Jedburgh is a royal burgh in the Roxburgh district of Scotland.
The Hohenzollern dynasty was prominent in European history, chiefly as the ruling house of Brandenburg-Prussia (1415-1918) and of imperial Germany (1871-1918). Frederick II (1712-1768), also known as Frederick the Great, was King of Prussia from 1740. He was the eldest son of Frederick William I (1688-1740), the second King of Prussia.
The East India Company acted as an agent of British imperialism in India from the early 18th century to the mid-19th century.
Calcutta was the former capital (1772-1912) of British India.
Richard Payne Knight (1750-1824) was a numismatist. Having travelled in Sicily, in 1777, he began to form a magnificent collection of bronzes, which he bequeathed upon his death to the British Museum. He was MP for Leominster, 1780, and Ludlow, 1784-1806. He was Vice-President of the Society of Antiquaries, and wrote extensively on ancient art.
Peru was a Spanish colony from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, and was governed by a series of Spanish viceroys from the capital at Lima.
Great Britain was the first country to impose a general income tax (1799) to finance the Napoleonic Wars. It was alternately repealed and reimposed until the 1880s, by which time it was generally accepted as a permanent levy.
The Grand Jury was a group that examined accusations against persons charged with crime and, if the evidence warranted, made formal charges on which the accused persons were later tried (indictments).
This manuscript appears to be a translation of a very rare tract published in 1608 entitled Waerschouving van de ghewichtige redenen die Heeren Staten General behooren de beweghen, om gheensins te wijcken van de handelinghe en de vaert van Indien, possibly by William Usselincx, of which a translation into French by Jean François Le Petit entitled Sommaire recueil des raisons plus importantes, qui doivent mouvoir Messieurs des Etats des Provinces unies du Pays bas de ne quitter point les Indes was made, also in 1608. Asher attributes this tract to William Usselinex, but J. F. Jameson is of the opinion that he was not the author (William Usselinex, New York, 1887).
The years of Louis XIV of France's minority were dominated by the civil disturbances known as The Frondes. These were caused by the attempts of the Government, and especially Cardinal Jules Mazarin, to raise revenue for the war with Spain using arbitrary measures which antagonised a wide cross-section of Parisian society. The two outbreaks were the Fronde of the Parlement (1648-1649) and the Fronde of the Princes (1650-1652), the latter being led by Louis de Bourbon, Prince de Condé. Though dominant for a short period, the Grand Condé was eventually defeated and fled to the Spanish Netherlands. Louis XIV entered Paris in triumph on October 21, 1652.
Miniature painting flourished from the mid-sixteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century.
Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet, 1694-1778) was a celebrated French writer. His La Pucelle D'Orleans was a mock-heroic poem, a comic satire of fundamental Catholic religion, as well as of Voltaire's own personal enemies, and was written for his own pleasure and that of his friends. The outrageous work was an open secret in Europe, and manuscript copies circulated freely. Several versions were printed against Voltaire's wishes, and he denied authorship until 1762, when he allowed the publication of an authorised copy.
Hermetic philosophy is based on a bundle of manuscript purported to have been written by or to report almost at first hand the activities of the legendary priest, prophet, and sage Hermes Trismegistos. These comprised works of revelation on occult, theological and philosophical subjects, most notably alchemy.
Darley is a village near Harrogate, North Yorkshire.
Samuel Stryk (1640-1710) was a leading German lawyer and Professor of Law, who was active in developing German law from native sources, rather than from received Roman law.
Godfrey III (1133-1190) was known as the Duke of Lothier (i.e. Lower Lorraine). Territory in Lower Lorraine was contested by the rival houses of Limburg, with continued fighting until a peace in 1155 which split the duchy into Limburg and Brabant. On the death of Godfrey III, his son Henry I took the title of Duke of Brabant.
The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is on 15th August.
Secretary hand was a universal hand which could be written easily and read by all. It rose out of the cursive business hands, and became popular during the fifteenth century. Italic hand was another easily written cursive script. It had a distinctive lean, and could be written rapidly with the minimum number of pen lifts. Italic script came to prominence in the fifteenth century and its use continued into the seventeenth century.
