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Unknown.

Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence (1867-1954) was the daughter of West Country businessman Henry Pethick. In 1891 she left her home in Weston-super-Mare to become a volunteer with the Sisterhood of the West London Mission and she subsequently went on, with Mary Neal, to undertake a variety of philanthropic activities with working girls in London. In 1901 she married the newspaper publisher Frederick Lawrence. Emmeline became involved with the activities of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1906, acting as treasurer, and was arrested and imprisoned for the cause. In October 1907 the Pethick-Lawrences founded the suffrage paper Votes for Women to which Emmeline was a regular contributor. In 1912, following a rift with the Pankhursts, the Pethick-Lawrences left the WSPU, although they retained control of Votes for Women (which was henceforward published under the auspices of the Votes for Women Fellowship) and Emmeline continued her suffragist activities. Following the outbreak of the First World War Emmeline became involved in peace campaigning, a cause to which she devoted the rest of her campaigning career. In the inter-war period she was also active in the Women's Freedom League, the Open Door Council and the Six Point Group. She died in 1954.

Edith How-Martyn (1875-1954) nee How, mathematician, suffragist and birth control campaigner, was an early member of the Women's Social and Political Union, one of the founders of the Women's Freedom League in 1907 and the first female member of the Middlesex County Council (1919-1922). She was also the founder of the Birth Control Information Centre in 1929 and remained active in this movement, along with establishing the Suffragette Fellowship in 1926. At the outbreak of the Second World War she moved to Australia and due to ill-health remained in that country until she died in 1954.

Lucy Adela Jenner (b.1859) was the only daughter of Sir William Jenner (1815-1898) and Adela Lucy Leman Adey. William Jenner was physician to Queen Victoria. He married in 1858. Lucy was born in 1859, followed by five brothers.

Unknown.

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.

Adelaide Mary Anderson (1863-1936) was the daughter of Alexander Gavin Anderson, a Scottish ship-owner, and Blanche Emily Campbell. She was born in Melbourne, Australia but her family returned to Europe when she was a child. She was educated by a governess at home and then at a school in Dresden, at Queen's College in Harley Street and Girton College, Cambridge where she studied for the Moral Sciences Tripos. She was a lecturer for the Women's Co-operative Guild and was offering private tuition when, in 1892, she joined the staff of the Royal Commission on Labour and became a civil servant. This subsequently led to her appointment in 1894 as one of the first women factory inspectors in the Home Office. She was HM Chief Lady Inspector of Factories from 1897-1921, where her work encompassed many aspects of the employment of women and young persons, including industrial health and safety, the dangerous trades, working hours and conditions and welfare. After her retirement from the Home Office, she continued her interest in working conditions for women and children, becoming particularly interested in conditions in China. She visited China three times. In 1923-1924 she became a member of the Commission on Child Labour under the auspices of the Municipal Council of the International Settlement of Shanghai. In 1926 she was a member of the Advisory Committee China Indemnity of the Foreign Office (Willingdon Mission) and of the delegation to China, and in 1931 served on a mission for the International Labour Office to Nanking, regarding a factory inspectorate for China. She worked for the Foreign Office on the Boxer Indemnity Fund. She was also a member of the Universities China Committee in London, 1932-1937. In 1930 she also visited Egypt to enquire into conditions of child labour. In addition, she travelled to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Anderson wrote and lectured widely and her publications include Women in the Factory: An Administrative Adventure, 1893-1921 (1922) and Humanity and Labour in China: An Industrial Visit and its Sequel, 1923-1926 (1928).

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.

Helen Mary Wilson (1864-1951) was born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. She was the daughter of Henry J Wilson (1833-1914), MP for Holmfirth, and Charlotte Cowan. Helen was educated at Sheffield High School for Girls, Bedford College London and the London School of Medicine for Women. She became House Surgeon to the London Temperance Hospital in 1892 and then entered private practice in Sheffield where she worked from 1893-1906. In addition to her medical career, Helen Wilson carried on her father's campaigning work against the state regulation of prostitution and was Honorary Secretary and President of the Association for Moral and Social Hygiene. Her other voluntary activities included settlement and probation work and serving as a JP. In addition, Helen Wilson was President of the Sheffield Women's Suffrage Society, which was a branch of the North of England Suffrage Society. She died in 1951.

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.

Maud Isabel Crofts (1889-) née Ingram was born in 1889, the daughter of a barrister, Thomas Lewis Ingram. She was educated at Hamilton House School, Tunbridge Wells and at Girton College Cambridge (1908-1912) where she studied history and law. She was among the group of Oxbridge women who took the Law Society to court in 1913 over its refusal to allow women to qualify as solicitors. She became the first woman to be articled (in 1919) and to take out a practising certificate as a solicitor (1922). In 1922 she married John Cecil Crofts, also a solicitor. She wrote, lectured and broadcast on legal topics and in 1925 she published a volume entitled, Women under English Law with a foreword by Dame Millicent Fawcett. Amongst her other activities, Maud was a member of the Executive Committee of the National Council of Women.

(Marie) Cécile Matheson (c 1870-1950) was educated privately and at Bedford College, London. She did not proceed to a degree, but studied English Language, Latin and Maths for two years, additionally taking French and Physics in her second year. She matriculated in Class II in 1892. Cécile worked as a teacher and secretary, moving to Birmingham and living at Selly Oak from 1904. She participated in club work and wrote Women Work and Wages with Edward Cadbury and Clr. George Shann. In 1906 she took up a post at the Birmingham Women's Settlement (Summer Lane) as joint warden (junior to Miss Allbright), becoming sole warden from 1910-1916. In this post she became well known and did much public speaking, leaving only after wartime conditions and staff shortages caused her health to fail. While at Birmingham, Cécile was a prominent member of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. In Aug 1911 she did a caravan tour in Shropshire, speaking on women's suffrage for Common Cause. She was also a supporter of the temperance movement, serving on the Women's Advisory Committee: Board of Liquor Control (1915). After leaving the Settlement Cécile was a member of the Departmental Committee on Old Age Pensions (1919) and the Cutlery Safeguarding Enquiry: Board of Trade (1925). She lectured on social economics for the Delegacies of Extra-Mural Studies of the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and London and undertook research and commissions in England, Europe, India and the USA for the Board of Education and various government and private enquiries. She was a member of the British Industrial Court and served on Trade Boards. Cécile Matheson published widely on women's wages and employment, the teaching of domestic science, citizenship, Indian industry and social work and welfare. She was active in the Women's Industrial Welfare Society, the London Council of Social Service and the National Women Citizen's Association. Cécile Matheson was obviously very well known in her day and, unusually for a woman of her generation, featured in Who's Who. On leaving Birmingham she said ‘I came here a theoretical suffragist and I leave here thinking it is one of the most important of pregnant and urgent reform problems of the country'. She died 28 Apr 1950.

The club named the Women's Institute (1897-1928) predated the more famous National Federation of Women's Institutes by almost two decades and was of a very different character. It was founded in 1897 at 15 Grosvenor Crescent by Mrs Nora Wynford Philipps and was intended to be a centre for women involved in the professions, education, social and philanthropic work. It was also intended to make other societies' work better known through its information bureau and co-operated with the Central Bureau for the Employment of Women regularly. It initially held weekly debates and 'at homes' run by the Executive Committee and organised a musical society, an art society, a recreational department, a circulating library, and a voluntary workers' society for philanthropic work. It also organised a secretarial department that undertook the training of typists and book keepers as well as an employment service for its members. At the same time it acted as a centre for the organisation of social and educational activities and a centre for research and dissemination of information on various subjects. It was responsible for the publication of several works such as Mrs Sidgwick's 'The Place of University Education in the Life of Women', pamphlet versions of lectures and the 'Dictionary of Employments Open to Women'. By the turn of the century it had over 800 members and maintained links with over 45 other groups, making it necessary to move to its second location at 92 Victoria Street from where a large range of other feminist organisations operated. In 1916 it was responsible for the opening of the Women's Club for the wives and mothers of servicemen and during the First World War gave rooms to the British Women's Patriotic League, the London School of Needlework, the Women's Local Government Society and the Head Mistresses Association amongst others. After the war, it was the location of meetings of the Dexter Club, the Censorship Club and the association for former members of the Scottish Women's Hospitals. While is appears to have still been active in 1925, activities ceased some time around 1928.

The Central Employment Bureau for Women (1899-1974) was established in 1899 and provided employment advice for women through the twice-monthly journal Women's Employment. In the years 1913-1914 it established The Women's Employment Publishing Company Ltd to continue with this and to produce other occasional publications. In addition to the main periodical, the press was also responsible for the publication of numerous editions of 'Careers (later, 'and Vocational Training'): A Guide to the Professions and Occupations of Educated Women and Girls', 'The Finger Post', 'Hints on how to find work' and 'Open Doors for Women Workers'. Despite a decline in the number of readers the company survived and continued publishing 'Women's Employment' until 1974. The Bureau seems to have ceased functioning at around the same date.

The Women's Employment Publishing Company Ltd (1913-1974) was established by the Central Employment Bureau for Women around 1913-1914 in order to deal with its publications. The Central Bureau had been issuing the twice-monthly journal 'Women's Employment' since 1899 and other occasional publications in connection with their work and the Women's Employment Publishing Company continued this work from the head office in Russell Square. In addition to the main periodical, the press was also responsible for the publication of numerous editions of 'Careers (later, and 'Vocational Training'): 'A Guide to the Professions and Occupations of Educated Women and Girls', 'The Finger Post', 'Hints on how to find work' and 'Open Doors for Women Workers'. The directors just before the outbreak of the Second World War were H John Faulk (Chair), Miss ER Unmack (Managing Director) and Miss AE Hignell (secretary). Despite problems caused by this disruption and a decline in the number of readers in this period, the company survived and continued publishing 'Women's Employment' until 1974. The Bureau seems to have ceased functioning at around the same date.

Not known.

The Women's Employment Publishing Company Ltd was established by the Central Employment Bureau for Women around 1913/14 in order to deal with its publications. The Central Bureau had been issuing the twice-monthly journal 'Women's Employment' since 1899 and other occasional publications in connection with their work and it was this that the Women's Employment Publishing Company continued from the parent organisation's offices in Russell Square. In addition to the main periodical, the press was also responsible for the publication of numerous editions of 'Careers [later, 'and Vocational Training']: A Guide to the Professions and Occupations of Educated Women and Girls', 'The Finger Post', 'Hints on how to find work' and 'Open Doors for Women Workers'. The directors just before the outbreak of the Second World War were H John Faulk (Chairman), Miss E R Unmack (Managing Director) and Miss A E Hignell (secretary). Despite problems cause by this disruption and a decline in the number of readers in this period, the company survived and continued publishing 'Women's Employment' until 1974.

Unknown.

Eunice Guthrie Murray (1877-1960) was born in Cardross, Dunbartonshire, the youngest daughter of David Murray, a Glasgow lawyer, and Frances Porter Stoddard. She was educated at St Leonard's School, St Andrews and was active in local charitable and temperance activities. Along with her mother and her sister, Sylvia Murray, she joined the Women's Freedom League and by 1913 was President of the League in Scotland. In 1918 she became the first woman to stand in a parliamentary election in Scotland, as an independent candidate in Glasgow, although she was unsuccessful. Eunice was the author of many works including Scottish Women of Bygone Days (1930); A Gallery of Scottish Women (1935) and a novel, The Hidden Tragedy (1917). Eunice Murray was awarded an MBE in 1945. She died in 1960.

Millicent Garrett Fawcett (1847-1929) was born in Suffolk in 1847, the daughter of Newson and Louisa Garrett and the sister of Samuel Garrett, Agnes Garrett, Louise Smith and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. The sisters' early interest in the issue of women's suffrage and commitment to the Liberal party were heightened after attending a speech given in London by John Stuart Mill in Jul 1865. Though considered too young to sign the petition in favour of votes for women, which was presented to the House of Commons in 1866, Millicent attended the debate on the issue in May 1867. This occurred a month after she married the professor of political economy and radical Liberal MP for Brighton, Henry Fawcett. Throughout their marriage, the future cabinet minister supported his wife's activities while she acted as his secretary due to his blindness. Their only child, Philippa Fawcett, was born the following year and that same month Millicent Garrett Fawcett published her first article, on the education of women. In Jul 1867, Millicent Garrett Fawcett was asked to join the executive committee of the London National Society for Women's Suffrage and was one of the speakers at its first public meeting two years later. She continued her work with the London National Society until after the death of John Stuart Mill in 1874, when she left the organisation to work with the Central Committee for Women's Suffrage. This was a step which she had avoided taking when the latter was formed in 1871 due to its public identification with the campaign for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts. Fawcett, despite her support for the movement's actions, had initially believed that the suffrage movement might be damaged by identification with such controversial work. However, the two groups later merged in 1877 as the new Central Committee for Women's Suffrage and a new executive committee was formed which included Fawcett herself. Her influence helped guide the group towards support for moderate policies and methods. She did little public speaking during this period but after the death of her husband in 1884 and a subsequent period of depression, she was persuaded to become a touring speaker once more in 1886 and began to devote her time to the work of the women's suffrage movement. In addition to women's suffrage Millicent Garrett Fawcett also became involved in the newly created National Vigilance Association, established in 1885, alongside campaigners such as J Stansfeld MP, Mr WT Stead, Mrs Mitchell, and Josephine Butler.

In 1894 Fawcett's interest in public morality led her to vigorously campaign against the candidature of Henry Cust as Conservative MP for North Manchester. Cust, who had been known to have had several affairs, had seduced a young woman. Despite marrying Cust's marriage in 1893, after pressure from Balfour, Fawcett felt Cust was unfit for public office. Fawcett's campaign persisted until Cust's resignation in 1895, with some suffrage supporters concerned by Fawcett's doggedness in what they felt was a divisive campaign. In the late nineteenth century, the women's suffrage movement was closely identified with the Liberal Party through its traditional support for their work and the affiliation of many workers such as Fawcett herself. However, the party was, at this time, split over the issue of Home Rule for Ireland. Fawcett herself left the party to become a Liberal Unionist and helped lead the Women's Liberal Unionist Association. When it was proposed that the Central Committee's constitution should be changed to allow political organisations, and principally the Women's Liberal Federation, to affiliate, Fawcett opposed this and became the Honorary Treasurer when the majority of members left to form the Central National Society for Women's Suffrage. However, in 1893 she became one of the leading members of the Special Appeal Committee that was formed to repair the divisions in the movement. On the 19 Oct 1896 she was asked to preside over the joint meetings of the suffrage societies, which resulted in the geographical division of the country and the formation of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. She was appointed as the honorary secretary of the Central and Eastern Society that year and became a member of the parliamentary committee of the NUWSS itself. It was not until the parent group's reorganisation in 1907 that she was elected president of the National Union, a position that she would retain until 1919.

By 1901, she was already eminent enough to be one of the first women appointed to sit on a Commission of Inquiry into the concentration camps created for Boer civilians by the British during the Boer War. Despite this, her work for suffrage never slackened and she was one of the leaders of the Mud March held in Feb 1907 as well as of the NUWSS procession from Embankment to the Albert Hall in Jun 1908. She became one of the Fighting Fund Committee in 1912 and managed the aftermath of the introduction of the policy, in particular during the North West Durham by-election in 1914, when other members opposed a step that effectively meant supporting the Labour Party when an anti-suffrage Liberal candidate was standing in a constituency. When the First World War broke out in Aug 1914, Fawcett called for the suspension of the NUWSS' political work and a change in activities to facilitate war work. This stance led to divisions in the organisation. The majority of its officers and ten of the executive committee resigned when she vetoed their attendance of a Women's Peace Congress in the Hague in 1915. However, she retained her position in the group. During the war, she also found time to become involved in the issue of women's social, political and educational status in India, an area in which she had become interested through her husband and retained after the conflict came to an end. She remained at the head of the NUWSS when the women's suffrage clause was added to the Representation of the People Act in 1918 and attended the Women's Peace Conference in Paris before lobbying the governments assembled there for the Peace Conference in 1919. She retired in Mar 1919 when the NUWSS became the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship but remained on its executive committee. She also continued her activities as the vice-president of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, to which she had been elected in 1902, for another year. After this she became the Chair of the journal, the 'Women's Leader', and appointed a Dame of the British Empire in 1925. It was in that year that she resigned from both NUSEC and the newspaper's board after opposing the organisation's policy in support of family allowances. She remained active until the end of her life, undertaking a trip to the Far East with her sister Agnes only a short time before her death in 1929.

The Women's Royal Naval Service (1916-1993) (WRNS), members known as Wrens, was formed in 1916 during the First World War. The Royal Navy was the first of the armed forces to recruit women and the Wrens took over the role of cooks, clerks, wireless telegraphists, code experts and electricians. In Nov 1917, Katharine Furse, the former Commander-in-Chief of the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD), was appointed director. The women were so successful that other organizations such as the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) and the Women's Royal Air Force were established. By the end of the war, in Nov 1918, the WRNS had 5,000 ratings and nearly 450 officers. The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) of the First World War was demobilized in 1919 and was not reformed until Apr 1939. The main objective was for women to replace certain personnel in order to release men for active service. At first the Wrens were recruited from navy families living near the ports. During the Second World War the Women's Royal Naval Service was expanded rapidly. Between Dec 1939 and Jun 1945 numbers increased from 3,400 to 72,000.

The duties were expanded and included flying transport planes. WRNS units were attached to most naval shore establishment in Britain. A large number of women served abroad in both the Middle East and the Far East. Some members of the service were employed in highly secret naval communications duties. The Wrens remained in existence until 1993, when women were fully integrated into the Royal Navy.

Katharine Furse [née Symonds] (1875-1952) was born in Bristol, on 23 Nov 1875. She married Charles Wellington Furse (1868-1904), the painter in 1900, but he died four years later. In 1909 she joined the first Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachments (VAD) attached to the Territorial Army. In the First World War (1914-1918) she was involved in setting up VAD stations in France and London. In 1916 she was appointed the First Commander in Chief Women's VAD and in 1917 Director Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS, also known as the Wrens). She was created a Dame in 1917. She was a keen skier and was involved with the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.

The British Women's Emigration Association (BWEA)(1901-1919) was founded in 1901. The effort to encourage educated middle class women to emigrate in an effort to relieve the pressures of population growth and the perceived problem of the number of 'superfluous' unmarried women, led to the foundation of several organisations to assist the latter group. In 1884, several former members of the Women's Emigration Society came together to form the United Englishwoman's Emigration Register, which would go on to become the United Englishwoman's Emigration Association in Feb 1884. Its aims were to emigrate women of good character, to ensure their safety during and after their travel and to keep in touch with them for some time after their arrival. In Nov 1885, Ellen Joyce and Mrs Adelaide Ross replaced Miss Louisa Hubbard at the head of the organisation. By 1888, the group began to work in co-operation with the Scotch Girl's Friendly Association and the Scottish YWCA, prompting a change of name. The following year the new United British Women's Emigration Association changed the original constitution, centralising what had been a loose grouping of independent workers and outlining their responsibilities, roles and relationships. Their expansion continued, from the establishment of Irish and Scottish branches in 1889 to one in Staffordshire and one for Wiltshire and Somerset that same year, while another was established in Bath in 1891. Homes for emigrants waiting to depart were created in Liverpool in 1887 and in London in 1893. The majority of emigrants which passed through them in the 1890s were destined for Canada, New Zealand or Australia, but towards the end of the century, the flow of emigrants to South Africa increased to such a degree that it became necessary to set up a South African Expansion Scheme Committee. This would go on to become the independent South African Colonisation Society. In 1901, the parent organisation dropped the 'united' element of its name and continued to expand in their own fields, opening a hostel at Kelowna in British Colombia in 1913. After the outbreak of the First World War the number of emigrants declined. In 1917, a Joint Council of Women's Emigration Societies was established to deal with the situation after the war and liaise with central government. This co-operation between the British Women's Emigration Association, the Colonial Intelligence League and the South African Colonisation Society finally resulted in their amalgamation into the Society for the Overseas Settlement of British Women in Dec 1919.

The Colonial Intelligence League (1910-1919) was founded on the 23 Feb 1910 as the Committee of Colonial Intelligence for Educated Women, partly to deal with the perceived problem of 'surplus' women and partly to colonise South Africa with British citizens after the Boer War. Its aim was to investigate demand for services and personnel in diverse areas and provide relevant information for those women wishing to undertake careers abroad as domestic staff, teachers or clerical workers. The League was to work alongside other organisations such as the British Women's Emigration Association and the South African Colonisation Society that provided the machinery of emigration and its committee included members drawn from their ranks, as well as representatives of the Central Bureau of Employment for Women. However, in 1911 it became closely associated with the Headmistresses' Association. On the 2 Mar 1911 of that year, it was decided to dissolve, the League and re-establish the body under the name of the Colonial Intelligence League with an executive committee that was half constituted by members of the association. Branches were established in Edinburgh and Glasgow and local secretaries were also appointed in the provinces. In Dec 1915, finance, literature and county organisation subcommittees were established. The activities of the league were concentrated on emigration to Canada until 1914 and a farm settlement was established in the Okanagan Valley as a training centre - 'The Princess Patricia Ranch'. Prominent officers of Colonial Intelligence League included the Hon. Mrs Norman Grosvenor and Mrs John Buchan. Emigration dwindled during the First World War and in 1917 it was decided to form a federation with the British Women's Emigration Association and the South African Colonisation Society to be named the Joint Council of Women's Emigration Societies. This was to be a central body which co-ordinated women's emigration after the war and liase with the government. Full merger of the Colonial Intelligence League with the two other organisations did not occur until 1919, after government pressure was applied to centralise funding of the schemes and widen the scope of their activities. The amalgamation resulted in the creation of the Society for the Overseas Settlement of British Women.

