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Suffragettes. The Fight for Votes for Women
Women´s suffrage was a bloody and dangerous war lasting several decades, won finally by sheer will and determination in 1928. Drawing on extracts from diaries, newspapers, letters, journals and books, Joyce Marlow has pieced together this inspiring, poignant and exciting history using the voices of the women themselves. Some of the people and events are well-known, but Marlow has gone beyond the obvious, particularly beyond London, to show us the ordinary women - middle and working-class, who had the breathtaking courage to stand up and be counted - or just as likely hectored, or pelted with eggs. These women were clever and determined, knew the power of humour and surprise and exhibited 'unladylike' passion and bravery.
Joyce Marlow's anthology is lively, comprehensive, surprising and triumphant.
Joyce Marlow's anthology is lively, comprehensive, surprising and triumphant.
318 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
33 people are currently reading
498 people want to read
About the author
Joyce Marlow
44 books4 followersBorn Manchester 27 December 1929. Professional actress 1949-1966. Occasional Press Officer. Professional writer 1964 onwards.
Founder member Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society and Copyright Licensing Agency. Lay member Industrial (now Employment) Tribunal panel 1977 –1990 London and Manchester. 1955 married actor Patrick Connor (1926-2008). Two sons, Nicholas born 1961, Julian 1966.
Founder member Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society and Copyright Licensing Agency. Lay member Industrial (now Employment) Tribunal panel 1977 –1990 London and Manchester. 1955 married actor Patrick Connor (1926-2008). Two sons, Nicholas born 1961, Julian 1966.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
November 15, 2018
This is a really well-organized and researched book about women's suffrage in Britain from the Victorian times to 1928, when women were finally enfranchised. An anthology which compiles and draws on actual material from the times, it includes excerpts from letters, journals, newspapers, diaries and official documents, as well as sometimes also quoting from other books written about the events. It's organized in a way that I found really engaging and informative, showing the voices of many different women (male suffragists and allies also make an appearance) with different backgrounds and classes, motivations and mindsets. The book also shows the contrasting views of the Antis, not at all dissimilar from our modern MRAs, sexist dudebros and complicit anti-feminist women (no surprises there, we haven't come *that* far). The added notes and appendices by author Joyce Marlow are a plus for this great anthology, organizing all sources in a clear and entertaining way, with dates, names, places and events being easily put into context.
I totally recommend this book for anyone who's interested about knowing more about the suffrage movement in Britain, especially because of the fresh and informative view that comes with an anthology with so many original, unedited and unquoted source material. Reading all those original sources was definitely a highlight for me, easily making this one of my fave feminist books. I loved delving deeper and learning more about the timeline and events of the suffrage struggle. Kudos to all those brave women!
I totally recommend this book for anyone who's interested about knowing more about the suffrage movement in Britain, especially because of the fresh and informative view that comes with an anthology with so many original, unedited and unquoted source material. Reading all those original sources was definitely a highlight for me, easily making this one of my fave feminist books. I loved delving deeper and learning more about the timeline and events of the suffrage struggle. Kudos to all those brave women!
Read
June 7, 2025DNF. Maybe I will start again. I really enjoyed what I read. but then my kids dumped it in a full sink and it was not salvageable.
March 24, 2023
The chosen narration style (a compilation of different suffragettes' and anti-suffragettes' own words) is not for everyone. I liked it very much.
April 15, 2021
Suffragettes is not an historical account of the women’s movement written by Joyce Marlow, which in a way is a pity. Marlow is the historian most sympathetic towards movements from below to support the rights of oppressed groups. Her books on Peterloo and the Tolpuddle Martyrs were especially moving. If anyone could write a sensitive and interesting book about the suffragette movement, it is Marlow.
Instead Marlow acts as editor to an anthology of short written pieces penned by the suffragettes themselves. There are brief interruptions by Marlow, where she provides us with the historical background, but these are often just a paragraph or two. She also includes newspaper articles, and written accounts by anti-suffragists and other unsympathetic people.
Marlow has her own biases of course. She is less enthusiastic about the radical Pankhursts, and leans towards the gentler approach of Millicent Garrett Fawcett. This does not prevent Marlow from quoting the Pankhursts, or including extracts from suffragists who were sympathetic towards them.
In a similar way, Marlow presents the accounts of suffragists who suffered at the hands of the police or prison officers, but also produces the defence of their behaviour provided by senior figures. The reader is allowed to make up their own mind who they believe.
