A division was taken upon it on June 23, just after the Seats bill had been passed and the peers were about to adjourn in consequence of the change of government. Many protests were made that the time was ill chosen, and some peers left the House to avoid recording their votes while others voted against it without reference to its merits as a question. The division showed 8 in favor and 36 against. There appears to be a strong impression that if a bill to enfranchise women were passed by the Commons it would be accepted by the Lords, while there is at the same time a feeling that any measure dealing with the representation of the people should originate with the Commons, and not in the upper House.
During the year 1885 we sustained the loss of many of the earliest friends of the movement; chief among these Professor Fawcett, who from the commencement of its history had given it his firm and unflinching support. His conviction that justice and freedom must gain the upper hand often caused him to take a more sanguine view of the prospect than the event has justified. He was the firm friend of women in all their recent efforts, and helped them to obtain employment in the civil service, to enter the medical profession, to open the universities, and in many other ways. Next to be mentioned is the death of Mrs. Stansfeld. She was the daughter of Mr. William H. Ashurst, who was a staunch advocate of freedom and may be remembered as the first English friend of William L. Garrison. She had been a member of the suffrage committee in London for more than sixteen years, and gave unfailing sympathy to all the efforts made by her noble husband, James Stansfeld, in behalf of the rights of humanity. This year has also been saddened by the death of Mrs. Ronald Shearer, formerly Helena Downing, an able and true-hearted woman, who had devoted her strength and talents to the furtherance of our cause at a time when its advocates were still the objects of ridicule and attack.
The electorate of three millions of men is now increased to five millions, and by this extension of the suffrage the difficulty of waging an up-hill fight in the interests of the still excluded class has also been increased. The interests of the newly represented classes will imperatively claim precedence in the new parliament. Like the emancipated blacks who received the vote after the American civil war, while the women who had supported the cause of the Union by their enthusiasm and their sacrifices were passed over, the miners and laborers of English counties have received the franchise for which they have never asked, in preference to the women who have worked, petitioned and organized themselves for years to secure it. Women have now to appeal to this new electorate to grant that justice which the old electorate has denied them; they have to begin again the weary round of educating their new masters by appeals and arguments; they will once more see their interests "unavoidably" deferred to the interests of the represented classes; they will once again be bidden to stand aside till it is time for another Reform bill to be considered!
In recounting the history of woman suffrage frequent allusion has been made to the parallel movements which have been carried on through the same course of years; the most important of these have been: (1) The admission of women to fields of public usefulness; (2) removal of legal disabilities and hardships; (3) admission to a better education and greater freedom of employment. Much of the progress that has been made has been the work of the active friends of woman suffrage, and under the fostering care of the suffrage societies.
Under the first division comes the work of women on the school-boards. The education act of 1870 expressly guaranteed their right of being elected, and even in the first year several were elected. One, Miss Becker, in Manchester, has retained her seat ever since. In London the number of lady members has greatly varied. Beginning with two, Miss Jarrett and Miss Davis, in 1879 it rose to nine, but now, 1885, has sunk again to three, Miss Davenport Hill, Mrs. Westlake, and Mrs. Webster. Taken as a whole, their influence has been very usefully exerted for the benefit of the children and the young teachers. Under this head also comes women's work as poor-law guardians. The first was elected in Kensington in 1875. Six years afterwards a small society to promote the election of women was founded by Miss Müller, and the number elected is steadily increasing. There are now in England and Scotland in all forty-six. In Ireland women are still debarred from this useful work. The election occurs every year, and it is one of the local franchises that women as well as men exercise. Last year three ladies were appointed members of the Metropolitan Board which looks after London hospitals and asylums. In 1873 Mr. Stansford, then president of the local government board, appointed Mrs. Hassan Session assistant inspector of work-houses, and after an interval of twelve years Miss Mason was appointed to the same position. Women are also sometimes appointed as church wardens, overseers of the roads, and registrars of births and deaths. These are the only public offices they fill.
Under the second heading, the removal of legal disabilities, is included the Married Woman's Property act, which was finally passed in 1882, twenty-five years after it had been first brought forward in parliament by Sir Erskine Perry. The ancient law of England transferred all property held by a woman, except land, absolutely to her husband. A step was gained in 1870 by which the money she had actually earned became her own. This was followed by frequent amendments, sometimes in Scotland, sometimes in England, and a comprehensive bill met with frequent vicissitudes, now in the House of Lords, now in the Commons. The honor of this long contest is chiefly due to Mrs. Jacob Bright and Mrs. Wolstenholme Elmy, whose unwearied efforts were finally crowned with success by the act of 1882, under which the property of a married woman is absolutely secured to her as if she were single, and the power to contract and of sueing and being sued, also secured to her. The right to the custody of their own children is another point for which women are struggling. In 1884, Mr. Bryce, M. P., brought in a bill to render a mother the legal guardian of her children after the father's death. This was read a second time by a vote of 207 for, and only 73 against. In 1885, however, though passing the House of Lords, it was postponed till too late in the Commons. Another important alteration in the legal condition of married women was made in 1878. In that year Mr. Herschell introduced the Matrimonial Causes act to remedy a gross injustice in the divorce law, and Lord Pensance inserted a clause which provided that if a woman were brutally ill-treated by her husband, a magistrate might order a separate maintenance for her and assign her the care of her children. It is no secret that the original drafting of this clause was due to Miss Frances Power Cobbe. The long struggle which is not yet terminated against the infamous Contagious Diseases acts belongs to this division of work. The acts were passed in 1866, '69, and for many years were supported by an overpowering majority of the House of Commons. Mr. Stansfeld, who has always been the supporter of every movement advancing the influence of women, has been the leader of this agitation. Mrs. Josephine Butler, Mrs. Stewart of Ougar, and latterly Mrs. Ormiston Chant, have been the most untiring speakers on this question. On April 26, 1883, Mr. Stansfeld carried a resolution by a vote of 184 against 112 for the abolition of the acts, since which time the acts have been suspended, but we must look to the new parliament for their total repeal. The Criminal-law Amendment act was the great triumph of 1885. It had been postponed session after session, but the bold denunciation of Mr. Stead, editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, finally roused the national conscience, and now a larger measure of protection is afforded to young girls than has ever been known before.
Of the successive steps by which colleges have been founded for women, and the universities opened to them, it is impossible to give any record. The London University and the Royal University of Ireland, recognize fully the equality of women; nine ladies secured the B. A. diploma from the latter university in 1884, and nine more in 1885. Oxford and Cambridge extend their examinations to women. The Victoria University acknowledges their claim to examination. The London school of medicine gives a first rate education to women (there are 48 this session), and the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, admits them to its classes. There are now about 45 ladies who are registered as medical practitioners. One of them, Miss Edith Stone, was appointed by Mr. Fawcett medical superintendent of the female staff at the general post-office, London. The success of the movement for supplying women as physicians for the vast Indian empire has attained remarkable success during the last two years.
FOOTNOTES:
[536] This was called out by the movement in America. A report of a convention held in Worcester, Mass., published in the New York Tribune, fell into the hands of Mrs. Taylor and aroused her to active thought on the question. She comments on a very able series of resolutions passed at this convention, in which such men as Emerson, Parker, Channing, Garrison and Phillips took part.—[Editors.
[537] Council of the Association—Mrs. S. Turner, Mrs. S. Bartholomew, Mrs. E. Stephenson, Mrs. M. Whalley, Mrs. E. Rooke, Mrs. E. Wade, Mrs. C. Ash, president pro tem., Mrs. E. Cavill, treasurer, Mrs. M. Brook, financial-secretary, Mrs. A. Higginbottom, corresponding secretary.