The Women's Tax Resistance League (WTRL) was from 1909 to 1918 a

direct action Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...

group associated with the

Women's Freedom League The Women's Freedom League was an organisation in the United Kingdom which campaigned for women's suffrage and sexual equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access ...

that used

tax resistance Tax resistance is the refusal to pay tax because of opposition to the government that is imposing the tax, or to government policy, or as opposition to taxation in itself. Tax resistance is a form of direct action and, if in violation of the tax ...

to protest against the disenfranchisement of women during the British

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.

Dora Montefiore Dorothy Frances Montefiore (; 20 December 1851 – 21 December 1933), known as Dora Montefiore, was an English-Australian women's suffragist, socialist, poet, and autobiographer. Early life Born Dorothy Frances Fuller at Kenley Manor near Cou ...

proposed the formation of the league in 1897, and it was formally established on 22 October 1909. The league's activities peaked in the years before the

First World War 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 ...

but were largely deflated in 1914 by the onset of that war, when the league membership passed a resolution to temporarily suspend their tax resistance. Members saw themselves in a tradition of British tax resistance that included

John Hampden John Hampden (24 June 1643) was an English landowner and politician whose opposition to arbitrary taxes imposed by Charles I made him a national figure. An ally of Parliamentarian leader John Pym, and cousin to Oliver Cromwell, he was one of th ...

. According to one source: "Tax resistance proved to be the longest-lived form of militancy, and the most difficult to prosecute. More than 220 women, mostly middle-class, participated in tax resistance between 1906 and 1918, some continuing to resist through the First World War, despite a general suspension of militancy."Nym Mayhall, Laura E. ''The Militant Suffrage Movement: Citizenship and Resistance in Britain, 1860-1930

/ref>

Program

League member and author

Beatrice Harraden Beatrice Harraden (1864–1936) was a British writer and suffragette. Life Born in Hampstead, London on 24 January 1864, to parents Samuel Harraden and Rosalie Lindstedt Harraden, Beatrice Harraden grew up to become an influential feminist w ...

said in 1913:

The least any woman can do is to refuse to pay taxes, especially the tax on actually earned income. This is certainly the most logical phase of the fight for suffrage. It is a culmination of the Government's injustice and stupidity to ask that we pay an income tax on income earned by brains, when they are refusing to consider us eligible to vote. The league was formed three years ago with the slogan: "No vote, no tax". It is non-partisan—an association of constitutional and militant suffragists, recruited from various suffrage societies for the purpose of resisting taxes."Miss Harraden Hit In Eye: She Accuses London Police of Standing By While Roughs Assailed Her" ''The New York Times'' 3 May 1913

Action

In several cases, the government seized and sold at auction items owned by the resisters. The League used these occasions as opportunities for demonstrations and publicity, for instance the "Siege of Montefiore" in 1906:

The house, surrounded by a wall, could be reached only through an arched doorway, which Montefiore and her maid barred against the bailiffs. For six weeks, Montefiore resisted payment of her taxes, addressing the frequent crowds through the upper windows of the house.

Elizabeth Wilks who was the treasurer of the league refused to pay her tax in 1908. Actually married women were not required to pay tax in Britain at that time. According to the law the joint income of a couple was added together and the husband paid the tax. However Elizabeth who earned more than her husband refused to tell her husband how much she earned. This put the authorities into a quandary as Elizabeth was not liable to pay tax and her husband said he was willing to pay the tax but he said that he had no idea how much to pay. In 1910 the authorities illegally seized some of Elizabeth's goods in an attempt to levy the tax on her income. The authorities then tried to claim the tax either from the Wilks or by her husband alone. This was legally unsatisfactory as Mark was being asked for tax on an income of about £600 per annum that he was nominally unaware of. Then 3,000 teachers signed a petition when Mark Wilks was placed in

Brixton prison HM Prison Brixton is a local men's prison, located in Brixton area of the London Borough of Lambeth, in inner-South London. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. History The prison was originally built in 1820 and opened a ...