Who was right? The more extreme suffragettes such as the Pankhursts, who participated in destruction of property and disruption of public events? Or constitutionalists such as Fawcett, who wished to demonstrate the essential reasonableness of women, and their fitness to be allowed the vote?
In a way, the movement perhaps needed a little bit of both. The difficulty for moderates is that their pleasant, intelligent speeches are easily dismissed by patronising males and ignored in the Press. The more violent suffragettes may use controversial means that offend many, but they got the cause noticed. Perhaps it needed this more vigorous campaign before the milder suffragists stepped in again and allowed a peaceful resolution that would not have been possible with only the extreme suffragettes.
While the book is a series of personal accounts and newspaper articles, it somehow manages to tell the entire history of the suffragette movement, but mostly in their own words. We see the early suffragists fighting to be heard, and mostly being ignored.
We see the move towards more forcible tactics, the arrests and imprisonments, and the controversy surrounding this. We see the reaction against the suffragists, with anti-suffragist movements beginning, often comprising a largely female membership. We see the constant defeats in the attempts to get female suffrage included in parliamentary bills, and the splits in the movment. Finally we see the changes that led to some, and finally all women receiving the vote, and not having to wait until they were in their 30s to be given the chance.
It is part of the power of the more radical end of the suffragette movement that the cause is mostly remembered for its excesses – ballot papers and mail were destroyed, public meetings were disturbed, fires and bombs were employed, and arrested women went on hunger strike.
Less well-known, and probably deserving to be better-known, is the fate of many of those suffragettes who campaigned vigorously. They were frequently abused. They were physically and sexually assaulted by the crowds and by the police (if accounts are to be believed, and I believe them). It was not uncommon for suffragettes to leave meetings covered in bruises. No wonder some of the women hit back with more violent methods, though not against people.
Then there is the forcible feeding that was used against hunger striking suffragette prisoners, one of the darkest elements of the whole story. Unsanitary equipment was used, and the force with which the food was pushed into the women’s systems caused them to have serious health problems.
The government’s solution was to release them, but a Cat and Mouse Act added a new cruelty. Women were released when forcible feeding made them too ill, but had to return to prison to finish their sentence when they recovered – which meant more forcible feeding.
Perhaps the image some people have of suffragette activists is of shrieking harpies planning vicious attacks on public property. As their own accounts make clear, the truth was rather different. Often the perpetrators were nervous young women rushing into a building and expecting to be stopped at any minute. This was an amateur movement, and not some well-oiled terrorist organisation.
There is much to admire about the patience and courage of the suffragist movement – the large number of women (and a fair number of men) who turned out to fight for the cause despite numerous setbacks and constant dreary weather. It must have seemed as if even the British climate did not want women to have the vote.
The achievement was done in spite of, rather than because of the political establishment. Even the most radical politicians of the day such as Lloyd George proved to be unreliable allies. The Labour Party supported the cause, but gave it a lower priority. Perhaps understandably politicians were reluctant to tack female suffrage onto existing parliamentary bills for fear of losing the entire bill.
Yet when the decision to grant limited female suffrage finally came (still disenfranchising younger and working-class women), it is remarkable how quickly public and political opinion changed on the issue. Women MPs began to appear. The first female cabinet minister was accepted with little demur.
After ten years, Stanley Baldwin’s Conservative Party made female suffrage equal to that of men, open to everyone over the age of 21. In just ten years, that extension of women’s voting rights was passed by a right-wing party with hardly any opposition at all. The idea of women having a say in politics was now just as much a part of the norm as excluding women had been a short time before.
This is a fascinating book, and Marlow chooses her extracts very well. They tell much of the story and offer different perspectives on what happened. As Marlow perceptively realised, the story of how women gained their voting rights can be told perfectly by presenting what the contemporary women said about it, and what better way can there be of editing a book about female empowerment?
Instead Marlow acts as editor to an anthology of short written pieces penned by the suffragettes themselves. There are brief interruptions by Marlow, where she provides us with the historical background, but these are often just a paragraph or two. She also includes newspaper articles, and written accounts by anti-suffragists and other unsympathetic people.
Marlow has her own biases of course. She is less enthusiastic about the radical Pankhursts, and leans towards the gentler approach of Millicent Garrett Fawcett. This does not prevent Marlow from quoting the Pankhursts, or including extracts from suffragists who were sympathetic towards them.
In a similar way, Marlow presents the accounts of suffragists who suffered at the hands of the police or prison officers, but also produces the defence of their behaviour provided by senior figures. The reader is allowed to make up their own mind who they believe.
