Women's suffrage
‘Men Must Fight and Women Must Work’
Slogan carried on placard at Emmeline Pankhurst’s Right to Serve march, 1915
In 1914, the campaign for women’s right to vote was at its height. When the war began some protestors called off their campaign and the government released all suffragette prisoners. Campaigners reacted differently to the war. Some called for women to participate in war work, while others took a pacifist stance. Theresa Garnett, who had attacked Winston Churchill at Temple Meads station in 1909 and been held in Horfield Prison, enlisted and served as a nurse in field hospitals. Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, a Bristol woman who founded and edited the suffragette newspaper Votes for Women, attended an international peace conference in 1915. She addressed meetings and wrote articles in support of peace. After the war, the vote was granted to women aged 30 or over, or who owned a house. This meant that many women who had worked for the war effort still could not vote. The right to vote was finally granted to all adults aged 21 or over in 1928.
In 1914, the campaign for women’s right to vote was at its height. When the war began some protestors called off their campaign and the government released all suffragette prisoners. Campaigners reacted differently to the war. Some called for women to participate in war work, while others took a pacifist stance. Theresa Garnett, who had attacked Winston Churchill at Temple Meads station in 1909 and been held in Horfield Prison, enlisted and served as a nurse in field hospitals. Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, a Bristol woman who founded and edited the suffragette newspaper Votes for Women, attended an international peace conference in 1915. She addressed meetings and wrote articles in support of peace. After the war, the vote was granted to women aged 30 or over, or who owned a house. This meant that many women who had worked for the war effort still could not vote. The right to vote was finally granted to all adults aged 21 or over in 1928.