Issue 40 winter 23 web - Flipbook - Page 97
From the outset, the WFL defined itself as a militant suffrage organisation – the term ‘constitutional militants’ was
sometimes used – but its leaders abandoned provocative
WSPU-style tactics. Its own included targeting cabinet
ministers at their homes and the non-payment of taxes, a
campaign jointly organised with the Tax Resistance
League. The WFL also led the way in the 1911 census
boycott – in the words of Margaret Nevinson: ‘A
very great act of rebellion that would really make the
Government think.’
The WFL also brought an innovative approach to protest
at Westminster. At the opening of Parliament in January
1908, members tried to present a petition to the king, reviving a traditional way to voice grievances. Later in 1908,
three members protested in the Ladies’ Gallery in the
House of Commons by chaining themselves to the metal
grille which protected the MPs in the chamber. When in
1909 women’s suffrage was again omitted from the king’s
speech, an airship was hired to distribute WFL pamphlets
outlining the right to petition government. Prime Minister
Herbert Asquith’s resolute refusal to meet with women’s
suffrage deputations led the WFL to organise ‘The Great
Watch’ that year – a continuous picket of the House of
Commons.
Conscious of the need to convince more women to
support suffrage – and to escape the contemporary equivalent of the ‘Westminster bubble’ - the WFL leadership
initiated a caravan campaign to take their message outside
the capital, and to rural communities in particular.
Above, Anna Whitehouse at blue plaque unveiling
continued to campaign for women to have the vote on
the same terms as men, and this came to pass in the Equal
Representation Act of 1928: Emmeline PethickLawrence, its then president, declared that ‘our long
campaign for political freedom is finally over’. Afterwards
the organisation championed the cause of getting more
women into Parliament and was not finally dissolved until
1961.
The WFL’s democratic structure enabled branches to
devise their own strategies, such as highly effective billposting campaigns and a chemical explosion to sabotage
ballot papers at the 1909 Bermondsey by-election. An
official sustained a life-changing injury in this rare
instance of violent protest.
The First World War and beyond
The outbreak of the First World War prompted a
suspension of militant activism by the WFL, though it
continued to campaign to end hardship and inequality
experienced by women, and many of its members opposed
the war. The League set up the Women’s Police
Volunteers, who helped to maintain public order and
offered protection to women in their communities. A
settlement was founded in Nine Elms, Battersea, providing vegetarian meals, a children’s club and childcare
provision. In 1915 the WFL set up a National Service
Organisation, which acted as an employment agency for
women. The WFL also joined an alliance of women’s
organisations to protest against the return of compulsory
treatment and detention of women infected with venereal
diseases.
The Women’s Freedom League is usually ranked behind
the WSPU and the NUWSS in significance, though one
account states that it had 60 branches and 4,000
members, which is roughly comparable to the membership of the latter-day WSPU. It is remarkable not only for
its campaigning methods but for their longevity and
breadth: tellingly Helena Normanton, a WFL member,
was supported by the League in her successful bid to become a barrister. The WFL archive forms the basis of the
suffrage collection at The Women’s Library, now held at
the London School of Economics.
The Building
On its formation in 1907, the WFL set up a London
headquarters at 18 Buckingham Street, off the Strand. In
May 1908 it moved a few streets away to 1 Robert Street,
where the plaque is situated. Here it remained until June
1915, when it took premises (now demolished) at 144
High Holborn.
In February 1918 the Representation of the People Act
was passed, enfranchising women over 30 years old
who met a property qualification. However, the WFL
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