The Female Middle Class Emigration Society (1862-1908) was founded in 1862. The population explosion in England during the first half of the nineteenth century led government policy to encourage large scale emigration, while simultaneous concerns over the number of 'superfluous', unmarried women led to projects to stimulate female emigration. At the Social Sciences conference of 1860, Bessie Parkes advocated emigration as a solution to the population. This was also the belief and advice of Miss Maria S Rye after her experiences in the Society for Promoting Employment of Women, when she was deluged with applicants for a limited number of posts. She herself helped twenty-two women emigrate before attending the 1861 Social Sciences conference, when she appealed for help in establishing a new society to these ends. The Female Middle Class Emigration Society (FMCES) was therefore founded in May 1862 at 12 Portugal Street by a group which included Maria Rye, Jane E. Lewin, Emily Faithfull and Elizabeth (Bessie) Rayner Parkes, with the fund-raising assistance of Barbara Bodichon and with Lord Shaftsbury as its first president. Its stated aims were to assist middle class women who did not benefit from the government sponsorship for which working class women were eligible. Financed by public subscription and private donation, the society aimed to provide interest-free loans to enable educated women to emigrate. In addition, it established contacts at both departure and arrival points (mainly colonial ports). The first party, which included Maria Rye, was sent out to New Zealand in the autumn of 1862. At this point, Jane Lewin took over as Secretary, running the organisation from Sep 1862. Difficulties arose when it became clear that employers wanted working class domestics rather than middle-class governess and Rye, on her return in 1865, left to work with the emigrating working class with a particular interest in children's emigration. Lewin continued to concentrate on recruiting educators. In 1872, a further appeal for financial help was issued as the restricted funds which the society had at its disposal were limiting the number of emigrants being sent abroad. Lewin retired as secretary in 1881 to be replaced by Miss Strongitharm. The Female Middle Class Emigration Society was never a wealthy organisation and from 1884 to 1886 the funds were administered by the Colonial Emigration Society (CES) under Miss Julia Blake, its Secretary. The FMES was officially absorbed into the CES in 1886. In 1892 arrangements were made for the United British Women's Emigration Association to administer the loan fund. In 1908 Miss Lewin retired, and the Female Middle Class Emigration Society's later history is bound up with the British Women's Emigration Association.

South African Colonisation Society (1902-1919) was established in a period when British society perceived to have a problem of 'surplus' single women in Britain and several emigration schemes to lessen this number came into existence. The South African Colonisation Society was the inheritor of the South African Expansion Scheme Committee established in 1899. Its purpose had been to act as a provisional subcommittee of the United British Women's Emigration Association, its task, to expand British colonising emigration to South Africa after the Boer War. This administrative framework continued until 1901 when it became a separate committee and by 1902 it had set up it own committees on education, work in counties, drawing room meetings and a shipping sub-committee. In 1903 it became an independent body functioning under the name of the South African Colonisation Society and continued as such until after the First World War. In the immediate post-war period, it helped co-ordinate female emigration as part of the Joint Council of Women's Emigration Societies. This was to be a central body which co-ordinated women's emigration after the war and liased with the government. Full merger of the South African Colonisation Society with the two other organisations did not occur until 1919, after government pressure was applied to centralise funding of the schemes and widen the scope of their activities. The amalgamation resulted in the creation of the Society for the Overseas Settlement of British Women.

The South African Colonisation Society (1902-1919), an offshoot of the United British Women's Emigration Association, was originally founded in 1899 as a South African Subcommittee when the United British Women's Emigration Association became very occupied with furthering emigration to the colonies there. From 1901 the committee was known as the South African Expansion Scheme Committee (SAX). By the end of 1902 the South African Colonisation Society had set up committees for education, work in counties, drawing-room meetings and a Shipping Subcommittee. During World War I there was very little emigration, and the South African Colonisation Society, Colonial Intelligence League and British Women's Emigration Association participated in a Joint Council of Women's Emigration Societies, all dissolving and amalgamating in 1919 as the Society for the Overseas Settlement of British Women.

The Society for the Overseas Settlement of British Women (SOSBW) (1919-1962) was established as a direct response to the economic and social position of British women after the end of the First World War. Many women who had been trained for jobs vacated by enlisted men found themselves unemployed after 1918 and in financial hardship. Emigration to parts of the Empire was regarded as a solution to this problem. At this point, the British Government established its Overseas Settlement Committee to deal with general emigration, but when dealing with women emigrants, it was decided the its Overseas Settlement Committee would work through the existing voluntary body, the Joint Council of Women's Emigration Societies (1917-1919). The Joint Council comprised the Colonial Intelligence League, the British Women's Emigration Association and the South African Colonisation Society.

In Dec 1919, aiming to respond to the governments needs more closely, the three amalgamated to form the Society for the Overseas Settlement of British Women. On the new council were representatives from the Girls' Friendly Society, the World's Young Women's Christian Association (YMCA), the ex-Servicewomen's Association and the Women's Labour Organisation, the Women's Catholic Emigration Society, the National Federation of General Workers, the Joint Committee of the Industrial Women's Organisation, the National Amalgamated Society of Women Workers, the Ministry of Labour and the Overseas Settlement Committee. The new organisation advised the Overseas Settlement Committee on government policy regarding emigrating women, as well as assessing an individual's suitability for emigration and overseeing the passage, safety and employment of those chosen.

With the increase of emigration in the 1920s, the organisation grew, creating a junior branch in Jul 1925. It additionally organised tours for schoolgirls of Canada (1928 and 1936) and Australia (1934). These tours ceased upon the outbreak of World War Two when the Council assisted the evacuation of children.

The new Companies Act of 1948 led to a reorganisation and in 1949 the new advisory council, comprised of representatives from: the Ministry of Labour and National service, the Women's Land Services, the Women's Land Army, the Headmistresses' Association, the British Council and the Standing Joint Committee of Working Women's Organisations, also representatives of voluntary societies such as the Family Welfare Association, Girls' Friendly Society, Girl Guides Association, the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), the Mother's Union, the National Association of Girls' Clubs and Mixed Clubs, the National Council of Social Service, the Victoria League and the National Council of Women. Its remit expanded to include helping women who wished to spend only short periods abroad and assisting with arrangements before and after the voyage. With this in mind, the society was renamed the Women's Migration and Overseas Appointments Society in 1962. However, withdrawal of funding by the Treasury resulted in the end of the society in 1964.

At the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, the economic position of actresses was precarious due both to the nature of their work and the inequality of rates of pay between themselves and their male colleagues. Influenced by the argument that working women needed the vote to improve their economic and working conditions, the Actresses' Franchise League was founded in 1908 by Gertrude Elliot, Winifred Mayo, Sime Seruya and Adeline Bourne. The first meeting was held in December of that year in the Criterion Restaurant in London and was attended by nearly four hundred actresses. Membership was open to those of the profession who wished to support efforts to achieve suffrage for women and the main office was established in the Adelphi Theatre. At the first meeting, it was decided that the group should not affiliate to either the constitutional National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies or the militant Women's Social and Political Union as many individual members were already part of one or the other. However, by 1909, leaders in the Women's Social and Political Union and the Women's Freedom League were regularly being asked to address their meetings. A number of members who held non-militant views, including the Vice president, Irene Vanburgh, consequently resigned from the group in 1910. However, few actresses involved with the organisation took part in militant action as this could have disastrous consequences on their careers, as another member, Kitty Marion, discovered.

By 1911, provincial branches had been created in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Eastbourne and Liverpool and members included Cicley Hamilton, Ellen Terry, Edith Craig, Lena Ashwell, Sybil Thorndyke, May Whittey, Eva Moore, Lillah McCarthey and Elizabeth Robins. It held some meetings and distributed literature but its initial principle role was to support the work of other organisations' campaigns. It regularly put local suffrage organisations in touch with its touring members so that the latter could offer their services in that area by staging suffrage events, speaking at lectures, reciting and writing plays. In 1912 the League became part of the Federated Council of Suffrage Societies and in 1913 a men's group was added. It was around this time that the group undertook a new activity: the creation of the independent Women's Theatre Company, an extension of propaganda and pageant work hitherto carried out for others. Over time, the close links with the WSPU faded and those with the NUWSS and the Men's League for Women's Suffrage grew stronger. Membership rose from 360 in 1910 to 900 in 1914. However, less that two weeks after the start of the First World War, normal activities were suspended and members joined with the Women's Freedom League and the Tax Resisters';s League to form the Women's Emergency Corps. This began to lay the foundations of a register for women who were willing to take part in war work. In addition, from 1915 the Actresses Franchise League helped organise the British Women's Hospital. However, when this work was treated with indifference by the government, their efforts were transferred to creating a Theatre Camps Entertainments group which toured military bases throughout the country. Though it took little active role in the post-war campaigns for an equal franchise for women, the organisation continued in existence until 1934.

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 ASL was established in January 1907 in order to assist with the preparations for the 'Mud March' organised by the NUWSS in February 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 Hedly 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 NUWSS.

The Consultative Committee of Constitutional Women's Suffrage Societies (1916-1918) was established in Mar 1916 by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies in response to the government proposed changes to the national electoral register, to take effect at the end of the First World War. Its first meeting was held on 5th May and on the committee were representatives of twenty societies, with three more joining the following year. The first Chair elected was Eleanor Rathbone, the honorary secretary was Dr Gwynne Vaughn (replaced by Miss Ayrton Gould in 1917), the treasurer was the Countess of Selborne and the secretary was Helen Wright. It was through the medium of this committee that the suffrage societies co-ordinated the constituent societies efforts and petitioned the government for the inclusion of women's suffrage in the franchise Reform Bill. The committee's efforts were initially unsuccessful: the government's Electoral Reform conference that took place in Oct 1916 to address the issue initially refused to allow the Consultative Committee to give evidence. However, when Asquith was deposed from the premiership in Dec 1916, they were able to present their arguments to the authorities. In particular, the Consultative Committee was able to organise a Joint Parliamentary Committee comprising an equal number of MPs and women's representatives, which was active during the passage of the bill and produced a report in Jun 1917. When the prospect of a positive outcome became clear, the Consultative Committee called a conference in Jan 1918 to consider the possibility of joint action by Women's Societies after the passing of the Electoral Bill in the fields of political, economic and social equality between the sexes. The constitution was changed to accommodate these changes and 1918 it became the Consultative Committee of Women's Societies Working for Equal Citizenship.

The Hitchin, Stevenage and District Women's Suffrage Society (1909-1918) was originally established as the North Herts Women's Suffrage Association in 1909 with Lord Lytton as its president and with Lady Constance Lytton and Lady Betty Balfour as members. By 1911 the organisation had expanded to such an extent that it was necessary to split it into two separate bodies: the Hitchin, Stevenage and District Women's Suffrage Society and the Letchworth and District Women's Suffrage Society. Both were affiliated to the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. This remained the situation until 1918 when the HSDWSS became a Women's Citizenship Association.

The decision to establish the International Alliance of Women was taken in Washington in 1902 as part of an annual convention of the National American Women Suffrage Association, although it took some nine months to come to fruition. It was originally named the International Woman Suffrage Committee, with Susan B Anthony as president, Vida Goldstein of Australia as secretary and with a committee of five members. This committee consisted of the secretary, Britain's representative Florence Fenwick Miller, Rachel Avery of the USA, Mrs Antoine Stolle of Germany and Mrs Gundrun Drewson of Norway. At this date, it was envisaged as a central bureau to collect, exchange and disseminate information on suffrage work internationally. Its objects were: (1) To secure enfranchisement for the women of all nations, by the promotion of woman suffrage and all such other reforms as are necessary to establish a real equality of liberties, status and opportunities between men and women, and (2) to urge women to use their rights and influence in public life to ensure that the status of every individual, without distinction of sex, race or creed, shall be based on respect for human personality, the only guarantee for individual freedom. A second conference was held in Berlin in 1904 at which the organisation was formally constituted. A third took place in 1906, the same year that its periodical Jus Suffragii was created. Work progressed despite some dissension produced by conflicts at national level. One such incident occurred that same year when Millicent Fawcett challenged the Women's Social and Political Union's representative Dora Montefiore. However, by June 1911, 24 associations were affiliated. The group continued throughout the First World War, although members' opinions were divided over the issue of pacifism, which led to the creation of another body, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in 1915. At the end of the conflict, representatives from its ranks attended the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 to work with some of the special commissions that touched on women's interests internationally. With the extension of the franchise to women in a number of countries after the Great War, there was some discussion of disbanding the organisation. However, it was decided that it should go on after a conference in Geneva in 1920, divided into franchised and non-franchised sections. The next conference three years later took place in Rome where the leadership passed from Carrie Chapman Catt to Margery Corbett Ashby. The organisation of the group was also changed, due to the increased sized of the group (38 affiliated members in 1923). From this point there was an increasing number of special committees on subject areas such as equal pay and the right to work, equal moral standards and the status of wives and mothers. The 1926 conference in Paris responded to this widening of their areas of interest by changing the name of the organisation to the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship. By 1929 the organisation took as its five principles 1. equal suffrage 2. working for peace and human solidarity 3. equal access to education as a means of attaining equality of economic and working rights 4. equality of moral standards 5. equality of legal rights, especially for married women The principle of working for peace and disarmament was an area which would grow in importance throughout the late twenties and into the thirties as contact with the League of Nations grew through joint work on women's status. The outbreak of the Second World War saw the work falter, though not end, and in 1946 the body re-emerged as the International Alliance of Women: Equal Rights - Equal Responsibilities. Since then, it has worked closely with the United Nations. The organisation was among the first of the Non-Governmental Organisations to be accredited with Consultative Status by the Economic and Social Commission (ECOSOC) of the newly established United Nations in 1948 and contributed to work on the Declaration of Human Rights. It also increased its work with individual commissions attached to the larger international group, particularly those on social matters, the status of women, the International Labour Organisation and UNESCO. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, their involvement with organisations based in post-colonial countries increased and with it their focus on issues such as population and family planning. By 1989 the revised objectives were: (a) To secure all such reforms as are necessary to establish a real equality of liberties, status and opportunities between men and women and to work for equal partnership between men and women in all spheres of life (b) To urge women to accept their responsibilities and to use their rights and influence in public life to ensure that the status of every individual without distinction of sex, race or creed, shall be based on respect for the person, the only guarantee for individual freedom (c) To promote a better quality of life and good understanding among peoples Between triennial Congresses, a Board Meeting and an International Meeting are held, each accompanied by a seminar. The official organ of the IAW is the International Women's News Journal. This periodical was taken over for a short period by the Women's Publicity Planning Association between 1940 and 1945. Prior to that it was known as Jus Suffragii.

The Women's Suffrage Petition Committee (1865-1866) was founded to support the work of John Stuart Mill. In 1865 John Stuart Mill who had avowed his belief in Women's Suffrage in his election address, was elected to Parliament. Some of the leading figures in the Women's Suffrage movement asked him whether he would present a Petition to Parliament on behalf of the movement. He agreed to do so if a reasonable number of signatures could be obtained. In Nov-Dec 1865 Madame Bodichon and Emily Davies enlisted the help of Miss Jessie Boucherett, Rosamund Hill and Elizabeth Garrett to form a small informal committee to promote the Petition. They met at the house of Elizabeth Garrett and became known as the 'Kensington Committee'. Madame Bodichon, Jessie Boucherett and Emily Davies drafted the Petition and during the first months of 1866 they obtained the support of many leading women who between them secured eventually 1,499 signatures to the Petition from all parts of the British Isles. The signatories included many prominent women who made subsequently a significant contribution to the Suffrage movement.

On 7 Jun 1866 Mill presented the Petition to Parliament which was at that time considering the Reform Bill. As Madame Bodichon was ill, Miss Emily Davies accompanied by Miss Garrett took the Petition to the House of Commons. At the Oct Congress of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Sciences held at Manchester, Madame Bodichon read a paper 'On the Extension of the Suffrage to Women'. (Transactions of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Sciences, Manchester Congress 1866, 1867, p.794).

The Women's Suffrage Provisional Committee [London Branch] (1866-1867) was formed in 1866. Soon after the Congress at Manchester, The Women's Suffrage Petition Committee decided to transform the informal Petition Committee into a more formal organisation, and the Women's Suffrage Provisional Committee was formed. The members of this London Committee were - Dean Alford (Canterbury), Miss Jessie Boucherett, Professor John Elliot Cairnes, the Rev. WL Clay, Miss Emily Davies, Lady Goldsmid, George Hastings, James Haywood, Mrs Hunt (Isa Craig), Miss Munning and Mrs Hensleigh Wedgwood. Mrs Peter Taylor was the Honorary Treasurer and at first Emily Davies acted as Honorary Secretary. Mrs JW Smith (a Garrett sister) soon acted as Secretary but she died in 1867 and Caroline Biggs, who was to edit the 'Englishwoman's Review' for nearly twenty years succeeded her. The Committee met at Mrs PA Taylor's home, Aubrey House, from which the petitions in 1867 were organised. ('Englishwoman's Review', 14 Sep 1889, p. 386 (Helen Blackburn's obituary for Miss Caroline Biggs). On 5 Jul 1867 the Women's Suffrage Provisional Committee in London dissolved itself and reformed as the 'National Society for obtaining Political Rights for Women' (1867), but was re-named within a short time as the 'London National Society for Women's Suffrage'.

The National Society for Obtaining Political Rights for Women (1867) was formed on 5 Jul 1867 when the Women's Suffrage Provisional Committee in London dissolved itself and reformed with this name. It was re-named again within a short time as the 'London National Society for Women's Suffrage'.

The London [National] Society for Women's Suffrage (1867-1871) was founded in 1867. On 5 Jul 1867 the Women's Suffrage Provisional Committee in London dissolved itself and reformed as the 'National Society for obtaining Political Rights for Women' (1867), but was re-named within a short time as the 'London National Society for Women's Suffrage'. There is a tradition that Mill was responsible for the change of name. (The Executive Committee comprised:- Miss Frances Power Cobbe, Mrs Fawcett, Miss Hampson, Miss Lloyd, Mrs Lucas, Mrs Stansfeld and Mrs PA Taylor who acted as Treasurer. Mrs Smith the Honorary Secretary died soon after the Committee was formed and Caroline Biggs took over, Mrs Taylor having acted until Miss Biggs' appointment.) In 1871 there was an organisational split into two separate bodies: 1) The London National Society for Women's Suffrage (1871-1877); 2) The Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage (1871-1877). The former appears to have been subsumed into the Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage in 1877.

The Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage (1871-1877) (CNSWS) was formed after Jacob Bright at the Nov 1871 annual general meeting of the Manchester National Society for Women's Suffrage called for the creation of a central committee in London to co-ordinate the suffrage lobbying of MPs. Sure of solid support in the provinces, the Women's Suffrage Provisional Committee called a General Meeting at the Langham Hotel on 17 Jan 1872 at which Jacob Bright presided. (Notice of the meeting on 17 Jan 1872 and its purpose appeared in the 'Women's Suffrage Journal', 1 Jan 1872, p.13. A full report of the meeting in the journal's issue 1 Feb 1872, pp.21-3. Another good report, substantially the same, appeared in 'Englishwoman's Review', Apr 1872, pp. 113 'et seq'. Both journals gave a list of the Committees who had placed themselves in connection with the Central Committee.) This meeting passed the following Resolutions:- '1. That this meeting approves the general course pursued by the Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage. 2. That an Executive Committee be constituted with all necessary powers for promoting the movement subject to the control of the Central Committee.' The Executive Committee was to consist of the following persons elected:- Professor Sheldon Amos, Mrs Amos, Mr R Arthur Arnold, Mrs Arthur Arnold, Mr Ashurst, Mr Edwin Arnold, Miss Caroline Biggs, Mrs Jabob Bright, Mr Percy Bunting, Mrs Chesson, Miss Courtenay, Miss Frances Power Cobbe, Miss Agnes Garrett, Miss Rhoda Garrett, Miss Katherine Hill, Mr Frederic Hill, Mr Henry Hoare, Mrs Duncan M'Laren, Mr W Malleson, Mrs W. Malleson, Mrs Frederick Pennington, Mr Edwin Pears, Mrs Pochin, Mrs Peter Rylands, Dr Humphrey Sandwith, Mrs James Stansfeld, Mrs Venturi, Miss Williams and the following ex-officio members:- 1) All members of Parliament who are members of the Central Committee. 2) Such delegates as the Committees in connection with the Central may appoint (both reports contain names of 13 already appointed by Committees). 3) All members of Executive Committees in connection with the Central Committee. About half of those elected were already playing a leading role in the Repeal Movement. The structure of the Executive Committee fulfilled the need for such a standing Central Committee representing all Suffrage Societies as Jacob Bright had advocated at the meeting in Manchester on the previous 8 Nov. It was the dismantling of this closely knit structure with was one of the main reasons for the Schism in 1888. The Central Committee took offices at 9 Berners Street, the premises of the Berners Club for Women, and in summer 1874 it moved to 294 Regent Street (Langham Place). During the first half of 1872 the Executive Committee pursued an intensive campaign of public meetings and lectures, issued several pamphlets and endeavoured to increase their support among M.P.s and the press. ('The Women's Suffrage Journal' and the 'Englishwoman's Review' gave very good coverage of the activities of the Central Committee, including details of provincial committees and their officers as these were either reorganised or newly established in affiliation with the Central Committee.) Meanwhile the three temporary Honorary Secretaries had the services of a paid Secretary, Miss Emma A. Smith who was later retained on a permanent basis. The first Annual Meeting was held on 17 Jul 1872. (For accounts of the meeting, see 'Women's Suffrage Journal' 1 Aug 1872, pp.108-110 and 'Englishwoman's Review' Oct 1872, pp. 271 'et seq'. As the Editors of these journals, Miss Becker and Miss Biggs, were in the inner councils of the Committee, both journals gave extensive coverage of meetings, Petitions and provincial committees throughout the United Kingdom as these were established. The 'Women's Suffrage Journal' is particularly important for details of Committee membership and officers, in all issues.) To this meeting the Executive Committee presented its 'First Report', which contained a brief account of the events leading to the formation of the Central Committee. As the three Honorary Secretaries had intimated at the Executive meeting held on 12 Jun that they did not wish to continue beyond the Annual Meeting, Miss Caroline Biggs and Miss Agnes Garrett were appointed Honorary Secretaries for the time being. Miss Smith was appointed then on a permanent basis and Mr Henry Hoare was re-elected as Honorary Treasurer. Mrs Fawcett had remained with the London National but she later became exasperated with dissensions in the Society and joined the Central Committee. In 1877 the two London Societies (Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage; 1871-1877 and the London National Society for Women's Suffrage) merged to become the Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage (1877-1888) and Lydia Becker became the parliamentary agent.