and there was a demonstration in

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson commemo ...

to protest at his treatment. He was released after a fortnight to a celebrations from the supporters of the Women's Tax Resistance LeagueHilary Frances, 'Wilks , Elizabeth (1861–1956)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 25 Nov 2017
/ref> which included

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

. When tax resistance members had to have some of their goods auctioned to affray their dues, small processions from the auction house and celebrations took place with other supporters, with public speeches from decorated carriages, to explain their protest. Despite a debate in the House of Lords where it was realised that the law was unfair, British law did not get amended until 1972.

Membership

Among the members or those who had to have their goods auctioned to pay overdue taxes, were as follows *

Janie Allan Janie Allan (born Jane Allan; 28 March 1868 – 29 April 1968)Ewan ''et al.'' (2006), p. 11 was a Scottish activist and fundraiser for the suffragette movement of the early 20th century. Early life and family Janie Allan was born to Jane Smit ...

Sarah Benett Sarah Barbara Benett (1850 – 8 February 1924) was a suffragette, a member of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and Treasurer of the Women's Freedom League (WFL). She was one of the "Brown Women" who walked from Edinburgh to Lond ...

Anne Cobden-Sanderson Julia Sarah Anne Cobden-Sanderson (; 26 March 1853 – 2 November 1926) was an English socialist, suffragette and vegetarian. Life Cobden was born in London in 1853 to Catherine Anne and the radical politician Richard Cobden. After her father ...

Alice Davies Alice Davies (1870 - ''alive in'' 1919 ) was a British suffragette and nurse. She was imprisoned for protesting for women's right to vote by smashing windows, went on hunger strike and was awarded the Women's Social and Political Union Hunger St ...

Charlotte Despard Charlotte Despard (née French; 15 June 1844 – 10 November 1939) was an Anglo-Irish suffragist, socialist, pacifist, Sinn Féin activist, and novelist. She was a founding member of the Women's Freedom League, Women's Peace Crusade, and the I ...

* Dr. Margaret Dobson * Louisa Matilda Fagan *

Mary Sargant Florence Emma Mary Sargant Florence (21 July 1857 – 14 December 1954) was a British painter of figure subjects, mural decorations in fresco and occasional landscapes in watercolour and pastel. Biography Emma Mary Sargant was born in London. Her f ...

* Katharine Gatty *

Cicely Hamilton Cicely Mary Hamilton (née Hammill; 15 June 1872 – 6 December 1952), was an English actress, writer, journalist, suffragist and feminist, part of the struggle for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom. She is now best known for the feminist ...

*Dr.

Mabel Hardie Mabel Hardie (1866–1916) was a British physician and surgeon. She was a war surgeon at the Scottish Women's Hospital and is named in the First World War roll of honour. Biography Hardie was born in 1866 at Marple, then in Cheshire, Englan ...

Kate Harvey Kate Harvey (13 November 1862 – 29 April 1946) was an English suffragist, physiotherapist, and charity worker. Profoundly deaf and widowed at a young age, she operated a home for women and children, and then later for disabled children. She p ...

Kate Haslam Kate name may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kate (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Gyula Káté (born 1982), Hungarian amateur boxer * Lauren Kate (born 1981), American auth ...

Isabella Eliza Harrison Isabella may refer to: People and fictional characters * Isabella (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Isabella (surname), including a list of people Places United States * Isabella, Alabama, an unincorpor ...

*Dr.

Katherine Heaney Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Christ ...

* Amy Hicks or Bull *

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 ...

* Clemence Housman *

Edith How-Martyn Edith How-Martyn (''née'' How; 17 June 1875 – 2 February 1954) was a British suffragette and a member of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). She was arrested in 1906 for attempting to make a speech in the House of Commons. This was ...