Who was right? The more extreme suffragettes such as the Pankhursts, who participated in destruction of property and disruption of public events? Or constitutionalists such as Fawcett, who wished to demonstrate the essential reasonableness of women, and their fitness to be allowed the vote?
In a way, the movement perhaps needed a little bit of both. The difficulty for moderates is that their pleasant, intelligent speeches are easily dismissed by patronising males and ignored in the Press. The more violent suffragettes may use controversial means that offend many, but they got the cause noticed. Perhaps it needed this more vigorous campaign before the milder suffragists stepped in again and allowed a peaceful resolution that would not have been possible with only the extreme suffragettes.
While the book is a series of personal accounts and newspaper articles, it somehow manages to tell the entire history of the suffragette movement, but mostly in their own words. We see the early suffragists fighting to be heard, and mostly being ignored.
We see the move towards more forcible tactics, the arrests and imprisonments, and the controversy surrounding this. We see the reaction against the suffragists, with anti-suffragist movements beginning, often comprising a largely female membership. We see the constant defeats in the attempts to get female suffrage included in parliamentary bills, and the splits in the movment. Finally we see the changes that led to some, and finally all women receiving the vote, and not having to wait until they were in their 30s to be given the chance.
It is part of the power of the more radical end of the suffragette movement that the cause is mostly remembered for its excesses – ballot papers and mail were destroyed, public meetings were disturbed, fires and bombs were employed, and arrested women went on hunger strike.
Less well-known, and probably deserving to be better-known, is the fate of many of those suffragettes who campaigned vigorously. They were frequently abused. They were physically and sexually assaulted by the crowds and by the police (if accounts are to be believed, and I believe them). It was not uncommon for suffragettes to leave meetings covered in bruises. No wonder some of the women hit back with more violent methods, though not against people.
Then there is the forcible feeding that was used against hunger striking suffragette prisoners, one of the darkest elements of the whole story. Unsanitary equipment was used, and the force with which the food was pushed into the women’s systems caused them to have serious health problems.
The government’s solution was to release them, but a Cat and Mouse Act added a new cruelty. Women were released when forcible feeding made them too ill, but had to return to prison to finish their sentence when they recovered – which meant more forcible feeding.
Perhaps the image some people have of suffragette activists is of shrieking harpies planning vicious attacks on public property. As their own accounts make clear, the truth was rather different. Often the perpetrators were nervous young women rushing into a building and expecting to be stopped at any minute. This was an amateur movement, and not some well-oiled terrorist organisation.
There is much to admire about the patience and courage of the suffragist movement – the large number of women (and a fair number of men) who turned out to fight for the cause despite numerous setbacks and constant dreary weather. It must have seemed as if even the British climate did not want women to have the vote.
The achievement was done in spite of, rather than because of the political establishment. Even the most radical politicians of the day such as Lloyd George proved to be unreliable allies. The Labour Party supported the cause, but gave it a lower priority. Perhaps understandably politicians were reluctant to tack female suffrage onto existing parliamentary bills for fear of losing the entire bill.
Yet when the decision to grant limited female suffrage finally came (still disenfranchising younger and working-class women), it is remarkable how quickly public and political opinion changed on the issue. Women MPs began to appear. The first female cabinet minister was accepted with little demur.
After ten years, Stanley Baldwin’s Conservative Party made female suffrage equal to that of men, open to everyone over the age of 21. In just ten years, that extension of women’s voting rights was passed by a right-wing party with hardly any opposition at all. The idea of women having a say in politics was now just as much a part of the norm as excluding women had been a short time before.
This is a fascinating book, and Marlow chooses her extracts very well. They tell much of the story and offer different perspectives on what happened. As Marlow perceptively realised, the story of how women gained their voting rights can be told perfectly by presenting what the contemporary women said about it, and what better way can there be of editing a book about female empowerment?
Read
February 3, 2022This book took me a pretty long time to read, it's a collection of letters, newspapers, statements, articles written during the years of the suffragette movement in England. Like most pieces on the suffragette movement it mainly focuses on the middle-upper-class white women in England, there are some parts that mention the role that the working class women played in the movement but not a lot. I don't rate Non-fiction really, mainly because i don't really know how my rating scale would transfer to a non-fiction book so i'm leaving it blank. TW FOR NEXT PART: brief mention of force feeding. I did find it eye opening to read the accounts of force feeding from the women themselves, in school we did learn briefly about the cat and mouse act and force feeding in prisons but not in detail. Hearing from the women who were force fed was heavy but it also highlights the pure suffering and torture that these women were subjected to and the genuine disregard that people had for these women and their health, as long as they didn't die and become martyrs it didn't matter what happened to them or how sick, frail and hurt they were, something not often fully mentioned in general in regards to the suffragettes movement. I would like to read more on the suffragettes movement, more on the working class women, the women of colour that have been forgotten and erased from the movement. I'd also like to read about the feminist and suffragette movement in other countries and how it compares.