The London National Society For Women's Suffrage (LNSWS) (1871-1877) continued after the split in the London Society for Women's Suffrage (1867-1871) at the end of 1871, as a smaller Society. It mainly represented London as the larger and influential provincial societies had affiliated to the Central Committee. John Mill remained as its President, but he died on 8 Apr 1873. (Coverage of the London Society was small in the two Suffrage journals although all important meetings were well reported.) Outside London the Society arranged a few public meetings in those areas which had remained connected with it and the membership followed the established pattern of raising Petitions in their areas and supported the current leader of the Bill in the Commons. The London National Society For Women's Suffrage (1871-1877) appears to have been subsumed into the Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage in 1877.

The Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage (1871-1877) (CNSWS) was formed after Jacob Bright at the Nov 1871 annual general meeting of the Manchester National Society for Women's Suffrage called for the creation of a central committee in London to co-ordinate the suffrage lobbying of MPs. Sure of solid support in the provinces, the Women's Suffrage Provisional Committee called a General Meeting at the Langham Hotel on 17 Jan 1872 at which Jacob Bright presided. (Notice of the meeting on 17 Jan 1872 and its purpose appeared in the 'Women's Suffrage Journal', 1 Jan 1872, p.13. A full report of the meeting in the journal's issue 1 Feb 1872, pp.21-3. Another good report, substantially the same, appeared in 'Englishwoman's Review', Apr 1872, pp. 113 'et seq'. Both journals gave a list of the Committees who had placed themselves in connection with the Central Committee.) This meeting passed the following Resolutions:- '1. That this meeting approves the general course pursued by the Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage. 2. That an Executive Committee be constituted with all necessary powers for promoting the movement subject to the control of the Central Committee.' The Executive Committee was to consist of the following persons elected:- Professor Sheldon Amos, Mrs Amos, Mr R Arthur Arnold, Mrs Arthur Arnold, Mr Ashurst, Mr Edwin Arnold, Miss Caroline Biggs, Mrs Jabob Bright, Mr Percy Bunting, Mrs Chesson, Miss Courtenay, Miss Frances Power Cobbe, Miss Agnes Garrett, Miss Rhoda Garrett, Miss Katherine Hill, Mr Frederic Hill, Mr Henry Hoare, Mrs Duncan M'Laren, Mr W Malleson, Mrs W. Malleson, Mrs Frederick Pennington, Mr Edwin Pears, Mrs Pochin, Mrs Peter Rylands, Dr Humphrey Sandwith, Mrs James Stansfeld, Mrs Venturi, Miss Williams and the following ex-officio members:- 1) All members of Parliament who are members of the Central Committee. 2) Such delegates as the Committees in connection with the Central may appoint (both reports contain names of 13 already appointed by Committees). 3) All members of Executive Committees in connection with the Central Committee. About half of those elected were already playing a leading role in the Repeal Movement. The structure of the Executive Committee fulfilled the need for such a standing Central Committee representing all Suffrage Societies as Jacob Bright had advocated at the meeting in Manchester on the previous 8 Nov. It was the dismantling of this closely knit structure with was one of the main reasons for the Schism in 1888. The Central Committee took offices at 9 Berners Street, the premises of the Berners Club for Women, and in summer 1874 it moved to 294 Regent Street (Langham Place). During the first half of 1872 the Executive Committee pursued an intensive campaign of public meetings and lectures, issued several pamphlets and endeavoured to increase their support among M.P.s and the press. ('The Women's Suffrage Journal' and the 'Englishwoman's Review' gave very good coverage of the activities of the Central Committee, including details of provincial committees and their officers as these were either reorganised or newly established in affiliation with the Central Committee.) Meanwhile the three temporary Honorary Secretaries had the services of a paid Secretary, Miss Emma A. Smith who was later retained on a permanent basis. The first Annual Meeting was held on 17 Jul 1872. (For accounts of the meeting, see 'Women's Suffrage Journal' 1 Aug 1872, pp.108-110 and 'Englishwoman's Review' Oct 1872, pp. 271 'et seq'. As the Editors of these journals, Miss Becker and Miss Biggs, were in the inner councils of the Committee, both journals gave extensive coverage of meetings, Petitions and provincial committees throughout the United Kingdom as these were established. The 'Women's Suffrage Journal' is particularly important for details of Committee membership and officers, in all issues.) To this meeting the Executive Committee presented its 'First Report', which contained a brief account of the events leading to the formation of the Central Committee. As the three Honorary Secretaries had intimated at the Executive meeting held on 12 Jun that they did not wish to continue beyond the Annual Meeting, Miss Caroline Biggs and Miss Agnes Garrett were appointed Honorary Secretaries for the time being. Miss Smith was appointed then on a permanent basis and Mr Henry Hoare was re-elected as Honorary Treasurer. Mrs Fawcett had remained with the London National but she later became exasperated with dissensions in the Society and joined the Central Committee. In 1877 the two London Societies (Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage; 1871-1877 and the London National Society for Women's Suffrage) merged to become the Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage (1877-1888) and Lydia Becker became the parliamentary agent.

The Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage (CCNSWS) (1888-1897) was formed in 1888 when the Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage (CNSWS) (1871-1877) split into two factions over the issue of political affiliation, i.e. whether suffrage was a cross party issue. This group retained the name 'Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage (1888-1897)' the other became the 'Central National Society for Women's Suffrage' (1888-1897). The Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage (1888-1897) was also known in this period as the 'Great College Street Society'. The committee included Mrs Fawcett, Miss Becker, Miss Courtnay, Helen Blackburn, Mrs Haslem and Frederic Hill amongst others. In Oct 1896 after a conference in Birmingham of all the suffrage societies, it was agreed that the country should be divided into regions. Thus the name changed in Sep 1897 to the 'Central and East of England Society for Women's Suffrage' (1897-1900).

The Central National Society for Women's Suffrage (CNSWS) (1888-1897) was formed in 1888. In 1888 the Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage (1871-1877) split into two factions over the issue of political affiliation, i.e. whether suffrage was a cross party issue. This group became the 'Central National Society for Women's Suffrage' (1888-1897); the other group retained the name 'Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage (1888-1897)'. This group, which had party affiliation, had largely placed its faith in the Liberal Party to achieve Women's Suffrage. It was also known as 'The Parliament Street Society' (although it later moved premises to Victoria Street). In 1889 the Central National Society for Women's Suffrage lost members to the 'Women's Franchise League (1889-1897)' as would not expressly include married women in the aims of being eligible to vote. Members of the Central National Society included the McLaren family,Anna Maria Priestman, Mary Bateson and Jane Cobden. Between 1888-1896 the Central National Society was most active in the west country. In Oct 1896 after a conference in Birmingham of all the suffrage societies, it was agreed that the country should be divided into regions. Thus the name changed in 1897 to the Central and Western Society for Women's Suffrage' when their activities in the West of England were 'officially' recognised.

The Central & East of England Society for Women's Suffrage (1897-1900) was formed in Oct 1896 after a conference in Birmingham of all the suffrage societies, it was agreed that the country should be divided into regions. Thus the name changed in Sep 1897 from the 'Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage' (1888-1897) to the 'Central and East of England Society for Women's Suffrage'. In 1900 the Central & Western Society for Women's Suffrage (1897-1900) merged with the Central & East of England Society for Women's Suffrage (1897-1900) to become the 'Central Society for Women's Suffrage' (1900-1907).

The Central & Western Society for Women's Suffrage (1897-1900) was formed in Oct 1896 after a conference in Birmingham of all the suffrage societies, it was agreed that the country should be divided into regions. Thus the name changed in 1897 from 'Central National Society for Women's Suffrage' (1888-1897) to the Central & Western Society for Women's Suffrage' when the West of England was added to its sphere of activity. In 1900 the Central and Western Society for Women's Suffrage (1897-1900) merged with the Central and East of England Society for Women's Suffrage (1897-1900) to become the 'Central Society for Women's Suffrage' (1900-1907).

The Central Society for Women's Suffrage (1900-1907) was formed in 1900 from a merger between the Central & Western Society for Women's Suffrage (1897-1900) and the Central & East of England Society for Women's Suffrage (1897-1900). In 1907 the Central Society for Women's Suffrage (1900-1907) became the London Society for Women's Suffrage (1907-1919).

