The Actresses' Franchise League was a

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

organisation, mainly active in England.

Founding

In 1908 the Actresses' Franchise League was founded by Gertrude Elliott, Adeline Bourne, Winifred Mayo and Sime Seruya at a meeting in the Criterion Restaurant in London. While "actresses" are specified in the organisation's name, any woman who was or had been in the theatrical profession was welcome to join. British actresses who joined included

Sybil Thorndike Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike, Lady Casson (24 October 18829 June 1976) was an English actress whose stage career lasted from 1904 to 1969. Trained in her youth as a concert pianist, Thorndike turned to the stage when a medical problem with her h ...

, Italia Conti, Inez Bensusan,

Madge Kendal Dame Madge Kendal (born Margaret Shafto Robertson; 15 March 1848 – 14 September 1935) was an English actress of the Victorian era, Victorian and Edwardian era, Edwardian eras, best known for her roles in Shakespeare and English comedies. Tog ...

, Gertrude Elliott,

Ellen Terry Dame Alice Ellen Terry (27 February 184721 July 1928) was a leading English actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born into a family of actors, Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London, and toured ...

Lillah McCarthy Lillah, Lady Keeble OBE (born Lila Emma McCarthy; 22 September 1875 – 15 April 1960) was an English people, English actress and Actor-manager, theatrical manager. Biography Lila Emma McCarty was born in Cheltenham on 22 September 1875, the s ...

, Decima Moore,

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 ...

, Beatrice Forbes-Robertson Hale, Christabel Marshall,

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 ...

Edith Craig Edith Ailsa Geraldine Craig ( Edith Godwin; 9 December 1869 – 27 March 1947), known as Edy Craig, was a prolific theatre director, producer, costume designer and early pioneer of the women's suffrage movement in England. She was the daughte ...

, Janette Steer, Ellison Scotland Gibb, Violet Key Jones,

Ellen Kate Limouzin Ellen Kate Limouzin (27 October 1870 – 21 June 1950) was a British suffragette, socialist, music hall performer, writer and Esperanto speaker. She was the aunt of the author George Orwell and was also known as "Nellie" or "Hélène." Early l ...

and

Lillie Langtry Emilie Charlotte, Lady de Bathe (née Le Breton, formerly Langtry; 13 October 1853 – 12 February 1929), known as Lillie (or Lily) Langtry and nicknamed "The Jersey Lily", was a British socialite, stage actress and producer. Born on the isla ...

. The group had three main objectives: 1. To convince members of the Theatrical profession of the necessity of extending the franchise to women. 2. To work for Votes for Women on the same terms as they are, or may be, granted to men by educational methods. 3. To assist all other leagues whenever possible. The League itself was strictly neutral in regard to suffrage tactics meaning the organisation did not either publicly endorse or condemn militancy. However, there were some members who were also a part of militant societies such the

Women's Freedom League The Women's Freedom League was an organisation in the United Kingdom from 1907 to 1961 which campaigned for women's suffrage, pacifism and sexual equality. It was founded by former members of the Women's Social and Political Union after the Pa ...

and Women’s Social and Political Union, and who were arrested and imprisoned for militant actions. By 1913 the AFL membership had reached 900 members, and there was an affiliated men's group as well as over 100 patrons. The AFL adopted pink and green as its colours. The first meeting of the AFL was held on 26 November 1908. and chaired by the actor–manager

Johnston Forbes-Robertson Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson (16 January 1853 – 6 November 1937)''Sir Johnston Forbes Robertson, Beauty And Grace in Acting'', Obituaries, ''The Times'', 8 November 1937. was an English actor and theatre manager and husband of actress Gertrud ...

. The first president of the league was Dame Madge Kendal.