February 24, 2025
This was such a well organised read. It was technically reading for uni, but I felt so guilty because it was such an interesting book - the suffragette movement changed so much for women of today, and reading these in depth accounts from the media, first hand witnesses, police and even the antis was so fascinating. Some of the accounts are truly heartbreaking, that so much had to occur to simply have a say in your own country that both women and men of the movement had to send their sons off to fight for, pay taxes to and contribute to as a society is shocking, but it’s a stark reminder of just how much was done and fought for to get us here. So much changed with the accomplishment of the vote; job opportunities, religious change, societal shifts and so much more. I recommend everybody give this a read. The way the world is going, things feel like they are on a downhill roll backwards into attitudes and movements which should have long since passed, and most of this is because people do not look at the mistakes of the past to learn how to move forward with compassion, empathy and thinking not just about ourselves, but how we are knitted together with our neighbours across the globe - this book gives us a chance to remind ourselves what happens when divisions are put aside and we work together. It shouldn’t take all this for fairness or equality, but people learn and change slowly. It was an inspiring and very thought provoking read.
May 31, 2022
Ms Marlow has taken strands of speeches and diaries and letters, and woven them all together to create this engaging tapestry depicting the fight for women's right to vote from 1832 - 1929.
"Sir,
Everyone seems to agree upon the necessity of putting a stop to Suffragist outrages; but no one seems certain how to do so. There are two, and only two, ways in which this can be done. Both will be effectual:
1. Kill every woman in the United Kingdom
2. Give women the vote.
Yours truly,
Bertha Brewster"
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has the time to read it. Ms Marlow adds in explanations and context of her own so a deep knowledge of 19th -20th century politics is not needed at all.
My advice would be that this is a book which is dipped in and out of. It is not that it cannot be read in one sitting - I did that and thoroughly enjoyed it - only that, for those who struggle to read the writing style of the late Victorians and Edwardians, perhaps it is easier to read in short stories. Ms Marlow includes a list of key dates near to the beginning for this specific purpose.
"I am a working woman,
My voting half is dead
I hold a house and want to know
Why I can't vote instead."
"Sir,
Everyone seems to agree upon the necessity of putting a stop to Suffragist outrages; but no one seems certain how to do so. There are two, and only two, ways in which this can be done. Both will be effectual:
1. Kill every woman in the United Kingdom
2. Give women the vote.
Yours truly,
Bertha Brewster"
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has the time to read it. Ms Marlow adds in explanations and context of her own so a deep knowledge of 19th -20th century politics is not needed at all.
My advice would be that this is a book which is dipped in and out of. It is not that it cannot be read in one sitting - I did that and thoroughly enjoyed it - only that, for those who struggle to read the writing style of the late Victorians and Edwardians, perhaps it is easier to read in short stories. Ms Marlow includes a list of key dates near to the beginning for this specific purpose.
"I am a working woman,
My voting half is dead
I hold a house and want to know
Why I can't vote instead."
February 2, 2019
This is an excellent book based on facts. What those poor women went through I can never imagine how they felt, they did so much for us women, if it was not for their efforts we would not have women's lib, the vote, or our own money! Yes in those days women had to give everything to their husband, had no say over how their children were brought up, it was all down to the man! Except it was ok for those working women to pay taxes! it really does get my blood boiling with how women were and continue to be treated even today as second class citizens.
I thank those Women for all their efforts in gaining us the vote and ALWAYS ensure that I use my vote wisely and with a conscious effort, it is never taking lightly,. However it is just such a shame that the so called MPs of today are lying, cheating, human beings who are only out to get what they want.
I am also very honoured to have the grave of Ms Wilding near us where I can go and pay my respects to her. There has also been a statue built in their honour which is one of the first women statues to be erected!
So come on girls give this a read as it will make you proud.
I thank those Women for all their efforts in gaining us the vote and ALWAYS ensure that I use my vote wisely and with a conscious effort, it is never taking lightly,. However it is just such a shame that the so called MPs of today are lying, cheating, human beings who are only out to get what they want.
I am also very honoured to have the grave of Ms Wilding near us where I can go and pay my respects to her. There has also been a statue built in their honour which is one of the first women statues to be erected!
So come on girls give this a read as it will make you proud.
