The Manchester Society for Women's Suffrage, whose aim was to obtain the same rights for women to vote for Members of Parliament as those granted to men, was formed at a meeting in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

in January 1867.

Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elizabeth Clarke Wolstenholme-Elmy (''née'' Wolstenholme; 1833 – 12 March 1918) was a British teacher, campaigner and organiser, significant in the history of women's suffrage in the United Kingdom. She wrote essays and some poetry, using t ...

claimed it had begun in 1865. Lydia Becker was its secretary from February 1867 and Richard Pankhurst was a member of its committee. Founding members of the society were Ursula Mellor Bright and Jacob Bright. The society underwent several name changes as it affiliated with other

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 ...

organisations. It became the Manchester National Society for Women's Suffrage (MNSWS) in November 1867 when it joined London and Edinburgh societies in the

National Society for Women's Suffrage The National Society for Women's Suffrage Manchester Branch The National Society for Women's Suffrage was the first national group in the United Kingdom to campaign for women's right to vote. Officially formed on 6 November 1867, by Lydia Becker ...

. In 1897, with about 500 other suffrage societies, the MNSWS joined 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 March 1919 it w ...

(NUWSS) and changed its name to the North of England Society for Women's Suffrage and in 1911 it became the Manchester Society for Women's Suffrage, part of the Manchester District Federation of the NUWSS. The society opened an office at 28 Jackson's Row in 1868 and in 1887 moved to premises in John Dalton Street.

References

{{Authority control Women's suffrage in England 1867 establishments in England Organisations based in Manchester Politics of Manchester National Society for Women's Suffrage Women in Manchester