The London Society for Women's Suffrage (1907-1919) was established in 1907 out of the Central Society for Women's Suffrage (1900-1907). 'The Women's Service Department': At the outbreak of the First World War, the London Society suspended its political work and placed its offices, its large staff of trained organisers and its branch organisation at the service of the nation. It opened the Women's Service Department whose work during the first months was to provide information to enquirers as to openings for voluntary work and supplied during that period over 1500 voluntary workers for countless organisations including major societies such as the Soldiers' and Sailors' Families Association the Invalid Children Aid Association, the Women's Patrols, the Belgian Committee and Soldiers' Canteens. It also opened 6 emergency workrooms for women thrown out of work, 9 clubs for soldiers' and sailors' wives and families, 2 clubs for girls, 7 hostels for Belgian Refugees, 3 centres for infant consultations and 2 clothing depots. The society's branches supported and worked with Mayor's Committees in many metropolitan boroughs. The Society also made a major contribution to the work of the Scottish Women's Hospitals, raised London Units and supplied special ambulances. 'Training Women For War Work': By mid 1915, the need for voluntary work diminished but there was a growing demand for trained women to replacement who had joined the armed forces as well as women for the increasing number of new jobs created by the expansion of production of war weapons and materials to meet the needs of the war effort. The Society's Service Department co-operated in the compilation of the Board of Trade's War Register for Women and also set about providing all kinds of technical training for women for entry to factories. Classes were established for such important work as acetylene welding, tracers for mechanical drawings and micrometer and vernier viewing. As the war progressed and the Society was able to raise quite considerable sums of money through appeals and fund raising activities, this work expanded greatly. 'The Women's Employment Department': Having made a major contribution to the training and placing of women in war work, as the war was drawing to a close the Society, with its very experienced organisation, turned its attention and resources to planning to meet the problems that women would face in seeking employment in the post-war period. Having briefly turned its attention, to political activity over the electoral bill which gave women a limited franchise in 1918, the Society re-thought its post-war policy and decided that apart from the battle to secure the franchise for women on the same terms as men, the 1918 Act enabled it to concentrate now more on obtaining equal rights and in this field employment was the major field for its activities. The Society therefore replaced the Women's Services Department by an Employment Department with an Employment Committee, organised with seven Sections. One of these was a Women's Services Section, the other six being Industrial, Political, Training, Publicity, Professional, Commercial and Civil Service Sections. These changes were made early in 1919 and a Resolution of the Executive Committee, 5 Mar 1919, gave effect to a Report of an ad hoc Committee on Advisors, by setting up a Council of Advisers which would consist of representatives of the seven existing Sections. The Executive Committee was empowered to call in representatives of any section for advice when discussing matters concerning subjects dealt with by that Section. A Report of a Sub-Committee on Public meeting, 9 Apr 1919, recommended the Employment Committee to sponsor a public meeting to be held in the last week in May in the Queen's Hall, to publicise the new policy and organisation. Women's Service Leaflet No.2, Apr 1919, was prepared, headed 'The Open Door' to serve the same purpose. The Employment Committee's staff carried out an extensive and intensive survey of occupations that might be suitable for women, interviewing a large and wide range of firms. A Bureau was established to which employers could notify vacancies which the Bureau's staff then tried to fill from those women who contacted them in their search for employment. Eventually, as the work expanded, this activity was taken over by a new organisation that was established by the co-operation of many women's organisations, namely the Women's Employment Federation. In 1919 the name changed to the London Society for Women's Service (1919-1926).

The London Society for Women's Service (1919-1926) was created in 1919 through the renaming of the London Society for Women's Suffrage (1907-1919). The name change reflected the shift in emphasis of the Society's Objects, due to the Act giving women the franchise and also to the fact that the Society had added to its Objects a broader service to women as a result of its contribution to the prosecution of the 1914-1918 war. The London Society for Women's Suffrage had acquired a deep knowledge and experience of the broader aspects of the social and economic needs of women during its intensive contribution to the war effort, through its Women's Service Department. Once the limited franchise had been granted, the leaders and many members of the Society felt that in the post war years, while the Society should continue to work for the granting of the franchise to women on the same terms as men, there was a great deal of work which could be done to secure equal citizenship for women. It was therefore proposed that the aims of the Society should be broadened and that the name of the Society should also be changed to reflect this change of emphasis.

The discussions in the Executive Committee resulted finally in the passing of the following resolutions at the General Meeting held 24 Feb 1919: 1) 'That the Society continue to stand for equal suffrage and equal opportunities for women, but resolve to concentrate its efforts for the present on obtaining economic equality for women.'; 2) 'That the Society resolve to promote this object by means of propaganda, political work, the collection and distribution of information with regard to employment, the promotion of training, opening up of occupations, and such other practical steps as may from time to time seem advisable.'('The Common Cause', vol xi, No. 524, 25 Apr 1919, p.17. The Executive and Annual Meeting Minutes and papers for the transition period are missing, and therefore it is necessary to rely upon the report in 'Common Cause'.). It was also decided to change the title of the Society to 'The London Society for Women's Service'. In a letter that was sent out to all members announcing these changes, the following was added - 'The Committee believe that the struggle to secure equality of opportunity for men and women in the wage-earning work is the next great step towards the full enfranchisement of women; they believe moreover that the forces which threaten the economic position of women to-day are of a most serious and menacing nature and that action is immediately needed to the protection of women workers.' 'They are convinced that a non-party of men and women who are united in principle and experience in practice will be able to give immediate support to the demobilised women, and that by building up public opinion and focussing political action on this group of subjects, they can best serve the cause for which the London Society for Women's Suffrage was originally called into being.' (The Common Cause, vol xi, No. 524, 25 Apr 1919, p.17. The Executive and Annual Meeting Minutes and papers for the transition period are missing, and therefore it is necessary to rely upon the report in 'Common Cause'.)

Two weeks later, the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies changed their constitution and title for the same reasons. The change of Object of the Union now allowed any societies having the equality of men and women as one of their objects to affiliate to the Union. This changed the relationship between the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship and the London Society as the latter's Annual Report presented at the Society's Annual Meeting on 16 Dec 1919 explained - 'That decision (i.e. by NUWSS) has fundamentally altered the relation of the Society to the Union of which it has been so ardent a promoter and supporter. Until last year, the London Society for Women's Suffrage Societies (sic) was the representative of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies in the Metropolitan area. Now the London Society for Women's Service is but one of several London Societies affiliated to the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship, each carrying out a different part of the Union's programme. This new relationship, which is no less harmonious than the old, results in a different form of co-operation and is perhaps best exemplified by the fact that the National Union may now properly hold meetings in London without reference to the London Society, while the London Society may carry on its work in co-operation with any other Society sympathetic to is special aspects of equality, without reference to the National Union.' (ibid., No. 560, 2 Jan 1919, p.503.) The report also referred to the rather pressing financial problems of the Society and after referring to the great work of the London Unit of the Scottish Women's Hospitals, hinted that it may have to close down that activity in the near future. The President, Miss Philippa Fawcett, in commenting on this problem, appealed for donations as well as subscriptions to enable the Society to carry out fully its aims. In 1926 the society was renamed the London & National Society for Women's Service.

The London & National Society for Women's Service (1926-1953) was created in 1926 and was the renamed London Society for Women's Service (1919-1926). The name change reflected the shift in becoming the national body campaigning for women in employment. In 1953 it was renamed The Fawcett Society.

The Fawcett Society (1953-fl.2008) was created in 1953, out of a series of predecessor bodies dating back to 1865 and the campaigns for women's suffrage. Best known as 'London National Society for Women's Suffrage' later the 'London Society for Women's Service' the organisation went through many name changes between 1865 and 1953 when it became known as The Fawcett Society. The name changed in 1953 from London & National Society for Women's Service (1926-1953) to The Fawcett Society in honour of Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett, the leader of the constitutional campaign for women's suffrage, and the president of several of the Fawcett Society's predecessor bodies. The Fawcett Society became the United Kingdom's leading campaign for equality between women and men, at work, at home and in public life. They campaigned on on women's representation in politics and public life; pay, pensions and poverty; valuing caring work; and the treatment of women in the justice system. They raised the profile of these issues by creating awareness, leading debate, lobbying politicians and policy makers, and driving change. They influenced developments such as: a change in the law to allow political parties to use all-women shortlists to increase the number of women MPs; the reform of the rape law; and a new duty on public bodies to promote equality between women and men. As at 2008 the Fawcett Society was still active.

Millicent Garrett Fawcett (1847-1929) was born in Suffolk in 1847, the daughter of Newson and Louisa Garrett and the sister of Samuel Garrett, Agnes Garrett, Louise Smith and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. The sisters' early interest in the issue of women's suffrage and commitment to the Liberal party were heightened after attending a speech given in London by John Stuart Mill in Jul 1865. Though considered too young to sign the petition in favour of votes for women, which was presented to the House of Commons in 1866, Millicent attended the debate on the issue in May 1867. This occurred a month after she married the professor of political economy and radical Liberal MP for Brighton, Henry Fawcett. Throughout their marriage, the future cabinet minister supported his wife's activities while she acted as his secretary due to his blindness. Their only child, Philippa Fawcett, was born the following year and that same month Millicent Garrett Fawcett published her first article, on the education of women. In Jul 1867, Millicent Garrett Fawcett was asked to join the executive committee of the London National Society for Women's Suffrage and was one of the speakers at its first public meeting two years later. She continued her work with the London National Society until after the death of John Stuart Mill in 1874, when she left the organisation to work with the Central Committee for Women's Suffrage. This was a step which she had avoided taking when the latter was formed in 1871 due to its public identification with the campaign for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts. Fawcett, despite her support for the movement's actions, had initially believed that the suffrage movement might be damaged by identification with such controversial work. However, the two groups later merged in 1877 as the new Central Committee for Women's Suffrage and a new executive committee was formed which included Fawcett herself. Her influence helped guide the group towards support for moderate policies and methods. She did little public speaking during this period but after the death of her husband in 1884 and a subsequent period of depression, she was persuaded to become a touring speaker once more in 1886 and began to devote her time to the work of the women's suffrage movement. In addition to women's suffrage Millicent Garrett Fawcett also became involved in the newly created National Vigilance Association, established in 1885, alongside campaigners such as J Stansfeld MP, Mr WT Stead, Mrs Mitchell, and Josephine Butler. In 1894 Fawcett's interest in public morality led her to vigorously campaign against the candidature of Henry Cust as Conservative MP for North Manchester. Cust, who had been known to have had several affairs, had seduced a young woman. Despite marrying Cust's marriage in 1893, after pressure from Balfour, Fawcett felt Cust was unfit for public office. Fawcett's campaign persisted until Cust's resignation in 1895, with some suffrage supporters concerned by Fawcett's doggedness in what they felt was a divisive campaign. In the late nineteenth century, the women's suffrage movement was closely identified with the Liberal Party through its traditional support for their work and the affiliation of many workers such as Fawcett herself. However, the party was, at this time, split over the issue of Home Rule for Ireland. Fawcett herself left the party to become a Liberal Unionist and helped lead the Women's Liberal Unionist Association. When it was proposed that the Central Committee's constitution should be changed to allow political organisations, and principally the Women's Liberal Federation, to affiliate, Fawcett opposed this and became the Honorary Treasurer when the majority of members left to form the Central National Society for Women's Suffrage. However, in 1893 she became one of the leading members of the Special Appeal Committee that was formed to repair the divisions in the movement. On the 19 Oct 1896 she was asked to preside over the joint meetings of the suffrage societies, which resulted in the geographical division of the country and the formation of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. She was appointed as the honorary secretary of the Central and Eastern Society that year and became a member of the parliamentary committee of the NUWSS itself. It was not until the parent group's reorganisation in 1907 that she was elected president of the National Union, a position that she would retain until 1919. By 1901, she was already eminent enough to be one of the first women appointed to sit on a Commission of Inquiry into the concentration camps created for Boer civilians by the British during the Boer War. Despite this, her work for suffrage never slackened and she was one of the leaders of the Mud March held in Feb 1907 as well as of the NUWSS procession from Embankment to the Albert Hall in Jun 1908. She became one of the Fighting Fund Committee in 1912 and managed the aftermath of the introduction of the policy, in particular during the North West Durham by-election in 1914, when other members opposed a step that effectively meant supporting the Labour Party when an anti-suffrage Liberal candidate was standing in a constituency. When the First World War broke out in Aug 1914, Fawcett called for the suspension of the NUWSS' political work and a change in activities to facilitate war work. This stance led to divisions in the organisation. The majority of its officers and ten of the executive committee resigned when she vetoed their attendance of a Women's Peace Congress in the Hague in 1915. However, she retained her position in the group. During the war, she also found time to become involved in the issue of women's social, political and educational status in India, an area in which she had become interested through her husband and retained after the conflict came to an end. She remained at the head of the NUWSS when the women's suffrage clause was added to the Representation of the People Act in 1918 and attended the Women's Peace Conference in Paris before lobbying the governments assembled there for the Peace Conference in 1919. She retired in Mar 1919 when the NUWSS became the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship but remained on its executive committee. She also continued her activities as the vice-president of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, to which she had been elected in 1902, for another year. After this she became the Chair of the journal, the 'Women's Leader', and appointed a Dame of the British Empire in 1925. It was in that year that she resigned from both NUSEC and the newspaper's board after opposing the organisation's policy in support of family allowances. She remained active until the end of her life, undertaking a trip to the Far East with her sister Agnes only a short time before her death in 1929.

This group, initially named the Manchester Committee for the Enfranchisement of Women, was formed in the 1860s, possibly initially to support John Stuart Mill's 1866 suffrage petition. Early members included Elizabeth Wolstenhulme Elmy, Jacob and Ursula Bright, Rev, S.A. Steinthal and Dr. Richard Pankhurst. It was formally re-founded in 1867 to canvass women householders in Manchester to support further suffrage petitions. It became federated to the National Society for Women's Suffrage, changing its name in 1897 to the North of England Society for Women's Suffrage.

National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship (NUSEC) (1918-1945) was formed out of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. After the 1918 Representation of the People Act which granted women limited suffrage, the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) decided to revise its previous aims and become the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship (NUSEC), remaining a high-level organisation designed to allow the affiliation of autonomous local societies with this object. However, the body now not only promoted equality of franchise between men and women but also extended this to the social and economic fields, working family allowances and the political education of women. During the 1920s they concerned themselves with issues such as restrictive legislation, limiting working hours which applied only to women and with the aim of 'protecting' them against industrial exploitation. However, there was no consensus within the group regarding the appropriate response to, 'protective' legislation and an ideological split occurred at this time between those who supported ideas such as an 'Endowment of Motherhood' to women to allow their financial independence and those who adopted a more strictly equalist position. In the mid-1920s, the Labour government proposed a series of bills that would extend this protective legislation and NUSEC was pressurised to change its equalist policies on this issue. In response to this situation, a number of members left the group to form the Open Door Council in May 1926. The group also encountered consistent opposition from the Liberal government and it was only in 1927 that a deputation was permitted to meet with Prime Minister Baldwin. However, the passing of the People (Equal Franchise) Bill in Mar 1928 rewarded their efforts. The result of liberal hostility was that close co-operation developed with the Labour Party throughout the NUSEC's history. In 1932, it was decided that the organisation's campaigning and educational functions should be separated, the first being delegated to the National Council for Equal Citizenship, while education was passed on to the Townswomen's Guild. The National Council for Equal Citizenship continued its work until the end of the Second World 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.

The Oldham Women's Suffrage Society (1901-1921) was established in 1910 with Margery Lees as president and quickly joined the Manchester and District Federation of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. By 1911, in addition to a suffrage shop, the branch comprised of 120 members, a figure that rose to 857 in 1913. That year, a number of members, including Lees joined the Manchester contingent of the Pilgrimage to London. In 1919 the body was transformed into the Women Citizens' Association and amalgamated with the National Council of Women in 1921.

The sisters Anna Maria (1828-1914), Mary (1830-1914) and Margaret (1817-1905) Priestman were daughters of Rachel Bragg, religious worker and anti-slavery campaigner, and Jonathan Priestman. They were born into Liberal and Quaker family networks, being sisters-in-law of John Bright (1811-1889) and friends of his sisters, including Priscilla Bright McLaren (1815-1906). All three Priestman sisters were born in Newcastle. In 1846 Margaret married Daniel Wheeler and moved away. Daniel died within a few years and she then married Arthur Tanner. Meanwhile, her sisters had moved to Bristol and Margaret also went to live there after the death of her second husband in 1869. All three were active in the suffrage campaigns and signed the 1866 suffrage petition and Anna Maria and Margaret were also involved in the Enfranchisement of Women Committee, 1866-1867. The sisters went on to be members of the Bristol and West of England Women's Suffrage Society, and the Central National Society for Women's Suffrage. They were also instrumental in founding the Women's Liberal Association in Bristol in 1881, the first in the country, and were involved in temperance and social work and in anti-Contagious Diseases legislation agitation. The Union of Practical Suffragists was formed within the Women's Liberal Federation in c.1896. Three years previously, Anna Maria Priestman had moved an amendment at a Women's Liberal Federation meeting to the effect that potential Liberal parliamentary candidates should be questioned about their support for women's suffrage before selection. The amendment was defeated but the 'test question' issue remained a live one for the Federation in subsequent years. In 1894 Anna Maria Priestman became president of a small organisation of those in sympathy with her position and by 1895 this group called themselves 'practical suffragists'. In 1896 they merged with a pre-existing Union of Practical Suffragists within the Women's Liberal Federation with the objective: 'to induce the Women's Liberal Associations to work for no Liberal candidate who would vote against Women's Suffrage in the House of Commons.' Mary Priestman was a member of the organisation's executive committee and Anna Maria Priestman was President from 1898-1899. Other members included Ursula Bright, Annie Leigh Browne, Louisa Martindale and Mary Kilgour. The Union was wound up in 1903 after it seemed that it had won its objective, although two years later the debate within the Women's Liberal Federation was re-opened. Margaret Priestman died in 1905, but both Anna Maria and Mary Priestman joined the Women's Social and Political Union in 1907 and carried on active support for suffrage activities in the Bristol area. They died, within a few days of each other, in October 1914.

The Susan B Anthony Memorial Committee (fl. 1937-1949) was established to help organise the creation of memorials to the American Suffragist. It appears to have operated between around 1937 and 1949, mainly working in California. It succeeded in having a giant tree named after her in the Sequoia National Park after an application to Interior Department of the United States government. It also resulted in a bequest of 500 volumes being bequeathed to the Huntingdon Library in California, that formed the nucleus of the significant women's studies collection that was later formed. In 1937, its committee consisted of Mrs Robert Adamson as the national Chair, Sue Brobst as the Californian Chair and Una R Winter as the vice-Chair of the region. Una Winter appears to have been responsible for the collation of the background information for the request.

The Petersfield Women's Suffrage Society (c 1911-1933) was established sometime prior to Jun 1911 with the Countess of Shelborne as its patron. That same year, it was able to distribute 3000 copies of a free suffrage newspaper in the area. The following year it was affiliated to the Federated Council of Suffrage Societies. It later changed its name to the Petersfield Society for Equal Citizenship and continued its activities until 1933. The St Pancras Society came into being some time before 1927 and continued its work after 1930.

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 Women's Freedom League (WFL) (1907-1961) was formed in Nov 1907 by dissenting members of the Women's Social & 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 Sheffield branch of the Women's Freedom League (1908-1919) was founded in Dec 1908, a year after the beginning of the parent body. That, in turn, had been constituted by dissenting members of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). All levels of the overall group classed themselves as a militant organisation, but refused to attack persons or property other than ballot papers, unlike the WSPU. Furthermore, they operated on the basis of party democracy that had been the initial cause of the break from the WSPU. The body continued its activities until the 1918 bill granting women limited franchise. The organisation was wound up in May 1919.

The Women's National Anti-Suffrage League (1908-1918) was established in 1908, at a time when there was a resurgence of support for the women's suffrage movement. An Anti-suffrage correspondence had taken place in the pages of the Times through 1906-1907, with further calls for leadership of the anti-suffrage movement being placed in the Spectator in Feb 1908. Possibly as early as 1907, a letter was circulated to announce the creation of a National Women's Anti-Suffrage Association and inviting recipients to become a member of the Central Organising Committee or a member. It was issued under the names of thirty peeresses who would become prominent anti-suffragists, as well as a number of peers and MPs. However, the first meeting of the Women's National Anti-Suffrage League only took place on the 21 Jul the following year at the Westminster Palace Hotel with Lady Jersey as the Chair. Seventeen others were nominated to the central committee at this meeting, including Mrs Humphrey Ward as the chair of the Literary Committee, Gertrude Bell as the secretary, and Mrs Frederick Harrison, Miss Lonsdale, Violet Markham and Miss Beatrice Chamberlain as other members. Its aims were to oppose women being granted the parliamentary franchise, though it did support their having votes in local and municipal elections. The group established the Anti-Suffrage review from Dec 1908, gathered 337,018 signatures on an anti-suffrage petition, and founding the first local branch in Hawkenhurst in Kent. The first London branch was established in South Kensington under the auspices of Mary, Countess of Ilchester. Whilst soon after in May 1910 a Scottish branch was organised into the Scottish National Anti-Suffrage League by the Duchess of Montrose. By Dec of that year there were 26 branches or sub-branches in the country, a total which grew to 82 by Apr 1909 and 104 in Jul 1910. Similarly, it was announced that 2000 subscriptions had been received by Dec 1908, rising to 9000 in Jul 1909. In 1910, the group amalgamated with the Men's National League for Opposing Women's Franchise to form the National League for Opposing Women's Suffrage with Lord Cromer as president and Lady Jersey as Vice-President. In 1912 Lord Curzon and Lord Weardale became joint presidents and the organisation continued its activities and the publication of the Anti-Suffrage Review until 1918 when both came to an end as women's suffrage was granted.

