LSE Library’s archives on women, the war, and the vote

By the time Britain declared war with Germany in 1914, women had been campaigning unsuccessfully for the vote for nearly 50 years. Tactics to bring about reform ranged from petitioning Parliament and lobbying MPs, to acts of extreme vandalism and assault. Events came to a head just before the war with the introduction and subsequent condemnation of the so-called ‘Cat and Mouse Act’, which permitted the repeated release and re-imprisonment of hunger-striking prisoners, and the death of Emily Wilding Davison under the King’s horse at the Epsom Derby, both in 1913.

Caption: Photograph of Emily Wilding Davison struck by the King’s horse, 4th June 1913. From LSE Library’s collections, TWL.2004.321

Once war was declared, a version of peace reigned between the Government and the suffrage campaigners. All sides seemed to recognise the importance of supporting the war effort, and agreed to suspend campaigning for the duration of the war. The Women’s Social and Political Union, aka The Suffragettes, even managed to negotiate the release of their imprisoned members in return for suspending their militancy. The WSPU was particularly supportive of the war, and in 1915 changed the name of its newspaper from ‘The Suffragette’ to ‘Britannia’, using it to attack politicians and military leaders who they felt were not doing enough to further the cause of the war. Christabel Pankhurst in particular was in favour of conscription, and she and her supporters participated in the white feather campaign, handing one to every man they saw in civilian clothes. In 1917 she and her mother Emmeline founded the Women’s Party, calling for equal rights for women at work and in the home, ‘a fight to the finish with Germany’, the closing down of non-essential industries to redirect labour to the war effort, and the expulsion from government of anyone with a connection to Germany.

Caption: Extract from ‘America and the War’ by Christabel Pankhurst, 1914. From LSE Library’s collections, D(7)/D72

Similar to the Pankhursts, Millicent Garrett Fawcett, leader of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (who campaigned for electoral reform via non-violent means) also recognised that supporting the war effort could have a positive impact on the campaign for the vote. However, the decision to suspend campaigning and support the war caused a huge divide within the Union’s Executive Committee, many of whom were committed pacifists. Following a stormy meeting in Buxton in 1915 in which Fawcett declared the NUWSS would not be supporting the forthcoming Women’s Peace Congress in the Hague, many members of the executive resigned.

Caption: Extract from speech notes by Millicent Garrett Fawcett, 1916. From LSE Library’s collections, 7MGF/E/4/31

But the suspension of campaigning activity by no means resulted in a lower profile for the women of the suffrage movement. On the contrary, many women took the opportunity to demonstrate that they could perform as equally well as men, particularly in traditionally male-dominated roles. For instance, Dr Elsie Inglis, a supporter of the NUWSS, suggested that medical units run by women should be allowed to serve on the Western Front. Her offer to help was rebuffed by the British Foreign Office, but not by the other allied forces who were desperate for medical aid. Inglis promptly solicited funds for a Scottish Women’s Hospitals service, and by 1915 had set up women-run field hospitals in France and Serbia.

Caption: Photograph of a female surgical operation at Kraguievatz, 1915. From LSE Library’s collections, 2SWH/3/8/33

Drs Louisa Garrett Anderson and Flora Murray also put their practitioner skills to the test, setting up the Endell Street Military Hospital in 1915 – the first hospital for men run entirely by women, and militant suffragettes! Women also participated in more menial tasks, such as painting Hammersmith Station, as this photograph below shows

Caption: Photograph of women painting Hammersmith Station, c.1916. From LSE Library’s collections, TWL.2004.366a

Once the war was over, women were finally granted partial franchise (limited to women over 30) in 1918. Some see the granting of the vote to women as a ‘thank you’ for supporting the war effort, others that this was the direction reform was heading in anyway.

What is clear is that women made a huge contribution to British society during the war, keeping the machinery of the country running and, in the cases of medical pioneers such as Inglis, Garrett Anderson and Murray, saving hundreds of male lives in the process.

All images sourced from LSE Library’s collections.

Discover more about LSE Library’s first world war archives with this exclusive online exhibition- World War One at LSE: a common cause.