Robert of Gloucester (fl 1260-1300) is only known through his vernacular chronicle of English history. It is thought that he may have been a monk of Gloucester.
The Justice of the Peace is a local magistrate empowered chiefly to administer criminal or civil justice in minor cases.
The Mappa Mundi is a thirteenth century map bearing the name of 'Richard de Haldingham e de Lafford', who some scholars have identified as Richard de Bello, Prebendary of Lafford, in the diocese of Lincoln. The map has been dated to around 1290.Drawn on a sheet of vellum, the Mappa Mundi depicts a world with Jerusalem at its centre , based on the writings of the fifth century scholar Orosius. It includes drawings and descriptions illustrating man's history, the marvels of the natural world, and the imagined inhabitants of distant lands, though in other respects is relatively geographically accurate.The map is held at Hereford Cathedral.
Grosvenor, Sir Richard, first baronet (1585-1645), magistrate and politician, born Eaton Hall, near Chester, Cheshire, 9 January 1585; educated in the puritan household of John Bruen of Stapleford, Cheshire, and at Queen's College Oxford, where he matriculated on 26 October 1599 and graduated BA on 30 June 1602; married in 1600 Lettice, daughter of Sir Hugh Cholmondeley of Cholmondeley, Cheshire; had one son and three daughters before Lettice's death on 20 January 1612; married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Wilbraham of Woodhey, Cheshire, 1614 and after her death, he married Elizabeth (d. 1627), daughter of Sir Peter Warburton of Grafton, Cheshire; Grosvenor was knighted on 24 August 1617 and made a baronet on 23 February 1622; Grosvenor made his principal mark in local affairs; succeeded his father as a JP for Cheshire in 1619 and he served on the bench until his removal, as part of a purge by George Villiers, first duke of Buckingham, on 26 October 1626; sheriff of Cheshire in 1623-4 and of Flintshire in 1624-5; although not one of the foremost Cheshire gentry in terms of wealth or landholdings, Grosvenor became the most influential local governor in the area of his main estate, immediately to the south of Chester: this was because of his industry and his abilities as a man of affairs, and also because of his reputation as a supporter of puritan ministers; William Hinde, who had probably been his tutor at Queen's College, described him as a paragon of the godly gentleman, and another leading Cheshire puritan preacher, Nathaniel Lancaster, hailed him in 1628 as a father of the country' (Lancaster, sig. A2); represented Cheshire in the parliaments of 1621, 1626, and 1628-9; not in the front rank of Commons spokesmen, but he was an effective public speaker and a diligent attender of committees; many of his interventions in parliament were concerned either with the welfare of his Cheshire constituents or with the defence of the Calvinist religion; In 1621 he spoke out against the patentee Sir Giles Mompesson, and the 'popish threat' to the palatinate, and in 1629 he delivered a notable attack on the influence of the King's Arminian advisers; He was also a meticulous parliamentary diarist, providing the fullest known account of debates in 1626, 1628, and 1629; 1629 and 1638 he was imprisoned in the Fleet, 1629-1638, having become liable for the debts of his brother-in-law, Peter Daniel; Although he was not restored to the bench after his return to the county, he remained an influential figure in local politics, in May 1640 he arbitrated a dispute over the parliamentary election for Chester, and in July 1642 he played a leading role in organizing, and probably also drafting, the Cheshire remonstrance, a petition containing over 8000 signatures, which called on the King and Parliament to settle their differences and avoid civil war; During the war Grosvenor remained neutral; he is not to be confused with his eldest son, Richard Grosvenor esq., who played a prominent part in the royalist defence of Chester. Grosvenor's speeches and writings make it possible to reconstruct his political views in considerable detail. He was a firm believer in the divine right of kingship and in patriarchal authority, but at the same time he staunchly defended the liberties of the subject and of parliament's role asthe representative of the people'. Above all, he was concerned to root out the evil of popery and to overcome the influence of `evil counsellors' close to the King; died at Eaton Hall on 14 September 1645 and was buried in Eccleston church, Cheshire.
