Lilly Maxwell or Lily Maxwell (c.1800 – 1876) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

suffragist who was said to be the first woman to vote by campaigning suffragists in Manchester. This resulted in an important test case at the

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

Life

Maxwell was born around the year 1800 in Scotland, and had originally worked in domestic service before setting up a shop selling crockery. She rented a shop and house at 25 Ludlow Street,

Chorlton-upon-Medlock Chorlton-on-Medlock or Chorlton-upon-Medlock is an inner city area of Manchester, England. Historically in Lancashire, Chorlton-on-Medlock is bordered to the north by the River Medlock, which runs immediately south of Manchester city centre. I ...

, Manchester which were of high enough monetary value to qualify their occupier under the pre-1867 £10 household borough franchise. Consequently, her name appeared on the list of voters for

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

in error as her name, Lilly, was mistaken for that of a man. Her accidental inclusion on the list was discovered by one of the candidates for election,

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 was ...

, a supporter of women's suffrage. Alongside his wife,

Ursula Mellor Bright Ursula Mellor Bright or Ursula Mellor (5 July 1835 – 5 March 1915) was a British activist for married women's property rights. Life Bright was born in 1835 to Joseph and Catherine Mellor. Her father, brother and grandfather, Frederick Pennin ...

, he was a founder of the Manchester branch of the National Society for Women’s Suffrage, in January 1867. Bright’s election committee alerted

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 mov ...

, the society’s secretary, to Maxwell's appearance on the list, and she informed Maxwell of the situation. Maxwell was not the first woman to vote but in this case she was encouraged by

to be a test case. Records show that women had voted in Britain including maybe thirty in Lichfield in 1843.Women voted 75 years before they were legally allowed to in 1918
Sarah Richardson, 18 March 2013, The Telegraph, Retrieved 30 January 2016 These were women who owned property and led households like Maxwell. Maxwell ran a shop that sold a range of goods from crockery to red herring.In Praise of ... Lily Maxwell
19 March 2011, The Guardian, Retrieved 30 January 2016 In fact she was a citizen in her own right as she had been fined a pound by the Police Court for selling short measures at her shop in the Manchester suburb of

Chorlton-on-Medlock Chorlton-on-Medlock or Chorlton-upon-Medlock is an inner city area of Manchester, England. Historically in Lancashire, Chorlton-on-Medlock is bordered to the north by the River Medlock, which runs immediately south of Manchester city centre. It ...

. On 26 November 1867, she became the first woman known to have voted at a parliamentary contest since the 1832 Reform Act had specifically limited the franchise to ‘male persons’. The

returning officer In various parliamentary systems, a returning officer is responsible for overseeing elections in one or more constituencies. Australia In Australia a returning officer is an employee of the Australian Electoral Commission or a state electoral c ...

allowed Maxwell to vote at

Chorlton Chorlton may refer to: Places * Chorlton, Cheshire East, in Cheshire, England *Chorlton, Cheshire West and Chester, in Cheshire, England *Chorlton-cum-Hardy, in Manchester, England **Chorlton (ward), an electoral ward of Manchester, England **Chorl ...

Town Hall in a by-election. Maxwell cast her vote for

who supported the suffragist cause. At this time, votes had to be spoken out loud and ''Punch'' magazine marked this with a ditty: "''To the fair Lily Maxwell a bumper, Who in petticoats rushed to the poll, And for Jacob Bright entered her plumper, Mill’s first ‘person’, singular, sole''!" Bright mentioned Maxwell’s vote in his victory speech, describing her as ‘a hardworking honest person, who pays her rates as you do’. Becker subsequently encouraged 5,346 other female heads of households to apply for their names to appear on the electoral rolls. These claims were presented at the Court of Common Pleas by Sir John Coleridge and

Richard Pankhurst Richard Marsden Pankhurst (1834 – 5 July 1898) was an English barrister and socialist who was a strong supporter of women's rights. Early life Richard Pankhurst was the son of Henry Francis Pankhurst (1806–1873) and Margaret Marsden (180 ...

in ''Chorlton v. Lings'' on 2 November 1868. The law was not clear as the relevant legislation did not include the word "male" but instead used the ambiguous term "man". The case ruled that women could not vote in British elections. Maxwell died in October 1876 having been obliged to enter Withington workhouse as she had no other means of support.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maxwell, Lilly 1876 deaths British suffragists People from Chorlton-on-Medlock Year of birth uncertain