THE WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT IN SCOTLAND, 1867-1928: A LEARNING RESOURCE THE WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT IN SCOTLAND: THE EARLY YEARS Esther Breitenbach In this section you will find information on the following: The formation and early years of the Edinburgh National Society for Women's Suffrage, the first women's suffrage society established in Scotland How the campaign was publicised in public meetings and speaking tours round Scotland How women took up public office on school boards and lobbied for the right to sit on local councils Who supported the demand for women's suffrage. Organised campaigning for the parliamentary franchise for women was initiated in 1867, the year that John Stuart Mill MP proposed an amendment to the parliamentary Reform Act, that would subsitute the word 'person' for men, and therefore include women. The amendment was defeated, and in the wake of this defeat several women's suffrage societies were formed 'almost simultaneously', according to Millicent Fawcett, writing in 1912. These were in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Bristol and Birmingham. The Edinburgh National Society for Women's Suffrage (ENSWS) Edinburgh was thus the first women's suffrage society to be formed in Scotland, the 'National' in its title indicating its links to other branches in Britain. Some campaigning had already taken place as the Reform Act was being debated in Parliament: this had included signing a petition in 1866, and some women attempting to register as voters. By 1868, the year the Reform Act (Scotland) was passed, the Edinburgh Society had written to all Scottish MPs asking for support for the inclusion of duly qualified women in any extension of the franchise. 'Duly qualified' meant having the relevant property qualification in their own right. The argument was that women should have the vote on the same basis as men then did, and that there should be no taxation without representation. The first demand for the vote was thus for women ratepayers to Eliza Wigham, Woman at Home, 1895 2 be given equal treatment with their male counterparts. Edinburgh MP Duncan McLaren presented one such petition in 1867. In 1868, many other Scottish towns presented petitions supporting this demand: Aberdeen, Dumfries, Montrose, Arbroath, Lerwick, North Berwick, Haddington, Galashiels, Hawick, Peebles, Innerleithen, Selkirk, Biggar, Wigtown, Lanark, Kirkwall, Jedburgh, Golspie, Thurso, Wick, Invergordon, Stromness, Paisley, Helensburgh, Elgin, Inverness, Nairn, and Banff. At the core of the Edinburgh Society were several women who were already seasoned campaigners, having been involved in the anti-slavery movement in organisations such as the Edinburgh Ladies' Emancipation Society. They included Priscilla Bright McLaren, married to Duncan McLaren, MP, and Agnes McLaren, daughter of Duncan, and step-daughter of Priscilla. Quaker activist Eliza Wigham was also one of the Society's founder members. Shortly afterwards they were joined by Flora and Louisa Stevenson; the former was to go on to have a prominent career in education, and was the first woman member of the Edinburgh School Board, while the latter was a leading activist in the campaign for women's access to higher education. The newly formed committee of the Edinburgh Society had around twenty members, all women. However, they worked closely with male supporters, as indeed they had to in order to have petitions presented to parliament by MPs and councillors. As well as already having campaigning experience to draw on, they were well networked with Liberal political circles both in Edinburgh and in London. Public meetings In 1867, an editorial in The Scotsman discussed Mill's proposal for the enfranchisement of women and arguments for and against, concluding, that although there was no theoretical reason to be against the enfranchisement of women, 'feeling', or 'prejudice it may be - revolts from it.' It added that most women did not want the vote, and that they could not be made to do so. As the ENSWS stepped up its public campaigning, however, The Scotsman began taking note of its activities, reporting on the public meeting they were planning for the second week of January, 1870. The meeting was subsequently given extensive coverage; chaired by Duncan McLaren, it was filled to overflowing, with many women present. The audience was addressed by Priscilla McLaren's brother, Jacob Bright MP, who was putting forward a Bill on Electoral Disabilities, which aimed to enfranchise women. The annual report of the Society was read to the meeting by Professor Calderwood: among other things this noted that 239 women householders and ratepayers in Edinburgh and a number in Wigtown and other places had also sent in claims to be registered as voters under the new Reform Act, while in Aberdeen all women householders had been placed 'by the association' on the electoral roll. However, the claims had been tried and ultimately rejected. The following year, on 12 January, John Stuart Mill addressed a further public meeting in Edinburgh. The Music Hall was filled, with many women present, and 'a goodly array of ladies connected with the Edinburgh branch of the National Society for Women's Suffrage' shared the platform with their leading male supporters. Duncan McLaren, MP, who was in the chair, pointed out that it had been the 'Ladies Committee, who had had the whole management' of the event. Mill challenged the view that men were protectors of women and looked after their interests, made the argument that there should be no taxation without representation, argued that if women were given the same rights as men the same obligations would follow, and 3 that giving women political rights would make use of brain power now wasted, and powers of organisation already proved. At this meeting Eliza Wigham read the Society's Report, 'instead of asking a man to do it, as had been customary.' Speaking tours The Edinburgh Society was also associated with speaking tours of Scotland. In 1870, Jane Taylour, who lived in Stranraer, embarked on a tour round south and central Scotland, often accompanied by Edinburgh Society member, Mary Burton. Taylour conducted further speaking tours in 1871, including a tour of the Highlands, jointly with Agnes McLaren, in the autumn of that year. London-based speakers such as Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Millicent Fawcett and Lydia Becker also gave lectures in Scotland. In early 1872 Jane Taylour undertook a further tour, while Jessie Craigen (a London-based actress) conducted a separate speaking tour in the same year. Later tours by Craigen in 1874 and 1875 included working-class audiences, for example, at Kilbarchan and Stenhousemuir. A lecture given by Jane Taylour in Edinburgh in 1873 illustrates the kind of arguments that were put forward for the franchise for women in the early years of the movement: the argument of simple justice; the evidence that women had voted in a greater proportion than men in the English municipal elections of the previous year, and had also voted in School Board elections; the franchise, attached to property, constitutionally should include women as taxpayers; the argument of lack of education did not prevent illiterate men from having the vote, and in any case the franchise was based on property; women, in a country ruled by a queen, should not be prohibited from public life; religious objections depended on narrow interpretations of Christian principles. Taylour's lecture was followed by a resolution which emphasised that taxation was the basis of representation. A leaflet published by the ENSWS around 1871 noted the extent of activity in supporting Jacob Bright's Bill, which was 'largely supported by numerous and influential Public Meetings throughout the country,' 60 having been held in Scotland alone during the previous year. In addition to these, 619 Petitions, with 186,000 signatures, had been presented to the House of Commons, of which 268 were sent from Scotland, including 10 from the Town Councils of the most important Cities and Burghs. The leaflet went on to say that 'the Committee intend to promote Public Meetings throughout Scotland.' It also listed twenty-six 'Scotch Committees' that had already been formed, ranging from Dumfries and Galloway to Thurso and Wick. The speaking tours were often instrumental in the formation of committees. Agnes McLaren and Jane Taylour, from Helen Blackburn, Women's Suffrage (1902) 4 School boards Although the attempt to obtain the parliamentary franchise for qualified women in 1867/1868 had failed, the 1872 Education (Scotland) Act permitted women to vote and stand for the newly created School Boards, and this was therefore to become the first type of elected office that women were able to hold. Eligibility was based on the valuation roll and included only those who were owners or occupiers of lands or houses at £4 annual value. The first elections for School Boards in Scotland took place in 1873. There were around 890 Boards in Scotland, and it was reported at the ENSWS annual meeting in 1874, that eighteen women in total were returned across the country (Edinburgh Evening News, 25 February, 1874). Two of these women were Flora Stevenson in Edinburgh, and Jane Arthur in Paisley, both to become long-serving members on these respective boards. For feminist campaigners, the right to vote for School Boards was linked to the right to the Parliamentary Franchise. Flora Masson, writing on 'The Parliamentary Franchise for Women' in The Ladies' Edinburgh Magazine in 1876, emphasised women's right to vote for School Boards. Women, she wrote, are allowed to vote in both England and Scotland at School Board elections; and in none of these cases have evil results been seen. No ugly transformation has occurred among the women of Edinburgh since three years ago, when they went up in large numbers to the polling-booths and voted for members of the School Boards.