Activities

The AFL had very specific means of accomplishing their goals. These were delineated in its first annual report as: i) Propaganda Meetings, ii) Sale of Literature, iii) Propaganda Plays, iv) Lectures. Literature, including plays and sketches by pro-suffrage writers, was sold at all AFL events. The AFL often collaborated with other suffrage groups, particularly the Women Writers' Suffrage League. Writers and dramatists in this group, like

, provided many of the plays and skits performed by the AFL. The two groups shared many of the same members. The AFL performed at WSPU’s Women’s Suffrage Exhibition in 1909 and then at WSPU’s Christmas Fair and Festival in 1911. The AFL set up offices at 2 Robert Street, Adelphi, near Charing Cross Station, and had branches across Britain in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, and Eastbourne. Representative of the AFL were present at all major events in the British suffrage campaign between 1909 and 1928. Between 1909 and 1914, at least 120 suffrage plays were performed across the country. The AFL was active for over 50 years, well after the partial granting of women's suffrage in 1918 and of equal suffrage in 1928. Early in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the AFL began war work, holding events to support theatrical charities and formed the Women’s Adjustment Board, to help find employment for women during wartime. Representatives of the AFL and WAB sat on the advisory council of the Equal Pay Campaign Committee in the 1940s and 1950s and other members worked to raise funds for residential homes for both elderly women and men. The last event held by AFL was a ball at the

Savoy Hotel The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London, England. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August 1 ...

in December 1958 to commemorate its fiftieth anniversary.

Membership and support

By 1914 membership of the AFL numbered over 900 and a linked men’s group had been formed. The AFL recruited over 100 patrons from outside the theatre professions, including

Christabel Pankhurst Dame Christabel Harriette Pankhurst (; 22 September 1880 – 13 February 1958) was a British suffragette born in Manchester, England. A co-founder of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), she directed Suffragette bombing and arson ca ...

Notable Members

* Edy Craig *

Kitty Marion Kitty Marion (born Katherina Maria Schäfer, 12 March 1871 – 9 October 1944) was an activist who advocated for women's suffrage and birth control. Born in the German Empire, she immigrated to England in 1886 when she was fifteen. She sang i ...

Elizabeth Robins Elizabeth Robins (August 6, 1862 – May 8, 1952) was an actress, playwright, novelist, and suffragette. She also wrote as C. E. Raimond. Early life Elizabeth Robins, the first child of Charles Robins and Hannah Crow, was born in Louisville, ...

Athene Seyler Athene Seyler (31 May 188912 September 1990) was an English actress. Early life She was born in Hackney, London; her German-born grandparents moved to the United Kingdom, where her grandfather Philip Seyler was a merchant in London. Athene Se ...

Legacy

The organisation remained in existence until 1958. Papers of the Actresses' Franchise League are held in the

Women's Library The Women's Library is England's main library and museum resource on women and the women's movement, concentrating on Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries. It has an institutional history as a coherent collection dating back to the mid-1920s, ...

in London at LSE. The

Museum of London London Museum (known from 1976 to 2024 as the Museum of London) is a museum in London, covering the history of the city from prehistoric to modern times, with a particular focus on social history. The Museum of London was formed in 1976 by ama ...

has a large banner of the AFL in its collection. Many of the plays created for the AFL to perform have been reprinted since the 1980s, most recently by Dr Naomi Paxton in two anthologies with Methuen Drama in 2013 and 2018 Between 1974 and 1981 the historian, Brian Harrison conducted a series of oral history interviews with surviving suffrage campaigners, their relatives and employees, known as ''The Suffrage Interviews'', or ''Oral evidence on the suffragette and suffragist movements: the Brian Harrison interviews.'' 2 interviews with

Letitia Fairfield Josephine Letitia Denny Fairfield MB CM MD (10 March 1885 – 1 February 1978) was a medical doctor, a lawyer, a war-worker, and the first ever female Chief Medical Officer for London. She received a CBE for her outstanding achievements in ...

, and 1 with

mention the Actresses' Franchise League. From October 2018 to January 2019 there was an exhibition at the National Theatre in London about the Actresses' Franchise League and Women Writers' Suffrage League. It was called "Dramatic Progress: Votes for Women and the Edwardian Stage" and curated by Naomi Paxton.

Founding

Activities

Membership and support

Notable Members

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading