The Sheffield Female Political Association was the first

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

organisation in the United Kingdom. The reason as to why this group was formed was due to the 1832 Reform Act explicitly banning women from voting, as it defined a voter as a male person. The group was founded in February 1851 by several

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

women who were also active in the

Chartist movement Chartism was a working-class movement for political reform in the United Kingdom that erupted from 1838 to 1857 and was strongest in 1839, 1842 and 1848. It took its name from the People's Charter of 1838 and was a national protest movement, w ...

, led by Anne Kent and Anne Knight.Anne Knight (1786-1862)
It also gained the support of

Isaac Ironside Isaac Ironside (17 September 1808 – 20 August 1870) was an English Chartist and socialist politician, whose activities were centred in Sheffield. Early years Born near Masbrough, Rotherham, Ironside grew up in Sheffield, the son of Samuel Iro ...

's local Central Democratic Association. The Association passed a resolution written by Abiah Higginbotham in support of the suffrage of adult women, and persuaded

George Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle George William Frederick Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle, (18 April 1802– 5 December 1864), styled Viscount Morpeth from 1825 to 1848, was a British statesman, orator, and writer. Life Carlisle was born in Westminster, London, the eldest son o ...

to submit this as a

petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some offi ...

to the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

. This probably inspired

Harriet Taylor Mill Harriet Taylor Mill (née Hardy; 8 October 1807 – 3 November 1858) was a British philosopher and women's rights advocate. Her extant corpus of writing can be found in ''The Complete Works of Harriet Taylor Mill''. Several pieces can also be fo ...

to write '' The Enfranchisement of Women''. Later in 1851,

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

activists

Jeanne Deroin Jeanne Deroin (31 December 1805 – 2 April 1894) was a French socialist feminist. She spent the latter half of her life in exile in London, where she continued her organising activities. Early life Born in Paris, Deroin became a seamstress. In ...

and

Pauline Roland Pauline Roland (1805, Falaise, Calvados – 15 December 1852) was a French feminist and socialist. Upon her mother's insistence, Roland received a good education and was introduced to the ideas of Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint-Simon, ...

wrote to the group for support while imprisoned in France.Ed. Nancy Hewitt,
Internationalizing Feminism in the 19th Century
''

References

Political parties established in 1851 Politics of Sheffield Women's suffrage in England 1851 establishments in England Organisations based in Sheffield {{England-hist-stub