Men's League for Women's Suffrage
from October 1907 until October 1909, when the League established its own newspaper,
The Vote
.
[14]
Members of the League who were writers led the production of the newspaper.
Louisa Thomson-Price
supplied the first cartoon in 1909.
[15]
The Vote
became the primary means of communication with the public, informing readers of campaigns, protests, and events.
[7]
The newspaper helped to spread ideas concerning the First World War, allowing for the Women's Freedom League to advocate against the war.
[7]
Members of the League refused to become involved in campaigning efforts led by the British Army. Members were upset when the women's suffrage campaign came to a halt while the war was in progress.
[7]
Protests and events
[
edit
]
Anna Munro
speaking in front of a banner of the Women's Freedom League Scottish Campaign
In 1908 and 1909, members of the League chained themselves to various objects in Parliament in protest.
[16]
On 28 October 1908, three members of the Women's Freedom League,
Muriel Matters
,
Violet Tillard
, and Helen Fox, released a banner at the House of Commons. The women also chained themselves to the grille above a window.
[17]
Law enforcement had to remove the grille while they were still attached until they could file off the locks that held them connected to the window. This protest became known as the Grille Incident.
[17]
Two members of the League,
Alice Chapin
and
Alison Neilans
, attacked polling stations during the
1909 Bermondsey by-election
, smashing bottles containing corrosive liquid over ballot boxes in an attempt to destroy votes. A presiding officer, George Thornley, was blinded in one eye in one of these attacks, and a Liberal agent suffered a severe burn to the neck. The count was delayed while ballot papers were carefully examined, 83 ballot papers were damaged but legible but two ballot papers became undecipherable.
[18]
Later they were sentenced to three months each in
Holloway Prison
.
[19]
Suffragette sisters
Muriel
and
Arabella Scott
chained themselves to their seats at a political event and spoke out on behalf of WFL and WSPU policies, at by-election hustings across Scotland.
[20]
In 1912, actress
Florence Gertrude de Fonblanque
organised a 400-mile walk from Edinburgh to London.
Anna Munro
spoke at their departure from Charlotte Square on 12th October. The walkers wore brown uniforms and marched beneath a banner showing the route and objective of their march, which was to solicit signatures for a petition stating:
"We, the undersigned, pray that the Government will make itself responsible for a Bill to give votes to women this session"
[21]
The "Brown Women" were named after the brown coats that the walkers wore.
Agnes Brown
(coincidentally), Isabel Cowe and four others set off from Edinburgh to walk to London. They had white scarfs and green hats and as they travelled they gathered signatures for a petition for women's rights.
[22]
The hikers had to walk fifteen miles and attend a meeting each day and in this way they took five weeks to get to London.
[23]
They arrived in London on 16th November to a welcome parade which led the group to Trafalgar Square. Dr Ethel Smyth's
The March of the Women
was played to accompany them. De Fonblanque took the petition to Downing Street.
[21]
The League also held protests that advocated pacifism during the First World War.
[16]
-
Promotional material from the Women's Freedom League caravan tour (1908)
-
Women's Freedom League caravan with Charlotte Despard (left) and
Alison Neilans
(right) seated inside
-
Women's Freedom League at Women's Coronation Procession, London, 17 June 1911. Charlotte Despard stands in front of a group holding banners.
Post World War One
[
edit
]
In the
1918 general election
, held on 14 December 1918, as soon as possible after the
Armistice
, Despard, How-Martyn and
Emily Frost Phipps
stood unsuccessfully in London constituencies as
independent
women's rights anti-war candidates following the passing of the
Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918
in November 1918, which allowed women to be elected to
Parliament
for the first time. The WFL celebrated the achievement of partial
female suffrage in 1918
and women's
full suffrage in 1928
then refocussed the WFL's activities on equality, including
equal pay
and equality of morality.
[24]
The WFL later supported member
Helena Normanton
in her bid to become one of the first two women barristers in Britain.
[25]
The group declined in membership but continued under the leadership of
Marian Reeves
to organise annual birthday parties for Despard and maintain the
Minerva Club
in
Brunswick Square
. After Reeves' died in 1961, the organisation voted to dissolve itself.