March 4, 2019
This is a compilation of writings surrounding the fight for votes for women. Including first hand personal accounts from women and men, newspaper extracts and letters.
I was sceptical about this approach when I first picked up the book, but the more I read, the more it made me realise the value of this method. By presenting the information directly from the source it enabled me to become more acquainted with the individuals and more invested in their fight. It increased the empathy I had for the people who were ridiculed, abused and tortured (such as the force feeding practice which was more horrific than I had imagined) and the anger I felt towards those who persisted to refuse women their rights.
I became so passionate reading this, being a woman, and feeling so grateful that they fought so hard and for so long in the face of adversity, so that I could have the rights and opportunities that I have today.
I was sceptical about this approach when I first picked up the book, but the more I read, the more it made me realise the value of this method. By presenting the information directly from the source it enabled me to become more acquainted with the individuals and more invested in their fight. It increased the empathy I had for the people who were ridiculed, abused and tortured (such as the force feeding practice which was more horrific than I had imagined) and the anger I felt towards those who persisted to refuse women their rights.
I became so passionate reading this, being a woman, and feeling so grateful that they fought so hard and for so long in the face of adversity, so that I could have the rights and opportunities that I have today.
April 14, 2018
this book opened up my eyes to the whole fight of the suffragettes and the vote for women. the vote for women was particularly hard and long fought with many battles along the way.
before reading this novel I only knew mainly of the Pankhurst side of events and obviously the death of Emily Davison at the epsom derby - this book told the whole story year by year and what happened and how it happened - with all the sources which I found fascinating.
I recommend everyone to read this book if they have a keen interest in the history of women's rights and you will not be disappointed when you read this book
5* all day long
before reading this novel I only knew mainly of the Pankhurst side of events and obviously the death of Emily Davison at the epsom derby - this book told the whole story year by year and what happened and how it happened - with all the sources which I found fascinating.
I recommend everyone to read this book if they have a keen interest in the history of women's rights and you will not be disappointed when you read this book
5* all day long
October 6, 2021
A.fascinating book providing a detailed account of the suffragette movement, activities and people involved through chronological letters, reports, newspaper articles and other documents. I thought I might dip into this as it is the 100 year anniversary of the Suffragette movement achieving the Representation of the People Act of 1918 - granting the vote to men over the age of 21 and women over the age of 30 if they met certain criteria. It took another 10 years for women to gain the same rights as men. I actually read it cover to cover. I now appreciate just how much these ladies went through to get the vote. Everyone - especially every female should read this.
May 25, 2018
This was ok. I was expecting more of a history of the suffragette movement as I haven't read anything on this before. The book is made up of original source material from the time. I think this would be better suited to someone who already knows the background as I felt that I lacked a lot of context for the extracts I was reading. I have definitely gained more knowledge of the key players of women's enfranchisement though.
May 16, 2018
A collection of letters, articles and book excerpts about and by the Suffragettes and Suffragists. Because these were mostly fragments, it didn't gel particularly well and, at times, you felt you were introduced halfway through a story. I think it would be more beneficial to read a full book on the subject although this serves quite well as a taster.
April 13, 2018
A great insight into the voices of the women who battled for the vote. Shocking in places how these women were treated for just handing in petitions to parliament. Force feeding a very barbaric practice.
February 4, 2018
Humbling and inspiring.
February 6, 2018
What could have been just a boring source-book manages to tell a gripping story - a true history of the UK suffrage movement. Absolutely brilliant
March 15, 2018
This was a good book overall I learnt more about the movement and the reasoning behind it's colours.
Some ladies are fierce in there deliverance n protest and some are out for criminal damage!
Some ladies are fierce in there deliverance n protest and some are out for criminal damage!
March 24, 2019
This is a great read if you’re interested in finding out more about the women’s suffrage movement in Great Britain.
January 29, 2022
Using letter, court extracts and newspaper cuttings - a very effective book
April 24, 2023
This was a great compilation of primary source documents from a range of viewpoints during the UK fight for women's suffrage. Super enjoyable.
November 22, 2023
I used this book as the base of my university undergraduate dissertation research. I annotated the whole book from front to back. It gave me a lot to think about and expand the political part of my research. Helpfully with explaining the laws, bills and acts. If you are interested I'm researching about suffragettes and their clothing.
March 17, 2018
I really enjoyed this book and it was so nice to read primary sources. Despite the book being mostly full of texts from suffragettes, it's never confusing since the author often gives some context for the texts. This book also made me aware of the differencies between suffragettes and suffragists. I can recommend this book to everyone who is interested.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews