The United Suffragists was a

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 ...

movement in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

History

The group was founded on 6 February 1914, by former members and supporters of the

Women's Social and Political Union The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership an ...

(WSPU). In contrast to the WSPU, it admitted men, and it also admitted non-militant suffragists.Elizabeth Crawford, ''The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866-1928'', p.694 Founder members of the United Suffragists included

Louisa Garrett Anderson Louisa Garrett Anderson, CBE (28 July 1873 – 15 November 1943) was a medical pioneer, a member of the Women's Social and Political Union, a suffragette, and social reformer. She was the daughter of the founding medical pioneer Elizabeth Gar ...

, H. J. Gillespie, Gerald Gould,

Agnes Harben Agnes Helen Harben (née Bostock; 15 September 1879 – 29 October 1961) was a British suffragist leader who also supported the militant suffragette hunger strikers, and was a founder of the United Suffragists. Family and life Harben was bor ...

and

Henry Devenish Harben Henry Devenish Harben (1874 – 18 May 1967) was a British barrister and Liberal Party politician who later joined the Labour Party. He was a notable supporter of women's suffrage. Early life He was the son of Henry Andrade Harben and the grand ...

, Bessie Lansbury,

George Lansbury George Lansbury (22 February 1859 – 7 May 1940) was a British politician and social reformer who led the Labour Party from 1932 to 1935. Apart from a brief period of ministerial office during the Labour government of 1929–31, he spe ...

, Mary Neal, Emmeline Pethick Lawrence, Julia Scurr and John Scurr, Evelyn Sharp, and

Edith Ayrton Edith Ayrton Zangwill (1879 – 1945) was a British author and activist. She helped form the Jewish League for Woman Suffrage. Early life Ayrton was born in 1875 in Japan to the scientist William Edward Ayrton and the doctor Matilda Chaplin ...

. Louise Eates and

Lena Ashwell Lena Margaret Ashwell, Lady Simson ( Pocock; 28 September 1872 – 13 March 1957) was a British actress and theatre manager and producer, known as the first to organise large-scale entertainment for troops at the front, which she did during Wo ...

also became members in 1914, and Ellen Smith who was in the

Fabian Society The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. T ...

, like H. J. Gillespie, who was the United Suffragists treasurer. Maud Arncliffe Sennett became its first vice-president. Louisa Garrett Anderson was in the Edinburgh branch, and another branch was in Liverpool, supported by

Patricia Woodlock Patricia Woodlock (born Mary Winifred Woodlock; 25 October 1873 – after 1930) was a British artist and suffragette who was imprisoned seven times, including serving the longest suffragette prison sentence in 1908 (solitary confinement for th ...

Helen Crawfurd Helen Crawfurd ( Jack, later Anderson; 9 November 1877 – 18 April 1954) was a Scottish suffragette, rent strike organiser, Communist activist and politician. Born in Glasgow, she was brought up there and in London. Biography Born Helen Jack ...

formed a branch in Glasgow in 1915. Labour Party members Annie Somers and

Hope Squire Evelyn Hope Squire Merrick (1878–1936) was a British composer, pianist, and political activist who supported women's suffrage, vegetarianism, Esperanto, and new music. She opposed England’s participation in World War I. She published and per ...

were also active in the organisation,{{Cite book, last1=Røstvik, ; Sutherland, Ella Louise (2015). Suffragette Legacy. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars. p. 8, first1=Camilla Mørk, title=Suffragette Legacy, last2=Sutherland, first2=Ella Louise, publisher=Cambridge Scholars, year=2015, location=Newcastle, pages=8 and Mary Phillips worked with them during 1915 and 1916, and continued to develop with the Suffragette Fellowship and Six Point Group.

Lilian Hicks Lilian Hicks (1853–1924) was a British campaigner for the vote for agricultural labourers and later Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom. Hicks took an active role in several organisations and was arrested on Black Friday in 1910. Life Hicks ...

was a former WSPU militant activist who became secretary of the Hampstead branch. The United Suffragists organisation adopted ''

Votes for Women A vote is a formal method of choosing in an election. Vote(s) or The Vote may also refer to: Music *''V.O.T.E.'', an album by Chris Stamey and Yo La Tengo, 2004 *"Vote", a song by the Submarines from ''Declare a New State!'', 2006 Television * " ...

'' as its newspaper; as this was run by Pethick-Lawrence and had formerly been associated with the WSPU, with Evelyn Sharp as its main editor. Unlike the WSPU, United Suffragists continued to campaign through

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and although its newspaper circulation dropped, the organisation itself gradually attracted more members from both former WPSU as well as from the

National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies The National Union of Women Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), also known as the ''suffragists'' (not to be confused with the suffragettes) was an organisation founded in 1897 of women's suffrage societies around the United Kingdom. In 1919 it was ren ...

(NUWSS). With the introduction of women's suffrage in 1918, the group dissolved itself, after holding a victory celebration, and also participating in the NUWSS celebrations, and discontinued its newspaper.

References

Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom 1914 establishments in the United Kingdom 1918 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Feminist organisations in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1914 Organizations disestablished in 1918 First-wave feminism