[24]
Commemorations
[
edit
]
On 20 September 2023,
English Heritage
announced that the 1000th
blue plaque
in London would be placed at 1 Robert Street in
Westminster
, London. This was the site of the Women's Freedom League's headquarters for its "most active period" between 1908 and 1915.
[25]
[26]
[27]
Archives
[
edit
]
The archives of the Women's Freedom League are held in
The Women's Library
at the Library of the
London School of Economics
.
[28]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Crawford, Elizabeth.
the Women's Suffrage movement in Britain and Ireland: a regional survey
.
- ^
"Women's Freedom League (act. 1907?1961)"
.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
.
doi
:
10.1093/ref:odnb/95578
. Retrieved
7 January
2024
.
- ^
"Miss Irene Fenwick Miller / Database - Women's Suffrage Resources"
.
www.suffrageresources.org.uk
. Retrieved
23 September
2023
.
- ^
a
b
"Dare to be Free - the Women's Freedom League"
.
LSE History
. 17 October 2018
. Retrieved
23 September
2023
.
- ^
"Banner text"
(PDF)
.
The Vote
. 30 October 1909. p. 1
. Retrieved
7 January
2024
.
- ^
"Banner"
(PDF)
.
The Vote
. 13 July 1928. p. 1
. Retrieved
7 January
2024
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Women's Freedom League"
.
Spartacus Educational
. Retrieved
4 November
2015
.
- ^
WFL Caravan tour
.
- ^
Eustance, Claire Louise (1993).
"
"DARING TO BE FREE": THE EVOLUTION OF WOMEN'S POLITICAL IDENTITIES IN THE WOMEN'S FREEDOM LEAGUE 1907 - 1930"
(PDF)
.
Whiterose.ac.uk (York Uni)
. Retrieved
26 December
2018
.
- ^
R M Douglas,
Feminist freikorps: the British voluntary women police, 1914?1940
; Praeger, 1999 p. 10
- ^
The Times, 15 August 1914 p. 9
- ^
"Damer_Dawson"
.
www.historybytheyard.co.uk
.
- ^
The biographical dictionary of Scottish women : from the earliest times to 2004
. Ewan, Elizabeth., Innes, Sue., Reynolds, Sian. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 2006. p. 269.
ISBN
978-0-7486-2660-1
.
OCLC
367680960
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: others (
link
)
- ^
The Publishers Weekly
1909 ? Volume 76 ? Page 1922 "A New woman suffrage weekly paper has just appeared in London, entitled The Vote."
- ^
"Louisa Thomson-Price"
.
Spartacus Educational
. Retrieved
25 April
2023
.
- ^
a
b
"Women's Freedom League ? Women of Tunbridge Wells"
.
www.womenshistorykent.org
. Retrieved
4 November
2015
.
- ^
a
b
"Women's Freedom League"
.
UK Parliament
. Retrieved
4 November
2015
.
- ^
The Times, 29 October 1909
- ^
team, London SE1 website.
"Centenary of Bermondsey suffragette protest"
.
London SE1
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
"
"By election at the Kilmarnock Burghs"
".
Votes for Women
. 22 September 1911. p. 83.
- ^
a
b
"≫ Categories ≫ Suffrage"
.
OnFife
. Retrieved
7 January
2024
.
- ^
Eleanor Gordon, ‘Brown, Agnes Henderson (1866?1943)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2007
accessed 23 May 2017
- ^
"The Brown Sisters"
.
www.cheztiana.eclipse.co.uk
. Retrieved
23 May
2017
.
- ^
a
b
"Reeves, Marian".
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
doi
:
10.1093/ref:odnb/63885
.
(Subscription or
UK public library membership
required.)
- ^
a
b
"Women's Freedom League | Blue plaques"
.
English Heritage
. Retrieved
7 January
2024
.
- ^
"English Heritage unveils 1000th London Blue Plaque"
.
English Heritage
. Retrieved
23 September
2023
.
- ^
Bridge, Mark (19 September 2023).
"Suffragist HQ honoured with London's 1,000th blue plaque"
.
History First
. Retrieved
23 September
2023
.
- ^
Science, London School of Economics and Political.
"Library"
.
London School of Economics and Political Science
.
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