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The Privy Council is descended from the curia regis, which was made up of the king's tenants in chief, household officials, and anyone else the king chose. This group performed all the functions of government. About the time of Edward I (reigned 1272-1307), the executive and advising duties of the Curia Regis came to be handled by a select group, the king's secret council, which later came to be called the Privy Council. From the Privy Council there later developed the Cabinet.
Argenta is a town in the province of Ferrara, North-East Italy, situated on the Fiume Reno. Ferrara was a signoria run by the Este family from 1240 - in this period, Duke Nicolò III. In 1598 direct Papal rule was established in Ferrara.
The House of Commons is the effective legislative authority in Great Britain. It alone has the right to impose taxes and to vote money to, or withhold it from, the monarch and the various public departments and services. The passage of legislation is the House of Commons' primary function.
Maximilien de Béthune, Duc de Sully (1560-1641) was a French statesman, who acted as director of the king's Council of Finance in 1596, and sole superintendent of finances, 1598.
The Thirty Years War was a series of wars fought by various European nations for various reasons, including religious, dynastic, territorial, and commercial rivalries. Its destructive campaigns and battles occurred over most of Europe.
The Exchequer was responsible for receiving and dispersing the public revenue. The lower Exchequer, or receipt, closely connected with the permanent Treasury, was an office for the receipt and payment of money. The upper Exchequer was a court sitting twice a year to regulate accounts.
Parliament is the legislative body of England, and has the right to impose taxes and to vote money to, or withhold it from, the monarch and the various public departments and services. Excise are inland duties levied on articles at the time of their manufacture, notably, alcoholic drinks, but has also included salt, paper and glass. In 1643 a Board of Excise was established by the Long Parliament, to organize the collection of duties in London and the provinces. Excise duty was settled by statute despite widespread aversion in 1660.
William Sanderson (1586-1676) was secretary to Henry Rich, Earl of Holland, whilst the latter was Chancellor of Cambridge University. During the English Civil War, Sanderson took the side of the royalists, leading to his appointment as a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to King Charles II, who bestowed a knighthood upon him. Publications: A Compleat History of the life and raigne of King Charles from his cradle to his grave (London, 1658), A Compleat History of the lives and reigns of Mary Queen of Scotland, and of her son ... James the Sixth (H Moseley, R. Tomlins, and G. Sawbridge: London, 1656-55).
Excise are inland duties levied on articles at the time of their manufacture, notably, alcoholic drinks, but has also included salt, paper and glass. In 1643 a Board of Excise was established by the Long Parliament, to organise the collection of duties in London and the provinces. Excise duty was settled by statute in 1660. A permanent board of Excise for England and Wales was established in 1683 with separate boards for Ireland in 1682 and Scotland in 1707.
Barbados was in British possession from its initial settlement in 1627, until its independence in 1966. The main export of the island was sugar, which was grown on plantations worked by slave labour.The Leeward islands are an arc of West Indian islands which include the Virgin Islands, Antiguilla, Saint-martin, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua, Barbuda, Monserrat and Guadeloupe.A farm was the system of leasing out the rights of collecting and retaining taxes in a certain district.
The Act of Union was a treaty (1 May 1707) that effected the union of England and Scotland under the name of Great Britain.
A formulary is a book or other list of stated and fixed forms.
Argenta is a town in the province of Ferrara, North-East Italy, situated on the Fiume Reno. Direct Papal rule was established in Ferrara in 1598.
Tithes were a tax of a tenth of the income from the agricultural yield of the land and livestock, which was paid to the etablished church for the support of the clergy, or for religious and charitable uses. When Henry VIII disestablished the monasteries in 1537, these tithes, which were mainly collected centrally by monasteries and churches, were effectively sold to the highest bidder and most of them passed into the hands of wealthy, and often absentee, landlords.
The Court of Common Council forms part of the governing body of the City of London, along with the Court of Aldermen and the Court of Common Hall, and is responsible for local government and administration. Common councillors were first appointed during the reign of Edward I, and were formed into the Court of Common Council in 1384. The Court comprises the Lord Mayor, aldermen and councilmen, the latter two being elected from each ward of the city by local government electors.