* Emily Juson Kerr *Anna Martin * Agnes Edith Metcalfe *

Anna Munro Anna Gillies Macdonald Munro (4 October 1881 – 11 September 1962) was an active campaigner for temperance and the women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom. Munro organised and was the secretary of the Women's Freedom League campaigning ...

* Dorinda Neligan * Margaret Nevison * Margaret Kineton Parkes * Winifred Patch * Louisa Thompson Price * Ethel Ayres Purdie *

Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford Mary Du Caurroy Russell, Duchess of Bedford, (née Tribe; 13/26 September 1865 – ca. 22 March 1937) was a British aviator and ornithologist. She was honoured for her work in founding hospitals and working in them during the First World War. ...

Princess Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subst ...

Sophia Duleep Singh Princess Sophia Alexandrovna Duleep Singh (8 August 1876 – 22 August 1948) was a prominent suffragette in the United Kingdom. Her father was Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh, who had been taken from his kingdom of Punjab to the British Raj, a ...

Flora Annie Steel Flora Annie Steel (2 April 1847 – 12 April 1929) was a writer who lived in British India for 22 years. She was noted especially for books set in the Indian sub-continent or connected with it. Her novel ''On the Face of the Waters'' (1896) desc ...

* Elizabeth Wilks *

Edith Zangwill 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 ...

* and

Stanton Coit Stanton may refer to: Places United Kingdom ;Populated places * Stanton, Derbyshire, near Swadlincote * Stanton, Gloucestershire * Stanton, Northumberland * Stanton, Staffordshire * Stanton, Suffolk * New Stanton, Derbyshire * Stanton by B ...

(a member of "the men's branch"). Others included: Dr Garrett Anderson, the Misses Collier, the Misses Dawes Thompson, Mrs. Hartley, Mrs Merivale Mayer, Mrs. Milligan, Miss Raleigh, Mrs. Vaughan and Miss Green, Mrs Bormann Wells.

Women's Tax Resistance in the United States

The women's suffrage movement in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

came to adopt some of the same techniques.

Anna Howard Shaw Anna Howard Shaw (February 14, 1847 – July 2, 1919) was a leader of the women's suffrage movement in the United States. She was also a physician and one of the first ordained female Methodist ministers in the United States. Early life Shaw ...

said "I hold it is unfair to the women of this country to have taxation without representation, and I have urged embers_of_the_National_Woman_Suffrage_Association.html" ;"title="National_Woman_Suffrage_Association.html" ;"title="embers of the National Woman Suffrage Association">embers of the National Woman Suffrage Association">National_Woman_Suffrage_Association.html" ;"title="embers of the National Woman Suffrage Association">embers of the National Woman Suffrage Associationto adopt a course of passive resistance like the Quakers instead of aggressive resistance. I say to the Government, 'you may pick my pocket because you are stronger than I, but I'm not going to turn my pockets wrongside out for you.' ... I believe that the spirit of '

no taxation without representation "No taxation without representation" is a political slogan that originated in the American Revolution, and which expressed one of the primary grievances of the American colonists for Great Britain. In short, many colonists believed that as they ...

' that resulted in the Revolutionary War is inherent and just as actual in the women of the country as it was then in the men of the country.""Women's Tax Fight Will Be Passive" ''New York Times'' 30 December 1913

Notes

References

* Gross, David (ed.) ''We Won't Pay!: A Tax Resistance Reader'' pp. 323–325 * Thornley, Helen "No Vote, No Tax! The Women’s Tax Resistance League from 1909 to 1918" in ''Contemporary Issues in Tax Research'' (4), 2021, pp. 7–48

External links

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070312054111/http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article328971.ece "Women's suffrage movement: The story of Kate Harvey"''The Independent'' 24 November 2005
"Lives and Times"
''The Scotsman'' 4 February 2006 ( Sophia Alexandra Duleep Singh) {{Tax resistance Tax resistance in the United Kingdom Feminist organisations in the United Kingdom Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1909 Organizations disestablished in 1918 1909 establishments in the United Kingdom 1918 disestablishments in the United Kingdom