WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE COLLECTION
from Manchester Central Library

Part 1: Lydia Becker and the Manchester Society for Womens Suffrage

Part 2: The Papers of Millicent Garrett Fawcett - sections on Womens Suffrage, Education, Employment, Welfare, the First World War and other Womens Issues

Detailed Listing - Part 1

Reel 1

Finding Aid produced by the Archives Department, Manchester Central Library in 1977, comprising 211 pages. Please note pp 94-95 do not exist; the listing carries straight on from page 93 to page 96

M50/1/1 Minutes of the Executive Committee of the Manchester Society for Women’s Suffrage, 11 June 1912 - 6 October 1914

M50/1/2 Correspondence (Letters Received) comprising:

1-98

1-17 Letters to Lydia E. Becker (Secretary, Manchester Society for Women’s Suffrage, 1867 - 1890) from Emily Davies of London. Notepaper headed ‘Enfranchisement of Women’.

1. 3 January 1867
Has received signed petitions and is sending more copies. A Committee is in the process of formation in Manchester to canvas all female householders in Manchester. Suggests working with it.

2. 7 January 1867
Will let the Manchester Committee know that Miss Becker is ready to assist them, and will consult with them on the best use to be made of her paper, [on Female Suffrage] which Miss Davies praises.

3. 12 January 1867
Comments on Miss Becker’s paper. Urges more canvassing. The people wishing to form a Manchester Committee met yesterday. [First Manchester meeting at the house of Dr Louis Borchardt. Present were Jacob Bright, Rev S. A. Steinthall, Mrs Gloyne, Max Kyllman & Elizabeth Wolstenholme (Helen Blackburn’s Women’s Suffrage, 1902].

4. 14 January 1867
Sends a letter from [Mrs Westlake, née Hare] the wife of a lawyer (not enclosed) which shows Miss Becker is right about [ownership of] a house being a property qualification.

5. 17 January 1867
Thinks the Dean of Canterbury, [a member of the London Committee] will include Miss Becker’s paper in The Contemporary Review, of which he is editor. If so Miss Davies will amend it slightly.

6. 19 January [1867]
Will find out the facts about ownership [and the franchise]. The Manchester Committee would do best to help with the national petition, instead of getting up a local one. Suggests Miss Becker replies to an attack in the Spectator.

7. 4 February 1867
Has sent the paper to Dean Alford. The London Committee meets on Friday.

8. 9 February 1867
Their secretary, Mrs [JW] Smith [née Garrett] has died. Mrs Bodichon [Barbara Leigh Smith] has taken her place. Understands from Mr Steinthal [Revd. S. Alfred] that Miss Becker is to be Secretary of the Manchester Committee. [Miss Becker made Secretary at the second meeting of the Manchester Committee, 13 February] Mr [Henry] Fawcett thinks Mr Mill [John Stuart Mill] should bring the matter before the House of Commons. Miss Helen Taylor advises presenting petitions this Session.

9. 15 February 1867
Encloses Mrs Westlake’s answer to query on qualifications (not enclosed). Mr Mill will bring the matter before the House soon. She thinks the general petition should be presented soon, and the Manchester one later. Asks to be kept informed of what is happening in Manchester.

10. 16 February 1867
Thinks it is too late to reply to SDC’s letter in the Spectator. Miss Becker’s proposed reply sounds too much like a personal attack. They must scrupulously avoid the slightest tinge of bitterness. The London Committee have decided not to ask MPs to sign the petition.

11. 22 February 1867
Thanks Miss Becker for copies of the Manchester petition. Possibility of a Committee being formed in Liverpool. They have a different understanding of what SDC meant on her letter. Written on paper listing the Committee.

12. 25 February 1867
Is disappointed that Mr Mill has done nothing in Parliament yet.

13. 28 February 1867
Miss Helen Taylor reports that the petitions should be presented within three weeks as the matter must be raised in the Commons in that time. Has sent a copy of the general petition to all MPs. Have re-inserted the limited demand for Suffrage in all their headings because there is no chance of getting anything more. [Enfranchisement of Married Women and Widows].

14. 9 March 1867
Miss Becker’s article [Female Suffrage] in the Contemporary Review is much talked of.

15. 16 March 1867
The petitions will be presented at the convenience of the MPs presenting them.

16. 19 March 1867
Mr Russell Gurney and Mr Bruce will present the petitions. As soon as a new Acting Secretary is found she will give up the work and confine herself to her special business which has been neglected lately.

17. 30 March [1867]
The petitions will probably be presented next Monday. The wording of the Reform Bill seems designed to exclude women who have passed the Cambridge examinations and no others. Asks how Dr Temple’s signature to the petition was obtained.

18-19 Letters to Lydia Becker from H. Cook, Assistant Secretary. Paper headed ‘Enfranchisement of Unmarried Women and Widows Possessing the Due Property Qualification’, London.

18. 8 April 1867
Sends householders’ names received by them (not enclosed). Names of London Committee printed on the notepaper.

19. 12 April 1867
For Mrs Bodichon, Home Secretary. The London petition was presented by Mr Bruce and the Dumfries petition by its member [George Gustavus Walker] on 28 March.

20-25 Letters from Lydia E. Becker to Revd. S. A. Steinthal [Treasurer of the Manchester Society from 1869 to 1905, when he resigned along with Christabel Pankhurst and others].

20. 1 June [1867]
Sends 21 and suggests the Committee consist of those who are most active and most useful.

21. Draft rules for the Society for the Promotion of the Enfranchisement of Women, Manchester.

22. 14 June [1867]
Urges the speedy formation of the Society.

23. 19 June [1867]
Asks him to take the draft Rules to the printers.

24. No date
Mr [Jacob] Bright thinks it best to have the rules adopted and a society formed before seeking support in other parts of the country.

25. 2 July 1867
Encloses letter from, Miss [Helen] Taylor (not enclosed), which indicates she expects the Manchester Society to be the Society. Suggestions for make-up of General Committee

26-29 Letters from Mentia [Clementia] Taylor [Mrs P.A. Taylor] of the London National Society for Women’s Suffrage to Lydia Becker.

26. 19 July [1867]
Asks for towns where local Committees have been started.

27. 8 August [1867]
Asks if the Manchester Society has adopted the same title as the London. The Edinburgh one will do so. Many consider themselves part of one National Society - united, yet independent.

28. 20 September [1867]
Sends list of London General Committee (not enclosed).

29. 26 September [1867]
Would like a good canvasser.

30. Letter from Henry Fawcett, of Cambridge, (MP for Brighton) 19 November 1868. Will support a bill to establish the right of women to the franchise.

31. Letter from C.P. Villiers, (MP for Wolverhampton), 8 December 1868. Must see a bill for giving women the franchise before he can agree to support it.

32. Letter from [Professor] F.W. Newman [Hon Secretary] of Bristol [Women’s Suffrage Committee]. 28 December 1868. About the difficulties of being an Hon Secretary. Begs her to leave the question of his PS to a report, as it will only breed unpleasantness between Miss Becker and Mrs P.A. Taylor.

33. Letter from G. Shaw Lefevre [Vice-President] of the Board of Trade, [MP for Reading]. 21 February 1869. Though he supports the extension of the franchise to women he considers the Married Women’s Property Bill now before Parliament the more important and will not do anything to jeopardise that.