William Burton (1609-1657) was a philologist and antiquary. He published A commentary on Antoninus, his itinerary or jounies of the Romane Empire, so far as it concerneth Britain: wherin the first foundation of our cities, lawes and government, according to the Roman policy, are clearly discovered (Thomas Roycroft, London, 1658). The Commentary emphasised the antiquities of Britain in an attempt to place the origins of British cultural institutions in the context of the Roman Empire.
The Court Baron was the principal type of manorial court, and was the court of the chief tenants of a manor. It was responsible for the internal regulation of local affairs within the manor, and was attended by all those free tenants whose attendance at court was a condition of their tenure, and by customary tenants. Customary tenants held land by an agreement made at the manor court which was entered on its roll, a 'copy' of which was his regarded as proof of title.
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The period between 1903 and 1914 was one of resurgence in the women's suffrage movement. At this time, the methods by all those involved began to change: although the suffragists' efforts were mainly aimed at forming parliamentary opinion, they also began to engage in public demonstrations and other propaganda activities. The Artists' Suffrage League (ASL) was established in Jan 1907 in order to assist with the preparations for the 'Mud March' that was organised by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) in Feb of that year. However, it continued with the creation of suffrage propaganda for the NUWSS after this date. Other than the central committee of chairperson, vice-chair and treasurer, the organisation had no traditional formal structure or statement of aims. The body was responsible for the creation of a large number of posters, Christmas cards, postcards and banners designed by artists who included the chairperson Mary Lowndes, Emily Ford, Barbara Forbes, May H Barker, Clara Billing, Dora Meeson Coates, Violet Garrard, Bertha Newcombe, C Hedley Charlton and Emily J Harding. The ASL was responsible for the decoration of the Queens Hall for the celebrations in 1918 that had been organised by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies.
The suffrage campaigns of the early twentieth century were marked by a series of sensational cases and legal battles for which campaigners attempted to achieve as much press coverage as possible. When Lloyd George addressed a meeting at Woodford in 1912 certain suffragist hecklers were violently ejected from the meeting. One of these then brought a legal action against several prominent members of the Walthamstow Liberal and Radical Association. Mark Wilks was a teacher and the husband of Elizabeth Wilks (1866?-1956) nie Bennett, physician, suffragist and member of the Tax Resistance League. Elizabeth refused to complete a tax return or to pay taxes herself and informed the tax authorities that as a married woman her tax papers should be forwarded to her husband. He, in turn, claimed that he had neither the means to obtain the necessary information to complete the forms nor to pay his wife's tax bill and was imprisoned for debt. The League took up the case and achieved much publicity for it.
The Cat and Mouse [Temporary Discharge for Ill-health] Act of 1913 became infamous in the suffrage campaigns. Under this legislation a prisoner on hunger-strike and whose health was determined to be endangered by such actions might be released and then re-arrested once their health had improved. Mrs Ellen Mary Taylor (alias Mary Wyan of Reading ) refused release under the Act, claimed complete discharge and declined to give the prison governor any address. When she was conveyed to a nursing home she refused to enter until her full release was granted and continued her strike on a chair in the road outside. The police then removed her to the Kensington Infirmary where she eventually gave up her protest. Eliot Crawshay-Williams (1879-1962) was Lloyd George's Parliamentary Private Secretary in 1910 and MP for Leicester, 1910-1913. Whilst being in favour of women's suffrage, he condemned militant suffragette tactics and as a result organized lobbying against the Conciliation Bill in 1912. T. Smithies Taylor was a supporter of the militant suffragettes based in Leicester. He wrote letters to the national and local press on this and related subjects. Lloyd George addressed a meeting at Llanystumdwy in North Wales in September 1912. He was heckled by suffragists who were then turned upon by the crowd and scenes of violence against the protestors ensued. By three successive decrees in 1864, 1866 and 1869, known as the Contagious Diseases Acts, in certain towns containing military bases, any woman suspected of being a prostitute could be stopped and forced to undergo a genital inspection to discover if she had a venereal disease. If she did not submit willingly, she could be arrested and brought before a magistrate. If she was found to be infected, she could be effectively imprisoned in a 'lock' hospital. Josephine Elizabeth Butler ( 1828-1906 ) feminist and social reformer was one of the most celebrated campaigners against the Acts and the double sexual standard that they enshrined. The Acts were repealed in 1886 but the debate was not over either in Britain or other countries within the Empire.