The British Committee of the Continental and General Federation for Abolition of Government Regulation of Prostitution (fl 1880) was founded sometime c 1880. In the 1840s there was an upsurge in concern about prostitution in the United Kingdom. However, only after the 1857 Royal Commission report on the health of the army, and a follow-up report on the level of venereal disease in the military five years later did official tolerance of prostitution came to an end as the question became fused with contemporary concerns over public health. The result was three successive decrees in 1864, 1866 and 1869 known as the Contagious Diseases (CD) Acts. By these, 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. At a medical Conference in Vienna in 1874, the principle of state regulation of prostitution which the CD Acts embodied was accepted as a valuable contribution to promoting public health and it was proposed that a worldwide league led by Great Britain should be created to achieve this end. The response of those in the United Kingdom who were engaged in anti-Contagious Diseases Acts activity was to try to forestall this, initially by publicising their opinions through European lecture tours by Josephine Butler and other leaders, and then through the creation of a pan-European organisation to support the repeal movement. In Mar 1875 this was formed at a meeting in Liverpool with the name of the British, Continental and General Federation for the Abolition of Government Regulation of Prostitution. The first president of the organisation was James Stansfeld MP, the honorary secretary, Josephine Butler and the corresponding secretary, Henry Joseph Wilson. William Crosfield was later appointed treasurer, while Wilson's place was taken six months later by Professor James Stuart.

When the final constitution was passed in 1878, it set out the final shape of the organisation: it was to consist of a General Meeting, a General Council and an Executive Committee. A General Council had been established since 1876 and contained representatives of the main repeal organisations in the United Kingdom, over thirty private individuals and representatives from India, the Cape of Good Hope, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and the United States. Each country involved maintained its own national branch that worked in its own area while maintaining close links with the other branches. Other representatives were added as more countries became concerned with the issue. Aim Humber was appointed Principle Continental Correspondent and later General Secretary for the Continent after the organisation grew. The Federation established its own journal in Dec 1875, Le Bulletin Continental. The Executive Committee of the British branch of the federation acted for some time as the actual executive committee of the whole organisation. However, when the CD Acts were repealed in the United Kingdom, the British Branch (as it was known) was left in difficulties as supporting organisations such as the National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts dissolved themselves. However, others such as the Ladies National Association decided to continue in their work with enlarged area of interest and this was also the path that the British Branch followed. It changed its title in 1890 to the British Commission for the Abolition of the State Regulation of Vice in India and throughout the British Dominions due to the failure of parliament to repeal the Acts in the sub-continent and the introduction of the Cantonments Act. In this incarnation it continued as the British element of the Federation. In 1897 it revived the journal The Shield to publicise their work. The work of the overall Federation itself continued and in 1898 it was decided to rename the body the International Federation for the Abolition of State Regulation of Prostitution, with the subtitle which as at 1994 continued to be used, the International Abolitionist Federation.

Henry Joseph Wilson (1833-1914) was born on the 14 Apr 1833 in Nottingham. One of the 7 children of William Wilson, cotton spinner, and Eliza Read of Sheffield. His parents were non-conformist radicals and his father was the Chair of the Nottingham Anti-Slavery committee. Wilson was sent to London University College to study in 1850, but returned home the following year when his mother died. After this, he was sent to work on a farm in Gloucestershire and then to his father's own farm in Mansfield in 1853 where he remained until his father's death in 1866. There he was deeply involved in non-conformist religion, the temperance movement and he was instrumental in the foundation of the Mansfield Co-operative Society of which he was the first president. It was in the 1860s the three Contagious Diseases (or CD) Acts were passed in an effort to regulate prostitution and the spread of venereal disease. Wilson was one of the many that opposed the Acts on the grounds that it would establish the state regulation of vice. He and his wife Charlotte [nee Cowan], whom he had married in 1859, began their careers of public speaking and political activism. In 1871, they attended a meeting of the Royal Commission on the implementation of the CD Acts in Sheffield that was also attended and addressed by Josephine Butler. When the latter perceived in 1872 that it would be impossible to run the whole anti-CD Acts campaign from London, Wilson became one of those who were to be central to the formation of the Northern Counties Electoral League for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts (known as the Northern Counties League). Branches of the National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts had already been set up in the north east but it was felt that a strong central body was necessary. Edward Backhouse was the first Chair with Joseph Edmonson as the Treasurer and Wilson as the secretary. Their aim was to make known in their area the 'atrocious character' of the Acts and to raise the issue of them at elections. The group immediately began to send out petition forms and circulars were distributed to churches and chapels throughout the region. It was with their support that Josephine Butler came to Pontefract to address the crowds at the by-election and was caught up in the chaos that ensued. In 1877 it was decided to broaden the objects of the League and to reflect this change its name was officially changed to the 'Northern Counties League for Abolishing State Regulation of Vice and for Prompting Social Purity and the Rescue of the Fallen'. Wilson remained an integral part of the organisation, despite his growing number of commitments. He was present at a conference on the state regulation of vice which was held in Liverpool in 1875 and it was there that the British, Continental and General Federation for the Abolition of Government Regulation of Prostitution was established. Wilson became joint secretary along with Butler. However, the CD Acts did not solely occupy his attention. Since 1872 he had been the Chair of the Sheffield Reform Association, which had merged with the Sheffield Liberal Association two years later and in which Wilson remained the honorary secretary. In 1876 he was elected to the Sheffield School Board and in 1885 he was elected a Liberal MP for the constituency of Holmfirth in West Riding. He had been a fervent supporter of Home Rule for Ireland since the beginning of the 1880s and retained this position in the House of Commons. In 1892 he was selected to be a member of the Police and Sanitary Committee and then of the Royal Commission on Opium Traffic three years later, a position which involved him travelling to India in 1893-4. Despite the repeal of the CD Acts on British soil in 1886, they effectively remained in force in India through the Cantonments Act and the Contagious Diseases (India) Act and there were threats to re-introduce them in areas such as Guernsey after an increase in venereal disease in the 1890s. Consequently, his work in this area continued through the last decade of the nineteenth century. Despite his unpopular opposition to the Boer War, he remained an MP until his retirement in 1912. He died in 1914.

Josephine Elizabeth Butler [née Grey] (1828-1906) was born on 13 Apr 1828 (7th of 10 children of John Grey and Hannah née Annett). In 1835 the Grey family moved to Dilston near Corbridge, Northumberland after her father's appointment in 1833 as agent for the Greenwich Estates in the north. On 8 Jan 1852 Josephine married George Butler at Corbridge, Northumberland. He had been a tutor at Durham University, and then a Public Examiner at Oxford University. In 1857 they moved to Cheltenham following husband's appointment as Vice-Principal of Cheltenham College. In 1866 they moved to Liverpool following husband's appointment as Head of Liverpool College. Josephine took up plight of girls in the Brownlow Hill workhouse and established a Home of Rest for girls in need. In 1868 Josephine became President of North England Council for Promoting Higher Education of Women, and in the following year she was Secretary of Ladies' National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts (extended by legislation in 1866 and 1869). In 1875 she established the International Abolitionist Federation in Liverpool. In 1883 the Contagious Diseases Acts were suspended. In 1885 the age of consent was raised to 16 which Josephine fought for. The Contagious Diseases Acts were repealed in 1886. From 1888 until Oct 1896, Josephine edited 'Dawn' a quarterly journal. From 1882-1890 Josephine lived in Winchester where Rev George Butler was appointed canon. In 1890 George Butler died. Josephine moved to London and continued campaigning against state regulation abroad. In 1894 she moved to her son's home in Galewood within Ewart Park near Milfield. In 1898-1900 Josephine edited and wrote 'Storm Bell'. In 1906 Josephine moved to Wooler where she died on 30 Dec and was buried at Kirknewton.

The James Stansfeld Memorial Trust was established in 1896. Its creation was the result of a 'women's testimonial' raised on his retirement from parliament the previous year. The amount raised was used to promote his aim of equality of the sexes through a number of methods. Firstly, there was the appointment of a scrutineer to observe Parliament's actions on the question of women's suffrage and report to the trustees. Secondly, they held conferences, notably on the subject of solicitation and the law in 1917. Finally, after the First World War, a series of three memorial lectures on the position of women were held at University College, London. A book on Stansfeld was commissioned by the trust in 1928 and published in 1932 with the title James Stansfeld, A Victorian Champion of Sex Equality (by JL and Barbara Hammond). Two years later, the Trust was wound up and the remaining funds distributed between the Association for Moral and Social Hygiene and the Josephine Butler Memorial Home.

Sir James Stansfeld (1820-1898), was born in Halifax, on 5 Mar 1820, the only son of James Stansfeld (1792-1872) and his wife, Emma (bap. 1793, d. 1851). His father was a solicitor who was also involved with with radical protestant dissent. James followed in his father's footsteps, he was involved with the Chartists in 1839. He then studied at University College, London and graduated in law in 1844. Whilst in London he became friends with William Ashurst, a radical solicitor, as well as other Unitarians. In 1844 he married Caroline Ashurst, daughter of feminist and reformer William Ashurst. Their only son was born in 1852. Stansfeld was called to the Bar at Inner Temple, 1849, but for financial reasons became a brewer in 1850. In 1852 together with his brother-in-law Sidney Hawkes he established the Swan Brewery, Fulham. Stansfeld became Liberal MP for Halifax 1859-1895, despite his brewing background causing trouble with Temperance voters. In 1863 he was appointed Junior Lord of the Admiralty and was Cabinet Minister 1871-1874. He was later appointed President of the Poor Law Board Mar 1871-Aug 1871; and when it merged with Local Government Board, he became President of that, until 1874. In 1872 he made the first appointment of a woman to public post; Mrs Nassau Senior as Inspector of Workhouses despite strong opposition. After Gladstone's government's defeat in 1874 Stansfeld became a key supporter of Josephine Butlers work for the Repeal of the Contagious diseases act. He became Vice-President of the Ladies National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts from 1874. He first spoke on Repeal in the House of Commons, 23 Jun 1875 (2nd reading of Harcourt Johnstone's Repeal Bill). Stansfeld died on 17 February 1898 at his home at Castle Hill, Rotherfield, Sussex.

The Lancashire and Cheshire Association for the Abolition of the State Regulation of Vice (1894-1939) began in 1894 as the Manchester and District Association for the Abolition of State Regulation of Vice. It had the status of a committee of the British Commission for the Abolition of the State Regulation of Vice in India and throughout the British Dominions, formerly the British, Continental and General Federation for the Abolition of Government Regulation of Prostitution. Until 1921 it operated as the Manchester and District Association which was formally closed at a meeting in Jan 1923. However, some members believed that there was a continuing need for the organisation, due to the continuation of the state regulation of prostitution in India and therefore the organisation was revived under the name of the Lancashire and Cheshire Association in Oct 1923 with Alison Neilans as Secretary. It continued its work until Mar 1939 when its activities came to an end.