34-35 Letters from J[osephine] E. Butler of the British Continental and General Federation, Liverpool, to Mrs McCormick [Organising Agent of the Manchester National Society for Women’s Suffrage].

34. 7 February [1879?]
Addresses for petition forms to be sent.

35. 17 February 1879
Sends petition from Whitstable to be passed to an MP. Hopes the Zulu War will not occupy all the attention of Parliament.

36. Letter from G[eorge] O[tto] Trevelyan, MP [for Hawick]. 6 March 1879.
Is glad she liked his speech. Can give little beyond his vote.

37. Letter from E.B. Wells of Office of Woman’s Exponent, Salt Lake City, USA. 25 July 1879. About the progress of emancipation of women in America.

38-41 Letters from Laura McLaren of the Central Committee of the National Society for Women’s Suffrage, 64 Berbers St., to Lydia Becker.

38. 17 February [1881]
Asks her privately if she would be willing to be paid secretary in London, where the parliamentary business needs to be managed.

39. No date
Formal invitation to become Secretary of the Society in London.

40. 11 March 1881
The Central Committee ask Miss Becker to accept the post of General Secretary to the National Society for Women’s Suffrage in the London and Central district, for one year (at her request). The Journal will still be published in Manchester, with the address of the London office added. Though Miss Becker has offered her services free the committee place £200 at her disposal for the year.

41. 4 March 1881
Notice of Meeting of Executive Committee of the Central Committee of the National Society for Women’s Suffrage, to consider inter alia, appointment of secretary.

42. Letter from E[lizabeth] C. W[olstenholme] Elmy of Congleton. Letter headed ‘The Custody and Guardianship of Children’. 25 September 1883. About papers to be given at the Huddersfield Social Science Congress.

43. Letter from F[rances] P[ower] Cobbe of Dollgellau, N Wales. 2 February [1885]. Cannot speak at a meeting because of ill health. Has written to the editor of the National Review in reply to Mr Raikes, but her letter will not be published. [National Review, January 1885, contains an article on ‘Women’s Suffrage’, by Henry Cecil Raikes, MP].

44. Letter from R. Adamson of Owens College, Manchester, 5 February 1885. On behalf of Prof. Munro who hopes to attend meetings on the 17th.

45. Letter from Mary Carpenter of Bridport. 2 March 1885. Sends a speech (not enclosed) of Fred Douglas. American anti-slavery orator, Marshall of Columbia and Registrar of Deeds in Columbia. Would like to see it in the Women’s Suffrage Journal.

46. Letter from J. Stuart of Cambridge. 4 April 1885. Miss H. Gladstone is not sympathetic enough to the cause to sign a petition.

47. Letter from M. Bouchard in Berlin. 10 April 1885. Is lecturing in Germany. Has spoken to the Crown Princess a few times and finds her a ‘strikingly capable woman’. Wonders if she should give up all ideas of Holloway.

48-51 Letters from Frances Power Cobbe of Dollgellau.

48. 2 May [1885?]
Asks for corrections to be made to Memorial by the Printers. Suggests putting headmistresses of High Schools together.

49. 12 June [1885?]
The support of the Bishop of Winchester should be useful. She must not make any more public speeches on medical advice.

50. No date
No chance of success before the next election. ‘Gladstone has been the evil genius of our sex and of our country’.

51. 5 August [1885?]
‘Gladstone has been our ruin’. Sir Charles Dilke will be no help to us in future. [Divorce Case petition naming Dilke as co-respondent filed August 1885].

52. Letter from L[eonard Henry] Courtney, MP for Liskeard. 23 November 1885. Cannot come to Manchester. Feels as if he would like not to speak for a year after the election.

53. Letter from Frances Power Cobbe. 26 November [1885?]. Hopes the arch-enemy, Gladstone, will be finally defeated in the election.

54. Letter from John Slagg, MP [for Burnley] 10 June 1887. Cannot attend meeting.

55. Letter from Henry [James] Tollemache, MP [for Cheshire, Eddisbury]. 14 June 1887. Does not wish to join Committee, but approves the principle of women’s suffrage.

56. Letter from Edmund Swetenham, MP [for Carnarvon]. 15 June. Cannot attend meeting

57. Letter from Bernard [John Seymour] Coleridge, MP [for Sheffield, Attercliffe]. 30 June 1887. Regrets he could not attend meeting, but is in sympathy with its views.

58. Letter from Walter S.B. McLaren, MP [for Cheshire, Crewe]. No date [July 1887]. Sends names of MPs who have signed the memorial, including those who signed since 19 July 1887, [presented 4 July to W.H. Smith, first Lord of the Treasury, asking that 20 July be left free for discussion of the Parliamentary Franchise (Extension to Women) Bill].

59. Letter from [Sir] H[enry] E[nfield] Roscoe of Harrogate [MP for Manchester, South]. 14 July 1887. Asks for Miss Becker’s aid over the technical instructions of his girls.

60. Letters from Justin Huntly McCarthy [MP for Newry]. 1 August 1887. His mind is not sufficiently clear upon the question to allow his name being definitely included among its friends.

61. Letter from Amelia B. Edwards of Westbury on Trym. 15 October 1887, Cannot attend meeting as she is lecturing at Alderley Edge on women in Ancient Egypt.

62. Letter from Sydney Gedge of the Central Committee of the National Society for Women’s Suffrage [MP for Stockport]. No Date [1888?]. If Mr Wilson’s Bill for election of Guardians and overseers is confined to residents, he will back it [First Reading of Henry J Wilson’s Bill, 18 April 1888].

63-64 Letters from Frances Power Cobbe.

63. 3 December [1888?].
Copy letter from F.P. Cobbe urging Miss Becker not to resign. It would give their enemies great satisfaction that if as a result of dissensions their party had lost her services [December 1888 the Central Committee of the National Society for Women’s Suffrage split into the Central Committee, Great College St., and the Central National Society, Parliament St.].

64. 18- - ?
Is pleased Miss Becker has been re-elected Secretary. Hopes the bad incident is at an end. The loss of subscriptions is serious. [Women’s Franchise League founded, early 1889].

65. Letter from Lydia Becker in Bath to the Committee. 5 February 1890. Regrets her inability to be in London because of ill health - osteoarthritis. Will continue to answer correspondence from Bath. [Lydia Becker died July 1890].

66. Letter from Lord [Henry] Warkworth of Alnwick, Northumberland MP [for Kensington] to ‘Sir’. 1 February 1897. Cannot support Mr Begg’s Bill. Does not know how the property qualification, discarded for male electors, can be supported for women.

67-78 Letters to Alice, Lady Bective, member of the Executive Committee of the North of England Society for Women’s Suffrage.

67. 29 July 1898. Letter from John E. Gorst, MP [for Cambridge University]. Mr Jebb [Prof. Rich Claverhouse Jebb, MP for Cambridge University] is too busy with the Commission on London University to speak in Manchester.

68. 4 August 1898
Letter from John E. Gorst, MP Fears he cannot abandon his silent support to speak in Manchester, as he might offend the Government of which he is a member. [Vice-President of Committee of Council on Education].

69. 13 June 1899
Letter from H. A. T. Ripon [Henrietta A.T. Vyner, Marchioness of Ripon]. Is not keen on women’s suffrage, but supposes it will come.