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The Tax Resistance League (1909-1918) was established in 1909 with the aim of organising female resistance to taxation levied without any correspondent representation through voting rights. The organisation carried on a form of protest that dated back to 1870 when the Priestman sisters refused to pay income tax. The foundation occurred at a meeting held by Louisa Garrett Anderson that was attended by supporters of the Women's Freedom League including Cicely Hamilton and Dr Kate Aslam. By July 1910 the League had 104 members. Those who followed its principles, and whose actions extended to refusing to pay for certain types of licences, Inhabited House Duty, dog licenses, servants licences, etc were liable to have goods seized or be put in prison. House clearances by bailiffs were used as an opportunity to hold open-air suffrage meetings and the group was also involved in resistance to the census in 1911.
The League held meetings in the premises of both the National Union for Women's Suffrage Societies and the Women's Social and Political Union, but overtures to many local organisations were refused due to opposition to the illegality of their actions. It held conferences in 1911 and 1912 and became part of the Federated Council of Women's Suffrage in 1912. At the outbreak of the First World War, an urgency committee ordered that the League's activities be suspended and a subsequent meeting of members confirmed this resolution, though the resolution was only passed by one vote. No more meetings were held until 1916 when they took part in the Consultative Committee of Constitutional Women's Suffrage Societies established by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies in response to the government proposed changes to the national electoral register at the end of the war. A final meeting was held in 1918 after the vote was granted to women in order to officially wind up the organisation and dispose of its assets.
The Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service (1914-1919) was part of the suffrage response to the First World War. At the outbreak of the First World War, a large number of the existing suffrage societies put their administrative skills at the disposal of the war effort. The Scottish Federation of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, at the suggestion of Dr Elsie Inglis, put forward the idea of female medical units to serve on the front line. The War Office rejected the idea, but nonetheless private donations, the fundraising of local societies and the support of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies financed a number of units staffed entirely by women. The organisation's headquarters were in Edinburgh throughout the war, with committees also in Glasgow and London, working closely with the London office of the Croix Rouge Francaise. The Fawcett Society was particularly involved with the London Unit of the Scottish Women's Hospitals. The first unit mobilised established a 200 bed Auxiliary Hospital at Royaumont Abbey in Dec 1914. In Apr 1915, Dr Inglis herself was at the head of a unit based in Serbia. By Jun 1915 SWH had responsibility for more than 1,000 beds with 250 staff including 19 women doctors. The Austrian offensive of that summer led to their camps being overrun and a number of the staff including Inglis herself being taken prisoner, only to be released after negotiations. By the end of the war there were fourteen Scottish Women's Hospitals in France, Serbia, Russia, Salonica and Macedonia. Inglis herself was ill with cancer by 1917 while working in Russia. She and her unit were part of the retreat of forces to Archangel and she was evacuated to Newcastle on the 25 Nov 1919 of that year, only to die the following day. The Scottish Women's Hospitals work continued until the end of the war.
