Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage was a committee formed in 1872 in London to lobby parliament. It was initially led by activists from Manchester.

History

Jacob Bright The Rt Hon. Jacob Bright (26 May 1821 – 7 November 1899) was a British Liberal politician serving as Mayor of Rochdale and later Member of Parliament for Manchester. Background Bright was born at Green Bank near Rochdale, Lancashire. He wa ...

suggested in 1871 that it would be useful to create a London-based organisation to lobby members of parliament concerning women's suffrage. The Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage first met on 17 January 1872. The first committee included

Frances Power Cobbe Frances Power Cobbe (4 December 1822 – 5 April 1904) was an Anglo-Irish writer, philosopher, religious thinker, social reformer, anti-vivisection activist and leading women's suffrage campaigner. She founded a number of animal advocacy group ...

Priscilla Bright McLaren Priscilla Bright McLaren (8 September 1815 – 5 November 1906) was a British activist who served and linked the anti-slavery movement with the women's suffrage movement in the nineteenth century. She was a member of the Edinburgh Ladies' Emanci ...

Lilias Ashworth Hallett Lilias Ashworth Hallett (1844 – 1922) was a leading British suffragist. She organised, helped to fund activities and was a speaker. She was said to have been "made ill" by the militants but she conceded that it was the militants that created t ...

and

Agnes Garrett Agnes Garrett (12 July 1845 – 1935)Serena Kelly"Garrett, Agnes (1845–1935)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 9 January 2015. was an English suffragist and interior designer and the founder i ...

. The committee introduced a subscription fee of a shilling per annum.

Millicent Fawcett Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett (née Garrett; 11 June 1847 – 5 August 1929) was an English politician, writer and feminist. She campaigned for Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, women's suffrage by Law reform, legal change and in 1897– ...

joined the committee in 1874. In the year 1900 the two organizations Central and Western Society for Women's Suffrage and the Central and East of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Society for Women's Suffrage merged and formed Central Society for Women's Suffrage.Catalogue description
/ref>

Lydia Becker Lydia Ernestine Becker (24 February 1827 – 18 July 1890) was a leader in the early British suffrage movement, as well as an amateur scientist with interests in biology and astronomy. She established Manchester as a centre for the suffrage mo ...

became the chair of the committee in 1881. Other committee members then included

Helen Blackburn Helen Blackburn (25 May 1842 – 11 January 1903) was a feminist, writer and campaigner for women's rights, especially in the field of employment. Blackburn was an editor of the ''Englishwoman's Review'' magazine. She wrote books about women work ...

, Millicent Fawcett, Jessie Boucherett, Eva McLaren, Margaret Bright Lucas as well as Priscilla Bright McLaren and Frances Power Cobbe.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Central Committee of the National Society For Women's Suffrage Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom Feminist organisations in the United Kingdom Feminism and history Women's organisations based in the United Kingdom 1872 establishments in the United Kingdom Suffrage organisations in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1872 First-wave feminism National Society for Women's Suffrage