CHAPTER LXXIII.
GREAT BRITAIN.
EFFORTS FOR THE PARLIAMENTARY FRANCHISE.[1]
BY MISS HELEN BLACKBURN, EDITOR OF THE ENGLISHWOMAN'S REVIEW, LONDON.
The chapter on Great Britain contributed by Miss Caroline Ashurst Biggs to Vol. Ill of this History of Woman Suffrage brought the story down to the passage of the Representation-ofthe-People Act of 1884 which extended Household Suffrage to the Counties and created the Service Franchise, thus giving the ballot to a large number of agricultural labourers and men who had their residence on premises of which their employers paid the rent and taxes, but which still left all such women without any franchise whatsoever.
With the passing of that Act may be said to have begun a new phase in the movement. During the '70's there had been a debate and division on the Women's Suffrage Bill in the House of Commons nearly every year. After the General Election of 1880 the question of Household Suffrage in the Counties came to the front, and all the efforts of the Women's Suffrage Societies were directed and inspired by the anticipation that when the claims of the agricultural labourer were dealt with, those of women would find their opportunity. But far from this, they were left practically in a worse position than before, for now 2,000.000 new voters were added to the number of those who could make prior claim to the attention of their representatives.
1885. — Immediately after the General Election which followed
- ↑ The women of Great Britain and Ireland possess every franchise except that for members of Parliament Local suffrage is restricted to spinsters and widows, but the important vote for Parish and District Councils, created by the Local Government Act of 1894, is possessed by married women "provided husband and wife shall not both be qualified in respect to the same piece of property." It may be stated in general terms that all electors must be rate-payers, although there are some exceptions applying to a small percentage of persons. [Eds.
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