The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (1898-1919) was established out of collaborative efforts by the various suffrage societies. In the 1890s, after the death of Lydia Becker, the suffrage movement suffered from a lack of unified leadership and divisions developed between groups. However, in 1895, with a general election imminent, the two main London societies and the other provincial organisations agreed to co-ordinate their activities. This temporary alliance worked well so that in Jun 1896 the London and Manchester groups formed a joint parliamentary lobbying committee, the Combined Sub-Committee, which representatives of Edinburgh and Bristol soon joined. At a conference in Brighton in Oct 1897 at which the country was divided up into administrative areas, it was recognised that there was a need for a national body and twelve months later a system of federation was agreed and the Combined Committee was reconstituted as the executive committee of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. The new body's overall aim was to co-ordinate the various existing groups, act as a form of liaison committee between these groups and parliamentary supporters and thereby help obtain parliamentary franchise for women. These included the North of England Society (formerly the Manchester National Society for Women's Suffrage), the Central and Western Society (formerly the Central National Society for Women's Suffrage), the Central and East of England Society (formerly the Central Committee for Women's Suffrage) which the previous administrative division of the country had created as well as the provincial groups which existed throughout the country. Each of these independent organisations was represented by members on the NUWSS Executive Committee while the overall structure remained decentralised, with each local body autonomously responsible for work in their area. The constitution strictly forbade party political activity or affiliation on part of the parent or constituent bodies and this political neutrality was mirrored in the diversity of opinion within its leadership which included Millicent Fawcett, Lady Frances Balfour, Helen Blackburn, Priscilla Bright McLaren, Eleanor Rathbone and Eva Gore-Booth. Despite the formation of the new NUWSS, there was a marked decline in suffrage activity around the turn of the century as interests became focused on individual issues such as licensing and education while the Boer War overshadowed politics. A remedy for this inertia was sought through the National Convention in Defence of Civic Rights for Women, and in its wake the NUWSS's role changed as it began to implement a policy of creating local pressure committees financed and supported by the central body, creating more centralised planning. However, until 1906 their approach remained focused on supporting Private Members Bills in the House of Commons. The lack of success led some members to envisage a more radical method and in 1903 Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst founded the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in affiliation with the Independent Labour Party. Two years later, they left the North of England Society, and with it the NUWSS, to concentrate on the militant strand of the movement. The NUWSS continued alongside and subsequently in public opposition to the civil disobedience of the WSPU, preferring to persist in using constitutional means although they began to also undertake public activities such as marches, demonstrations, rallies and pageants in addition to their parliamentary work. By 1907, it was necessary to reorganise the system of regional federations due to their increasing numbers and which rose to nearly 500 by 1913. In addition, changes in the makeup of membership had an effect on the nature of the organisation. Increasing working-class participation, particularly in the Northwest, combined with disillusionment regarding the Liberal Party, which for decades had been their main parliamentary support, led to closer collaboration with the Labour Party. In 1912, the Labour Party made support for female suffrage part of its policy for the first time. When, that same year the NUWSS launched the Election Fighting Fund policy, which promised support to any party officially supporting suffrage in an election where the candidate was challenging an anti-suffrage Liberal, the effect was to effectively support the Labour Party. In 1914, dissension occurred in the NUWSS due to the groups' official stance of subordinating campaigning to support for war work. Many members, including a majority of the executive, left the group and many joined the Women's International League in 1915. However, political activity did not end: a National Union of Women's Interest committee was established to watch over the social, economic interests of women. Suffrage agitation was resumed in earnest in 1916, when the Consultative Committee of Constitutional Women's Suffrage Societies was established in Mar 1916 in response to the government proposed changes to the national electoral register, to take effect at the end of the First World War with the aim of petitioning the government for the inclusion of women's suffrage in the franchise Reform Bill. Consequently the NUWSS was key in the final creation of the women's franchise section of the Representation of the People Act of 1918. However, from Apr 1919, they redesigned their aims to promoting equality of franchise between men and women and allowing the affiliation of societies with this object, becoming the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship in the process.