70. 14 June 1899
Letter from Princess E. L M. Mele Barese of Paris. Accepts position as a vice-president of the North of England Society for Women’s Suffrage.

71. 3 July 1899
Letter from Adeline M[arie], Dowager Duchess of Bedford. Cannot consent to be a vice-president as she knows so little about it.

72. 18 July 1899
Letter from Lord Brougham and Vaux [Henry Charles Brougham]. Cannot become a Vice-President of the N. of England Society as he opposes women’s suffrage.

73. 1899
Letter from Zoe, [Lady Brougham and Vaux]. Need not give her views on National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, as those of [her husband] are known.

74. 19 July 1899
Letter from [George F. S. Robinson, Marques of] Ripon. Declines to be President of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies.

75. 19 July 1899
Letter from [Earl] Crewe [Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe Milnes]. Opposes women’s suffrage.

76. 20 July 1899
Letter from Peggy Crewe. Cannot become a Vice-President.

77. 25 July 1899
Letter from [George James Howard, Earl of] Carlisle. Does not wish to be a vice-President, but is sympathetic.

78. 18 August 1899
Letter for John T. Hibbert of Grange-over-Sands [formerly MP for Oldham], Is an old supporter of women’s suffrage, having supported J. S. Mill’s Bill of 1867, and took charge of the Women’s Suffrage Bill himself before entering the Government.

79-84 Letters from Priscilla Bright McLaren of Edinburgh to Miss Esther G. Roper [Secretary, 1893-1905, when resigned with C. Pankhurst, etc].

79. 26 March 1901
Fears Sir Charles Dilke’s [MP for Gloucestershire, Forest of Dean] bill for adult suffrage goes too far. Supports the Factory Women’s Movement.

80. 28 March 1901
Sir Charles Dilke’s Bill will do harm. Asks what Mr and Mrs Thomasson contribute to the Committee.

81. 8 May 1901
Advice on tactics to be used at the Bolton meeting which Mrs Thomasson will chair. Men are more interested in the Deceased Wife’s Sister’s Bill than in women’s suffrage.

82. 5 June 1901
Will send £50 she has raised. In the old days women were much more earnestly anxious for the suffrage than they are now.

83. 13 June 1901
Wants to know what is happening about raising money. Had an unfeeling answer from Mrs Scatcherd, who ‘got spoiled by joining the Franchise League’.

84. 11 July 1901
Thanks Revd. Steinthall for giving her the first number of Miss Becker’s Journal. Urges more work at among factory women and recalls her own efforts in Bradford.

85. Letter from Priscilla Bright McLaren of Edinburgh to Miss Rowton. 25 March 1902. Thinks that raising working women will help raise working men and maybe help the Temperance Movement. Gives £600. Asks why her son, Charles McLaren, MP, was not advised of the Deputation of Women Textile Weavers.

86. Letter from Margaret Ashton of Didsbury to Madam. 29 May 1906. Thanks for notifying her of her appointment to the Executive Committee of the North of England Suffrage Society.

87. Letter from Lord Lytton to Miss [Margaret] Robertson. 2 November 1910. Cannot support Mr Brailsford against a Conservative candidate in the forthcoming election who is also favourable to women’s suffrage.

88-89 Letters to Margaret Ashton, [Chairman of the North of England Society for Women’s Suffrage, 1906-1915].

88. 25 July 1911
From Mrs F. T. Swanwick [HM]. Resignation as Hon. Secretary of the Manchester Society because of removal to London.

89. 20 September 1911
From Margaret Robertson, Organising Secretary of the Manchester and District Federation of NUWSS. Asks for leave of absence for March - June.

90. Copy of letter sent to Mr Harley and Dr. E.Williams by Margaret M. C[onway], Acting Secretary. 9 May 1915. The general meeting of the Manchester Society for Women’s Suffrage, last night decided against the policy advocated by its Executive and associated with Miss M. Ashton’s name. Miss Ashton and other members of the executive committee resigned. No votes will be given to any candidates for the Executive who do not intend to endorse Mrs Fawcett’s policy. Therefore the Executive cannot support their candidature.

91. Draft letter from Mrs Margaret Conway of Didsbury to Miss E[velyn] Atkinson [member of Executive Committee of the NUWSS]. 9 May 1915. About the resignation of some of the Executive, and appointment of acting officers.

92-95 Letters from Millicent Garrett Fawcett [President of the National
Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies] to Margaret Conway [Hon. Secretary of the Manchester Society for Women’s Suffrage, 1915-1919].

92. 9 June [1915]
‘The retiring members of the Executive Committee have in reality a very small following’.

93. 12 June 1915
Is pleased that the Manchester Society will not be lost out of the National Union. Mr Neville Smith’s letters to the MG have been of great service. Miss Ashton’s speech was a great surprise. ‘With those views one wonders what all the trouble was about’.

94. 24 June 1915
Must do what they can to re-establish good relations with their former colleagues. Miss Ashton ‘understands now that some of her assertions were wholly unfounded and based on a misconception of facts. Has had a friendly communication from Frau Stritt, President of the German Society affiliated to the International WS Alliance about a proposed Congress after the war.

95. 9 August 1915
Arrangements for her visit to Ancoats.

96-98 Letters to Margaret Conway [Hon. Secretary of the Manchester Society for Women’s Suffrage, 1915-1919].

96. From Philippa Strachey, Secretary of the London Society for Women’s Suffrage.
15 June 1915. Congratulations on the action of the Manchester Society, over its internal dispute.

97. From M. Haslam of Bolton 23 June 1915
Feels she should remain a member of the Bolton branch rather than join the Manchester Society.

98. From M. Katherine Jackson of Rusholme to Mrs Conway as Secretary of the Cambridge Association.
11 January 1916 Miss Newcomb of Hans Renold Ltd., Burnage, wishes to join the Manchester branch of the Cambridge Association.

Reel 2

M50/1/3 Lydia Becker’s Letter Book, 21 March – 29 November 1868

(Letters sent in a personal capacity, as Hon. Treasurer of the Manchester Committee for the Married Women’s Property Bill, but mostly as Secretary of the Manchester National Society for Women’s Suffrage. See also Women’s Suffrage. A Record of the Women’s Suffrage Movement in the British Isles, by Helen Blackburn, 1902, pages, 71-88, for other letters of this period from LE Becker, and The Suffragette Movement, by E. Sylvia Pankhurst, 1931, pages 35-46, for correspondence between Miss Becker and Dr Pankhurst. The Library also has annual reports and other papers about the Married Women’s Property Bill, 1869-1878 (396.2 M1).

The Letter Book covers the period 21 March – 29 November, 1868:

Letters to Miss Jessie Boucherett, Esther Becker, Miss W. Shields of Newcastle and Miss Becker's aunt Mrs Backhouse, 21 March, about petitions [to Parliament for women’s suffrage], the latter referring to Mr Gladstone’s antagonism; to Mrs E. Kyllman, 21 March, claiming that the letters she writes are her personal property. The Committee may see copies of those relating to its business, but they will remain in her hands even if a new secretary is appointed; to Hon. Mrs Liddell, 24 March; to Miss Boucherett, 22 March, about the campaign to put women householders on the electoral register; also to Professor Jack, 22 March, disagreeing with his support of the vote for single women only; to Miss Florence Hill, 23 March; to R. Harper, Esq., of Birmingham, 23 March, to Mrs P. A. Taylor of London, 24 March; to Dr Brown, 24 March; to her aunt, Mrs Backhouse, about the Prestbury Petition, n.d.; to Miss Boucherett, 26 March, re same and agitation among rate-payers of Hulme, to Jacob Bright, MP, 27 March, about the Hulme rate-payer meeting, in which many women were involved; to Mrs Pochin, Miss Boucherett, Dr Grierson, Mrs Butler, Miss Garrett, Mrs P. A. Taylor, 28 March; to Miss Anne J. Robertson of Dublin, 30 March, saying Mrs Pochin, Mayoress of Salford, will accommodate her on her visit to Manchester; to Jacob Bright,
13 April; to Miss Boucherett, 31 March, comparing Gladstone and Disraeli ‘I hope the Tories will remain on the Treasury Bench till the Liberals are united under the leadership of Mr Bright. He is a far greater man than Gladstone’; procedure for drawing up lists of voters and appealing if one is omitted. Women householders must claim to be on the electoral register, and their claims will be heard; to J. Plant, Esq., of the Anthropological Society, 31 March sending, on request, a copy of her paper prepared for the Ladies’ Literary Society [LEB was President of the Ladies’ Literary Society, which she founded in January 1867]; to Thomas Hare, 1 April; to Miss Boucherett about the Reform Union Conference, 1 April; to Dr. [Richard Marsden] Pankhurst, 3 April, asking for his help inserting in the Law Library for illustrations for her paper; to G. Shaw Lefevre, MP, 3 April, asking for copies of his Bill on Married Women’s Property; to Miss Theodosia Marshall, 3 April asking her opinion on a paper, which caused a commotion in the Anthropological Society, of Manchester. Florence Nightingale has joined the [Women’s Suffrage] Society; to Jacob Bright, MP, 4 April, sending a resolution of the Committee that qualified women be urged to claimed to be on the electoral register; then to Miss Boucherett, 6 April; to Miss C. Holland, 8 April; to Miss Sarah Ann Jackson asking if she may stay at her country house to recover her health. More about the ‘Anthropological Societies’ reaction to her paper; to Mrs Jacob Bright, 9 April; to Mrs Boucherett, 9 April, about her poor health and asking if she may use some of the 'Mission Fund’ to recover her strength (this letter has been crossed out); to Revd. S.A. Steinthall, 9 April; to Sarah Ann Jackson, 12 April; to Mrs Butler, 13 April; to Mrs Jacob Bright, 16 April; to Sarah A Jackson of Bowdon, 16 April; to Miss Ann J. Robertson, 16 April, about the meeting at which she spoke; to Sarah A. Jackson, 17 April, defending Mrs Pochin and other mothers from Miss Jackson’s accusations of disobeying the Scriptures by neglecting their families to attend the Suffrage Meeting; to Miss A. J. Robertson, 25 April; to Miss Wolstenholme, 26 April, saying that if Miss Julia Gaskell hesitates about becoming Secretary [of the Committee for the Higher Education of Women] she will propose her; to Mrs Bright, 27 April; to her sister Esther Becker, 28 April, suggesting she applies for the post of Secretary of the Committee for the Higher Education of Women; discusses the power of violence - ‘more melancholy to me than these occurrences [ assassinations etc] is the fact that it needs deeds of bloodshed or violence before the British Government can be roused to do justice.’; to Miss Wolstenholme, n.d., and 29 April, about getting up petitions and writing to MPs urging them to support Bill [Shaw Lefevre’s Married Women’s Property Bill]; also to Mrs Massey, 29 April, about same; to Miss McLaren 29 April, asking for Miss Boucherett’s pamphlet on Married Women’s Property Law; (half of page torn out at this point); to J. F. Morgan, Esq., 1 May, sending petition form; to Miss Winkworth, 29 April (very faded); to Mrs Jacob Bright; to Professor W. Jack, 2 May, about the Married Women’s Property Bill; to Revd. W. Hulme Rothery, 2 May saying they are not petitioning for legislation on Women’s Suffrage because they believe women have the right to be registered already. They are looking for women claimants. She believes in universal suffrage; to Miss Robertson, 2 May, to Miss Wolstenholme, 2 & 3 May; to W. Dewhurst, 3 May ordering note paper to be printed; to Esther Becker, 2 May. Miss Gaskell has become Secretary of the Committee for the Higher Education of Women; to J. Holding Esq., 3 May sending petition forms; to Miss Johnson [Secretary of Birmingham Society of WS], 6 May; to Miss Helen Taylor, 6 May thanking her for her and J.S. Mill’s donations supporting the [ Women’s Property] Bill; to Miss Wolstenholme, n.d. and 7 May; to Mrs Jacob Bright, 8 May about a meeting in Birmingham; to Miss Wolstenholme, 9 May and 14 May; to Mrs Bright, n.d., about the deputation to the Manchester Overseers about placing Women’s names on the register. Dr Pankhurst conducted their case admirably; to Revd. Steinthal, 15 May about the same; to Mr and Mrs Poole and Miss Young, 15 May announcing end of the paid canvass; to Miss Wolstenholme, 16 May; to Henry Nichol, 17 May, thanking him for his subscription towards the Married Women’s Property Bill; to Miss Johnson, 18 May; to Miss Holland, 19 May, wondering if Mr Hickes will get on with Miss Marshall the new Secretary. Florence Nightingale’s was the second signature on the great petition presented by J.S. Mill; to Miss Boucherett, 19 May; to Miss Wolstenholme, n.d., about appointment of a Secretary [of Women’s Suffrage Society?] ‘ Mrs Max Kyllman would possibly consent to be the Manchester Secretary if we cannot find an English woman ——’; to Mrs Carroll, 18 May, thanking her for her donation to Committee in support of Mr Shaw Lefevre’s Bill; to Helen Taylor, 18 May, to Miss Johnson, 19 May, sending letter for her to copy out and send to the Editor, of the Birmingham Journal telling the Committee afterwards. ‘The writing of such a letter is quite within the ——— independent judgement of the Secretary’; encloses letter, to Mrs Bright, 19 May, to Mrs Smith of Carlisle, 20 May; also to Miss Wolstenholme, 20 May, concerning dubious
signatures to petition [for Women’s Property Bill] obtained by Mr Poole in Rochdale. Mrs Poole, however, has done good work. Must stick to her opinions and not be overpowered by Dr Pankhurst’s. Petition from the inhabitants of Stockport should be sent to J.B. Smith to present; to Mrs Pennington, 20 May, sending list of subscriptions. They must have a strong petition to present on 10 June for the second reading of the Bill [for Married Women’s Property]; to Dr Pankhurst, 20 May, hoping he can attend meeting with the overseers of Chorlton upon Medlock [on registration of female ratepayers], and about the need to present the petition on the Women’s Property Bill on 10 June; to Mrs Jacob Bright, n.d., about proposed unity of the Manchester and London committees [on women’s suffrage]; ‘Rough sketch of Proposals for concerted action’ by the London, Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham committees to request overseers to place female ratepayers on the electoral register; to J.S. Cliffe Leslie, Esq., 22 May, to Miss Johnson, 20 May, giving advice on being Secretary of the Birmingham Committee; to Mrs Bright, 22 and 23 May; to Miss Wolstenholme, 23 May, saying the petition should be presented at once in view of the possible dissolution of Parliament; to Thomas Hare sending slips about the meeting with the Manchester overseers; to Dr Pankhurst, 24 May, [transcribed in The Suffragette Movement, by Sylvia Pankhurst] asking him to distribute copies of their paper. She likes his additions to the report of his speech; to Miss Boucherett, 24 May, about campaign to get women on the electoral register. Praises Dr Pankhurst and Miss Johnson of Birmingham; to Miss Nellie O.’Connell, 24 May, about family affairs; to Miss Robertson, 24 May; to Helen Taylor, 24 May, wishing that notices to overseers would go out in the name of the National Society, not just the local one; proposals for concerted action; to Miss Wolstenholme, 25 May, about the poor state to the finances; to J.S. Thomasson, Esq., 26 May, acknowledging donation and sending a petition form [for Married Women’s Property Bill]; to Mrs Taylor, 26 May, thanking her donation to same, to Mrs Poole, n.d., asking for petition to be brought in; to Theodosia Marshall, 26 May, to Miss Wolstenholme, 26 May. ‘The Mayor of Manchester has vindicated his reputation, for being a stupid ass by refusing to sign the petition ——’, to Miss Boucherett, 26 May. Will send the Manchester petition with 4,000 names to Mr Bazley tomorrow; to Mrs Bright, 26 May; to A.O. Rutson, Esq., 26 May about working on the London overseers over registration; to Mrs Bright 27 May, about the campaign, to Mrs Carroll, 28 May, asking if her husband, as a clergyman, knows of any cases which would be useful examples in favour of the Married Women’s Property Bill; to Mrs Bright, 28 May, about the registration question; to Miss Johnson, 29 May, criticising the London Committee for publishing a circular under the title of National Society instead of London National Society and for recommending application to Liberal registration agents. The Society should not be identified with any political party, but should seek help from all; to Mrs Massey, 29 May; to Stephen Heelis, 29 May, about the registration of women; to Alderman Harvey, 30 May; to Miss Boyd sympathising at the death of her mother, 8 June; to H.L. Becker, her father, 29 May, about him moving house; to Miss Winkworth, 30 May, asking her to check the names obtained by Mr Poole in Bolton for the petition; to Miss Boucherett, 30 May, that the Salford Overseers will place women on the register; to Mrs Bright, 31 May, about the same criticism of the London Committee’s slowness in the matter, and Mrs P. A. Taylor for being unbusinesslike to Miss Wolstenholme, 31 May; to Mary M Stephens, 31 May; to Sarah Ann Jackson, 31 May; to Miss Johnson, 1 June; to Miss Wolstenholme, 1 June, about the Rochdale petition; to Mrs Bright about the adverse decision of the Manchester overseers, 1 June; to Miss Boucherett, 3 June; to Miss M. Calder, 3 June, sending, £2 for the canvass of Liverpool. (Lydia Becker signs herself Treasurer), to Sarah Jackson, 7 June, sending her copy of her paper read to the Ladies Literary Society which will appear in the July edition of the Englishwoman’s Review. The fee will pay her subscription to the British Association. She describes Dr Pankhurst as ‘ a very clever little man - with some most extraordinary sentiments about life in general and women in particular ——’; to Jacob Bright, 7 June, saying she is sending a petition . signed by 5078 Manchester people in favour of the Married Women’s Property Bill for him to present; to Mrs Bright, 7 June; to Jacob Bright, 8 June. The Manchester petition contains 5101 names; to Mrs Stephenson of Nottingham, 8 June, re same; to Miss Wolstenholme, 8 June, about proposals for constitution of [Society for the Women’s Property Bill].
Criticises it as being too much like the Women’s Suffrage Society’s constitution. Hopes they find an efficient Secretary soon; to same. 8 June, re same, and differences in organisation of the London and Manchester Societies [for Women’s Suffrage]. Advises caution in formation of a Society. In Manchester the same people work for the Property Bill as on the franchise question; to Helen Taylor, 12 June about the meeting with the Chorlton overseers on the registration of women, and Miss Wolstenholme’s desire to form a General Committee or Society in support to the Women’s Property Bill on the lines of the Suffrage Society. Miss Wolstenholme is obliged to retire as Secretary so a new one must now be found; Mrs Bright, 12 June; to Miss Wolstenholme, 12 June and 13 June; to her brother, J. Leigh Becker in Australia, 10 June, describing an eye defect; to Miss Boucherett, 14 June, about interviews with overseers. Dr Pankhurst will argue their case before the revising barrister; to Jacob Bright; 14 June; to Miss Butler, 14 June; to Miss Johnson, 16 June, advising her how to proceed in Birmingham in getting women on the electoral register; to Jacob Bright, on 17 June, asking him to speak to Kirkman Hodgson, MP for Bridport, on behalf of her brother Wilfred, an applicant for the Fishmonger’s Scholarship. The Chetham and Ardwick overseers have decided against registering women; also to J.C. Anstey, Esq., 19 June, regretting that they have incurred his displeasure; to Dr Pankhurst, 20 June; to Miss Johnson, 20 June, praising Dr Pankhurst; to Miss Wolstenholme, 21 June suggesting she asks A.J. Mundella of Nottingham, MP to be a witness for the [Select Committee on the Married Women’s Property Bill]; to Miss Johnson, 9 July; to Miss Wolstenholme, 21 June. In Manchester about 13,000 women have the property qualifications for voting; to Jacob Bright, 24 June, thanking him for exerting his influence to secure the Fishmonger’s Scholarship for her brother; to Mary M. Stephens, 25 June, about family news; to Mrs Bright, 25 June, regretting Miss Helen Taylor’s advice not to press the women’s claims for fear of disenfranchisement; to Mrs Bright, 28 June. The Rochdale overseers refuse to meet them. Mr F.W.H. Meyers has given £20. Quotes from Helen Taylor’s letter. Has no intention of being governed by London in the matter; to Theodosia Marshall, 28 June; to Mrs Bright, 30 June. Have 1,000 claims from Chorlton women to go on the register. Praises Dr. Pankhurst; to Miss Johnson, 7 July, complaining of the inactivity of the Bristol Committee in canvassing women for the electoral register; to Mrs Butler, 8 July, thanking her for the gift of a bonnet. She praises Dr Pankhurst, who is working for them despite parental opposition, and his pretence of despising women; to Mrs Bright, 9 July; to Miss Wolstenholme, 10 July. Dr Pankhurst is working on a scheme for an establishment for the supply of clothing conducted by women on co-operative lines; to Dr Pankhurst, on 11 July, about progress of the suffrage campaign; to Mrs Bright, 11 July, about the canvass; to Mrs Butler, 12 July, hoping she will attend a Committee meeting and support her desire to canvass further; to Sir Elkanah Armitage, 11 July, asking if he supports their aims; to Miss Wolstenholme, 12 July. She will try and get the co-operative plan from Dr. Pankhurst, but he talks so much it is difficult to get done the business one went to see him about. The overseers of Marsden, Lancashire, have agreed to put women on the electoral register; to Miss Johnson, 13 July; to Dr Pankhurst, 17 July, about Mrs Butler, [transcribed in The Suffragette Movement, by Sylvia Pankhurst]; to Mrs Butler, 19 July, about the canvass, to Henry Nichol, 19 July, acknowledging a donation for the canvass; then to Miss Wolstenholme, 20 July, about Dr Pankhurst’s co-operative plan; to Mrs Butler, 16 August; to Mary Johnson, 27 July. The canvass fund is spent; to Miss Wolstenholme, 27 July. Her uncle, Mr Backhouse of Prestbury, is interested in the co-operative scheme; to Miss Wolstenholme, 28 July, about dissolving the Executive Committee [of the Married Women’s Property Committee]; to Miss Hare, 2 August; to Miss Boucherett, 3 August. They have 5,000 claims from Manchester women to be put on the electoral register. Salford has registered 1208 women; to Sarah Jackson, 9 August. Will not be able to afford to go to the British Association at Norwich unless she can persuade Mr Dunckley to send her as correspondent for the Examiner and Times. An article by her appeared in the Free Lance of 25 July; to Mr Bright, 11 August thanking him for supporting the franchise claims [in his election address]; to Mary Johnson, 11 August, about the same. Praises Jacob Bright. ‘The younger brother seems to me to be of a far higher nature than the other’; to Mrs Bright, 12 August; to Sarah [Jackson] 14 August; to Miss Wolstenholme, 14 August, about reconstituting the Executive Committee; to Jacob Bright; 9 September. Mr Rogers has explained why he has with drawn his support from Mr Bright and proposed —— Murphy against him. He is against interference with the Irish Church after attending a meeting at which several Irishmen physically attacked the speakers. Lydia Becker fears thousands of votes may be lost to Mr Bright because of this; to Miss Boucherett, 13 September; also to Dr Edmunds, 12 September, thanking him for his paper on the Female Medical College; to Mary Johnson, 13 September; to Mrs Kyllman, 29 September, asking that in making the balance sheet she should put the sum paid to her as ‘grant’ to Secretary, not ‘salary’; to Miss Hare, 13 September to Miss Boucherett, about the women of Salford being struck off the electoral register by the revising barrister. Mrs Max Kyllman’s freehold claim for a vote for SE Lancashire will be heard on the 24th. Lady Scarisbrick is among 29 women claimants at Ormskirk; to Mrs Butler, n.d. There is no money to prosecute the appeal against the disenfranchisement; to Mrs Bright, 4 October. Thinks the Liberal party will fall through making the Irish Church question so important in its campaign; to Dr Pankhurst, 4 October, praising his paper on International Law; to Mrs Alfred Roberts of Australia, also 4 October, about the forthcoming election. Compares Jacob and John Bright; to Mary [Johnson]. Wonders what she thought of Dr Pankhurst. Mrs McLaren, President of the Edinburgh Society for Women’s Suffrage was at the last meeting. She is very like her brother, John Bright. Fears the strain of the election will be too much for Jacob Bright; to Professor F.W. Newman, 5 October, asking him to tell her what he agrees and disagrees with in her paper [‘Some Supposed Differences in the Minds of Men and Women with regard to Educational Necessities’]. Criticises Gladstone to Mr Heatherley, 6 October, about the importance of teaching children to read; to Mrs Bright, 8 October. Wishes women would attend the election meetings and question the candidates. At an election meeting’ Mr Bazley was dry. Mr Jones was full of clap trap Mr Bright was calm, dignified and statesmanlike; to H.W. Bate, 10 October, asking for information on the position of women in the Royal Geographical Society, for a paper she has promised to give to Nottingham on ‘the Study of Science by Women’; to Professor Leone Levi of Norwich, 10 October, sending him a pamphlet; to Miss Susan B. Anthony of America, 13 October, writing in reply to a letter to Lilly Maxwell, the first claimant for the vote in Manchester. Describes the origin of the Manchester Society for Women’s Suffrage in January 1867. The three Liberal candidates for Manchester are members of the National Society for Women’s Suffrage. Jacob Bright is the only English candidate except J.S. Mill who includes women’s suffrage in his manifesto. May publish any of this letter in the Revolution (Part of this letter has been crossed through); to Mr Acworth, 15 October, thanking him for his donation, and hoping he is not in the hands of a doctor who believes in starving a patient. Wishes she could have had her brother’s opportunity of a scholarship to Oxford; to Mrs Bright, 15 October, about the committee’s decision against her and Mr Bright’s view, and about Jacob Bright’s election speech; then to Mr Lelci, on 16 October, giving, at his request, her views of the rights of women .. ‘the rights of women ought to be in every respect exactly equal to those of men. The duties of each sex are, of course, different in some special points —— but —— the things which men and women have separately by reason of their sex are little compared to the things they have in common as rational and responsible human beings —— they ought therefore to receive equal acknowledgement in the shape of personal independence – political privileges, honours, rewards and last, though not least - pay.’; then to Jacob Bright, on October, to the Secretary of the Royal Institution, 21 November, asking if it offers men and women equal advantages; to Mrs Butler, of Liverpool, 19 October, urging her to leave philanthropic work to those who cannot do anything else and to turn her efforts to obtaining political power for women; to Miss Gough, 21 October, to Theodosia Marshall, 21 October, asking her to come to the annual meeting of the Suffrage Society. the three candidates for Manchester will be there; to Miss Boucherett, 22 October; to Mr Reeks of the Royal School of Mines, enquiring on the status of women, 23 October; to Mrs Bright, 24 October. Another women, Copeland Christain, has been found on the register; to Miss Jewsbury, 24 October; to Sarah Ann Jackson; 24 October; also to Miss Robertson, 25 October. She would like to have been a lawyer; to Mrs Fitch, 31 October; to Mrs Bates, 1 November, urging her to put the franchise movement before other good works; to Leigh Becker a doctor, in Australia, - November, urging him to look after his health as Jacob Bright does. [In several letters she mentions Jacob Bright’s sense in knowing not to overdo things]. Expects the Liberal candidates to be returned for Manchester, but has found she know the Conservative, Joseph Hoare. About the people, she met at the British Association Meeting at Nottingham. Her work for women’s franchise will leave its’ mark on the civilisation of this age ... ’. The eye defect described in her previous letter has gone, but she is still very short sighted; to [Miss Wolstenholme], 4 November, trying to console her in her illness; to Mrs Bright, n.d. about canvassing the women on the electoral register; to Mrs
Bright, 14 November, urging Mr Bright to take the chair at a committee meeting at which the two Mrs Kyllmans are to raise some objection to her correspondence with Helen Taylor; to Dr Pankhurst, 15 November, about the same. If Mrs Kyllman resigns a new treasurer will be needed and she
proposes Mrs Bright who would get as much in a month as either of the Mrs Kyllmans in a year; to Mr Rusden, n.d. about the same; to E.J. Lose Esq., 16 November; to Mrs Bright, 16 November, about the forthcoming election; to Miss Anthony, 18 November, about Lilly Maxwell. The Court of Appeal decision was adverse. About taking women to vote in the Manchester election; and to W.T. Charley, MP, 17 November, asking him to become a member of the Society. She hopes the sixteen women on the register in his constituency [Salford] voted; to Mrs Brewer, 19 November, congratulation Dr Brewer on being elected to Colchester. The Tories used the religious cry to win votes in Manchester and Salford; to [Miss Wolstenholme?] n.d. Has placed herself in Mr Steinthal’s hands over the problem with the Committee; to Mrs Bright, 21 November, about the trouble with the Committee; to Walter Morrison, MP, 21 November, congratulating him on his election to Plymouth, and describing taking Manchester women to the poll; to Mrs Bright, 23 November, pleased that she will be Treasurer if necessary. Asks her not to propose Mr Steinthal. Thinks it better to have a woman. Anxious to start campaign for Parliament to amend the 1867 Act; to Sarah [Jackson], 23 November about the problem of living in lodgings; to Miss Robertson, 25 November, about the women who vote in Manchester at the election. Will be taking women on the register in Longsight to vote in S.E. Lancashire election; to Mrs Bright, 25 November; also to Mr White asking about the position of women in the Royal Society, 23 November; to Mr Steinthal, 26 November, asking him to defer the discussion of any subject relating to the committee till after her return from Nottingham where she is giving a paper. Thinks it an insult for the Treasurer to offer J.S. Mill his donation back. Also to Mr Stepney, 27 November, thanking him for Madam Grey’s letter; also to Miss Boucherett, 27 November, wondering about what the London Committees intend to do if they are not going to petition Parliament. The Manchester Committee want consultation with the other Committees to draft a Bill which Mr Russell Gurney and Jacob Bright will introduce; then to Mr [W.T. Charley], 27 November, explaining the way women in Salford voted and regretting that he will not join the Society; to Mary [Johnson?], 27 November; also to Mr Steinthal, 29 November, putting herself in his hands in order to promote the harmony and efficiency of the Committee; 29 November. She has promised Mr Steinthal to do to -, as he wishes at the next Committee meeting. She is grateful for her good advice.

(After folio 153 comes folios 198-199 then folio 154 with remainder of material in sequence. This item has been filmed as if it is in the original. Folio 284 is missing from the original).

M50/1/4/1-13 Annual Reports of the Manchester National Society for Women’s Suffrage, 1868-1880:

(1) 30 October 1869

(2) 15 December 1869

(3) 23 November 1870

(4) 8 November 1871

(5) 6 November 1872

(6) 3 December 1873

(7) 13 November 1874

(8) 10 November 1875

(9) 29 November 1876

(10) 7 November 1877

(11) 6 November 1878

(12) 12 November 1879

(13) 8 December 1880.

Reel 3

M50/1/4/14-26 Annual Reports of the Manchester National Society for Women’s Suffrage, 1881-1895:

(14) 9 November 1881;

(15) 7 November 1882;

(16) 14 November 1882;

(17) 12 November 1884;

(18) 9 December 1885;

(19) 3 November 1886;

(20) 8 November 1887;

(21) 20 November 1889;

(22) 31 October 1890;

(23) 1889-1892;

(24) 29 November 1893;

(25) 20 November 1894;

(26) 8 November 1895.

M50/1/4/27-40 Annual Reports of the North of England Society for Women’s Suffrage, 1899-1911:

(27) 17 November 1899;

(28) 28 November 1900;

(29) 29 November 1901;
(30) 24 November 1902;

(31) 7 December 1903;

(32) 8 November 1904;
(33) 24 November 1905;

(34-35) 7 December 1906;

(36-37) 22 November 1907

(38) 4 December 1908;

(39) 17 December 1909;

(40) 20 January 1911.

M50/1/4/41-49 Annual Reports of the Manchester Society for Women’s Suffrage, 1912-1919:

(41) 15 January 1912;

(42) 17 January 1913;

(43) 22 January 1914;

(44) 20 January 1915;

(45) 21 January 1916;

(46) 24 January 1917;

(47) 11 December 1917;

(48) April 1918;

(49) 22 January 1919.

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M50/1/5/1-3 Annual Reports of the Manchester and District Federation, 1911-1917:

(1) 28 October 1911;

(2) 2 November 1913;

(3) 10 November 1917.

Reel 4

M50/1/6/1-8 Annual Reports of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, 1905-1914:

(1) 20 October 1905;

(2) 25 October 1907;

(3) 27 January 1909;

(4) 19 March 1910;

(5) 26 January 1911;

(6) 14 February 1912;

(7) 27 February 1913;

(8) 12 February 1914.

M50/1/7/1-3 Women’s Suffrage Journal, 1 March 1870 - 1 December 1873 was started March 1870, by Lydia Becker, and edited by her till her death in 1890, when its publication ceased. It contains accounts of public meetings of the various suffrage societies throughout the UK, parliamentary debates, obituaries, articles on women’s rights, the work of the Married Women’s Property Committee and the Vigilance Association for the Defence of Personal Rights (for both of which Lydia Becker was Treasurer). Each volume is well indexed. The first specialised British suffrage periodical, it was very much Lydia Becker’s paper and it carried considerable detailed campaign information. The journal was the official organ of the National Society for Women’s Suffrage and was published on a monthly basis.

Reel 5

M50/1/7/4-5 Women’s Suffrage Journal, 1 January 1874 - 1 December 1879

Reel 6

M50/1/7/6-13 Women’s Suffrage Journal, 1 January 1880 - 1 December 1884

Reel 7

M50/1/7/14-20 Women’s Suffrage Journal, 1 January 1885 - August 1890 (The August 1890 issue was a final and memorial number).

Reel 8

M50/1/8/1-2 The Common Cause, [Editor: Mrs FT Swanwick]
1. 15 April 1909 - 7 April 1910
2. 14 April 1910 - 6 October 1910

Reel 9

M50/1/8/2-4 The Common Cause, (Continued)
2. (Continued) 13 October 1910 - 6 April 1911
3. 13 April 1911 - 4 April 1912
4. 3 September 1915

[This paper was called the organ of the women’s movement for reform and published on a weekly basis in Manchester. Each volume has an index at the front which will be a useful aid to researchers].
[Please note that the issue for 3 September 1915 is very fragile and in a severely damaged condition. Volume III No. 139, the issue for 7 December 1911 (pp 609-624) has many pages which have been severely cropped so unfortunately there is a small amount of text lost in this item. Also pp 746-747 through to pp 770-771 are very tightly bound.]

Reel 10

M50/1/9/1-7, Newspaper Cuttings, March 1867 - August 1889 (7 volumes)

1. March 1867 - January 1869
Contains printed leaflets, including Rules of the Manchester National Society for Women’s Suffrage; signatories to a petition to Parliament; Rules of the London National Society for Women’s Suffrage; London General Committee members; Edinburgh National Society for Women’s Suffrage members; leaflet on Women’s Wrongs, by Professor Francis W. Newman; tickets for public meeting in Manchester Free Trade Hall, 14 April 1868; leaflet by the Bristol and Clifton Branch of the National Society for Women’s Suffrage, circular from the London National Society for Women’s Suffrage, 6 November 1868, urging those women on the electoral register to record votes at the general election.

2. May 1867 - June 1870
Includes circular, 30 April 1870, asking for support of Alderman Bennett’s motion before Manchester Council, to support the Bill to remove the electoral disabilities of women.

3. July 1870 - November 1872
Contains printed papers, including circular on the Women’s Suffrage Conference in London, 28 [April 1871]; memorial of members of the Executive Committees of various branches of the NSWS to Right Hon. Henry Austin Bruce, MP, against provision of ‘A bill for the Better Protection of Infant Life’; memorial to WE Gladstone, MP, First Lord of the Treasury, by same, on women’s suffrage, 29 April 1871; circular re annual meeting of the Married Women’s Property Committee, 19 September 1871; leaflet on L’Association pour L’Emancipation Progressive de la Femme, 20 November 1871.

4. January 1875 - August 1879

5. October 1881 - December 1881
‘Bradford Demonstration November 1881’; includes circular re Conference in Bradford to discuss proposed Demonstration of Women, 28 October 1881; handbill on Grand Demonstration of Women in Bradford, 22 November 1881; ticket for same; handbills advertising meetings in Allerton, 7 November, Eccleshill, 10 November, Wyke, 11 November, Queensbury, 14 November Little Horton, 15 November, Temperance Hall, Bradford, 16 November, Great Horton, 17 November, St John’s School, Bradford, 18 MNovember and Greenfield School, 21 November, agenda of meeting, 22 November; accounts of the Manchester National Society for Women’s Suffrage, Bradford Demonstration, 22 November 1881 (manuscript); Women’s Suffrage Journal. 1 December 1881.

6. February-March 1882
Sheffield Demonstration February 27th 1882; includes circulars; tickets for Grand Demonstration of Women in Sheffield on 27 February; advertisements of meetings, Tabernacle School Room, 16 February, Attercliffe, 20 February, Rotherham, 21 February, Eccleshall, 22 February, Burgreave Road, 23 February Bramall’s School, 24 February, agenda; accounts, 6 February - 1 March 1882 (manuscript): Women’s Suffrage Journal, 1 March 1882

7. April 1884-May 1885. March - August 1889
Includes leaflet on Married Women and the Municipal Franchise.

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M50/1/9/8 Newspaper Cuttings, April 1894 - July 1897. (1 Volume)

M50/1/10/1-215 Circulars from Lydia Becker, Secretary of the Manchester National Society for Women’s Suffrage. Mostly printed items, 1870 - 1885. [Please see full listing of these items in the Finding Aid on Reel 1 of this microfilm project]. Material includes, for example:

4. 31 March 1871
Circular to accompany petition in favour of Women’s Disabilities Bill presented to the Commons in 1870 by the Corporation of Manchester, to be proposed again at council meeting in Manchester on 5 April, asking that it be brought before recipient’s town council.

15. [1872]
Notice of meeting in support of the Bill to remove the Electoral Disabilities of Women, 29 January in Warrington.

16. 4 March 1872
Circular to town councils asking their consideration of the petition in favour of the Bill.

M50/1/11/1-16 Miscellaneous Papers, 1908-1918.
1-10 North of England Society for Women’s Suffrage.
11-16 Manchester Society for Women’s Suffrage.

M50/1/12/1-12 Miscellaneous Papers about the Manchester and District Federation.
[For a more detailed listing of these items please see the Finding Aid (pp 455-57) on Reel 1 of this microfilm project].

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M50/1/13/1-5 Division Lists (for 1878, 1883 and 1884).

1. 19 June 1878
Division List on Women’s Disabilities Removal Bill.

2. 6 July 1883
Division List on Hugh Mason’s resolution to extend the Parliamentary Franchise to women who possess the qualifications which entitle men to vote.

3. 12 June 1884
Division List on Woodall’s amendment to Representation of the People Bill.

4. [1884]
Memorial to W. E. Gladstone by 56 MPs asking that Mr Woodall’s amendment to the Franchise Bill extending its provision to women be allowed to be discussed.

5. As 4 above with four more names written in.

M50/1/14/1-3 Bills:

1. 2 March 1885
Bill to Extend the Rights of Voting at Parliamentary Elections to Women.

2. 22 February 1889
Bill to Extend the Parliamentary Franchise to Women.

3. 10 February 1892
Bill to Extend the Parliamentary Franchise to Women.

M50/1/15/1-8 The International Women Suffrage Alliance (Margaret Ashton’s papers).

1. Constitution and Proposed Amendments, n.d.
[another copy at M50/2/14/1]

2-3 Fourth Conference, Amsterdam, 15-20 June, 1908.

(a) List of names of delegates, alternates, invited speakers, fraternal delegates and members of Congress…

(b) Report

4-6 Fifth Conference and First Quinquennial, London, 26 April - 1 May 1909.

(a) Programme [another copy at M50/2/23/12].

(b) Report

(c) Draft letter, 16 June 1909, from Margaret Ashton of Didsbury to Mrs Lindemann about proposed alterations to the Constitution.

7. Seventh International Women Suffrage Congress, Budapest, 15-20 June, 1913.
Program, with map Includes photos of Mrs Carrie Chapman-Catt and Susan B Anthony.

8. Woman Suffrage in Practice: The International Women Suffrage Alliance, by Chrystal Macmillian, Marie Stritt and Maria Verone, 1913.

M50/1/16/1-15 Miscellaneous Papers, 1898-1915.

1. Calendar for 1898 with Women’s Suffrage Directory.
Name of E.G. Roper on front. Includes manuscript notes of events, 1851-1897.

2. 8 March 1907
The Parliamentary Debates. House of Commons, 8 March 1907, no. 8, vol. CLXV. Includes Women’s Enfranchisement Bill.

3. Women’s Franchise, 4 June 1908.

4. The Women’s Charter of Rights and Liberties, by Lady McLaren. Preliminary Draft, 1909 (67 pp)

5. As above. Preliminary Draft, 1909. Second edition.

6. The Women’s Charter of Rights and Liberties, n.d. (2 pp).

7. 5 March 1910
Typed circular to the Presidents and Secretaries of Women’s Liberal Association for nineteen members of the Executive Committee of the Women’s Liberal Federation explaining why they do not approve the Federation’s sanctioning the Women’s Charter.

8. A Brief Review of the Women’s Suffrage Movement Since Its Beginning in 1832, April 1911. M Ashton’s name written on.

9. A Women’s Suffrage. A Short History of a Great Movement, by Millicent Garrett Fawcett, LL D [1912].

10. Draft review of Mrs Fawcett’s book on Women’s Suffrage. A Short History of a Great Movement [1912].

11. National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies Women’s Suffrage: A Survey, 1908-1912. Published by the Manchester and District Federation. [1912].

12. Parliamentary Debates. House of Commons, vol. 47, no. 189.
Includes Franchise and Registration Bill, Women’s Suffrage Amendments, 27 January 1913.

13. Liverpool’s Urgency Resolution, Amended Form, calling on the Government to use women fully in war work. [n.d. c 1915].

14. Open Christmas Letter to the Women of Germany and Austria, signed inter alia by Helen Bright Clark, H.M. Swanwick, Margaret Ashton, Eva Gore Booth, Esther G Roper, Ann Cobden-Sanderson, Edith S. Bright, Isabella O. Ford, E. Sylvia Pankhurst, (printed with five names added in manuscript). [1915?]

15. Draft scheme and subscription form for The Coming Citizen. (typed) [1915?]

M50/1/17/1-2 Manchester Eye Hospital, 1872-1873 (2 letters)

M50/1/18 Municipal Election, 1908. Notice advertising election address by Miss Margaret Ashton, at Withington, 16 October 1908.

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