Elsie Inglis (1864-1917) was a suffragist, doctor and founder of the Scottish Women's Hospitals movement. Inglis enrolled as a student at Sophia Jex-Blake's Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women in 1886 but in 1889 moved to the new Medical College for Women, founded by her father and influential friends. She completed her clinical training in Glasgow, qualified in Aug 1892, and then spent a year in London, working at Elizabeth Garrett Anderson's New Hospital for Women. It was in London that she first found herself working with suffragists, and with their encouragement took up public speaking. On her return to Scotland in 1894 Inglis became increasingly involved in suffrage work. She disapproved of militancy, and spoke regularly at meetings of the constitutional Edinburgh National Society for Women's Suffrage (ENSWS); as a professional woman who had worked in the slums and seen the effects of poverty, she was a convincing speaker, and much in demand. She subsequently became Honorary Secretary of both the ENSWS and of the Scottish Federation of Women's Suffrage Societies (SFWSS). In 1894 Inglis founded a small hospital for women and children in Edinburgh, The Hospice, while maintaining a consultant post at the Bruntsfield Hospital for women, and in 1911 the two hospitals were amalgamated under her directorship. Soon after war broke out in 1914, the 50 year old Inglis offered the services of a mobile women-run hospital unit to the Scottish military authorities, an offer that was firmly turned down. Undaunted, she went to the SFWSS for support, and it was under the aegis of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies that fundraising began. The first 'Scottish Women's Hospital' units were established by Jan 1915, and the organisation expanded rapidly till by the end of 1919 it had organised 14 hospitals in France, Serbia, Russia, Romania and Macedonia, all staffed by women, the largest and best-known being at the Abbey of Royaumont, in France. Elsie Inglis herself led two units in the Balkans between May 1915 and Oct 1917, despite being ill for the last year. She died in Nov 1917, a few days after her return to England, but her organisation continued its work well into 1920. In 1925 the surplus funds of the Scottish Women's Hospitals organisation were used to found the Elsie Inglis Memorial Maternity Hospital, which opened in 1925.
Unknown.
The Women's Freedom League (WFL) (1907-1961) was formed in Nov 1907 by dissenting members of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). The cause was the WSPU's lack of constitutional democracy, an issue that came to a head on the 10 Sep 1907. Mrs Pankhurst announced the cancellation of the annual conference due on the 12 Oct 1907 and the future governance of the party by a central committee appointed by herself, effectively overturning its original constitution. Several members, including Charlotte Despard, Edith How Martyn, Teresa Billington-Greig, Octavia Lewin, Anna Munro, Alice Schofield and Caroline Hodgeson, broke away and continued with the conference. Here, the new constitution was written which encoded a system of party democracy. Its first committee consisted of Despard as president and honorary treasurer, Billington-Greig as honorary organising secretary, honorary secretary Mrs How Martyn, and Mrs Coates Hanson, Miss Hodgeson, Irene Miller, Miss Fitzherbert, Mrs Drysdale, Miss Abadam, Mrs Winton-Evans, Mrs Dick, Mrs Cobden Sanderson, Mrs Bell, Mrs Holmes and Miss Mansell as members. The following month, they renamed themselves the WFL, having used the title of the WSPU until that time: this had prompted Mrs Pankhurst to add 'National' to the name of her own organisation for this brief spell. They classed themselves as a militant organisation, but refused to attack persons or property other than ballot papers, unlike the WSPU. Their actions included protests in and around the House of Commons and other acts of passive civil disobedience. Their activities in 1908 included attempts to present petitions to the king and have deputations received by cabinet ministers while further protests were held in the House of Commons such as Muriel Matters, Violet Tillard and Helen Fox chaining themselves to the grille in the Ladies gallery.
That same year, they were the only militant group to be invited by the National Union of Women's suffrage Societies to take part in the Hyde Park procession on 13 Jun 1908. Despard was the first woman to refuse to pay taxes as a protest, an action which quickly inspired others to form the Women's Tax Resistance League. These activities were expanded upon in Apr 1911 when women householders either spoilt or failed to complete their census forms. This escalation of action did not prevent them joining a Conciliation Bill committee with other suffrage groups in 1910 in response to Prime Minister Asquith's offer on a free vote on extensions to the franchise. A truce was called with the government until the failure of such a bill for the third time, but by 1912 the organisation had already announced that it would support Labour Party candidates against any of the government's Liberal candidates at elections. This practice of working with other groups was one which the WFL supported, having ongoing links with the International Women's Franchise Club, the International Women Suffrage Alliance and the Suffrage Atelier. During the early part of the First World War, like most of the other suffrage organisations, the League suspended its practical militant political action and began voluntary work, though not the 'war work' of the type advocated by other suffrage groups. The group formed a number of women's police services and a Woman Suffrage National Aid Corps that provided some help to women in financial difficulties and limited day care for children. Furthermore, in 1915, the WFL founded a National Service Organisation to place women in jobs. However, the following year, political activity began again when they joined the WSPU in a picket of the Electoral Reform Conference. When women were granted suffrage after the war, they continued their activities with a change of emphasis. The organisation now called for equality of suffrage between the sexes, women as commissioners of prisons, the opening of all professions to women, equal pay, right of a woman to retain her own nationality on marriage, equal moral standards and representation of female peers in the House of Lords and they continued with this programme of social equality until the dissolution of the group in 1961.
The Women's Freedom League (WFL) (1907-1961) was formed in Nov 1907 by dissenting members of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). The cause was the WSPU's lack of constitutional democracy, an issue that came to a head on the 10 Sep 1907. Mrs Pankhurst announced the cancellation of the annual conference due on the 12 Oct 1907 and the future governance of the party by a central committee appointed by herself, effectively overturning its original constitution. Several members, including Charlotte Despard, Edith How Martyn, Teresa Billington-Greig, Octavia Lewin, Anna Munro, Alice Schofield and Caroline Hodgeson, broke away and continued with the conference. Here, the new constitution was written which encoded a system of party democracy. Its first committee consisted of Despard as president and honorary treasurer, Billington-Greig as honorary organising secretary, honorary secretary Mrs How Martyn, and Mrs Coates Hanson, Miss Hodgeson, Irene Miller, Miss Fitzherbert, Mrs Drysdale, Miss Abadam, Mrs Winton-Evans, Mrs Dick, Mrs Cobden Sanderson, Mrs Bell, Mrs Holmes and Miss Mansell as members. The following month, they renamed themselves the WFL, having used the title of the WSPU until that time: this had prompted Mrs Pankhurst to add 'National' to the name of her own organisation for this brief spell. They classed themselves as a militant organisation, but refused to attack persons or property other than ballot papers, unlike the WSPU. Their actions included protests in and around the House of Commons and other acts of passive civil disobedience. Their activities in 1908 included attempts to present petitions to the King and have deputations received by cabinet ministers while further protests were held in the House of Commons such as Muriel Matters, Violet Tillard and Helen Fox chaining themselves to the grille in the Ladies gallery. That same year, they were the only militant group to be invited by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies to take part in the Hyde Park procession on 13 Jun 1908. Despard was the first woman to refuse to pay taxes as a protest, an action which quickly inspired others to form the Women's Tax Resistance League. These activities were expanded upon in Apr 1911 when women householders either spoilt or failed to complete their census forms. This escalation of action did not prevent them joining a Conciliation Bill committee with other suffrage groups in 1910 in response to Prime Minister Asquith's offer on a free vote on extensions to the franchise. A truce was called with the Government until the failure of such a bill for the third time, but by 1912 the organisation had already announced that it would support Labour Party candidates against any of the Government's Liberal candidates at elections. This practice of working with other groups was one which the WFL supported, having ongoing links with the International Women's Franchise Club, the International Women Suffrage Alliance and the Suffrage Atelier. During the early part of the First World War, like most of the other suffrage organisations, the League suspended its practical militant political action and began voluntary work, though not the 'war work' of the type advocated by other suffrage groups. The group formed a number of women's police services and a Woman Suffrage National Aid Corps that provided some help to women in financial difficulties and limited day care for children. Furthermore, in 1915, the WFL founded a National Service Organisation to place women in jobs. However, the following year, political activity began again when they joined the WSPU in a picket of the Electoral Reform Conference. When women were granted suffrage after the war, they continued their activities with a change of emphasis. The organisation now called for equality of suffrage between the sexes, women as commissioners of prisons, the opening of all professions to women, equal pay, right of a woman to retain her own nationality on marriage, equal moral standards and representation of female peers in the House of Lords and they continued with this programme of social equality until the dissolution of the group in 1961.