Women and the Electoral Roll, pre- and post- 1918

[Keith Sherwood]

I need a bit of a basic history lesson here, but can I ask whether before 1918, when women first were able to vote, did ANY women appear in any of the Electoral Rolls, and if so, what was their distinction?
And following on, did every woman who was head of her household appear at that address in the Electoral Registers, or were there still restrictions by virtue of age, etc?
I apologise if this has already been asked; if so, can someone refer me to the relevant thread.  And please put me right if some of my assumptions above are indeed incorrect in themselves.
Keith

[RJ_Paton]

Although Universal suffrage didn't come in nationally until much later women were eligible to vote in some local council elections
(By 1914 more than 1 million women were voting in local elections.)

The vote

Finally, some historians believe that the war was a key element in the granting of the franchise to women over the age of 30 years who held property in 1918. However, gratitude for women's war work cannot explain why only women over the age of 30 got the vote while it was the younger women who had done the work. Rather, it is more convincing to argue that the lobbying of the feminist movement and the commitment of the Labour Party to a wider franchise were crucial factors. In addition, it was a case of the suffragists being around at the right time.

from http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwone/women_employment_04.shtml

  On 28th March, 1917, the House of Commons voted 341 to 62 that women over the age of 30 who were householders, the wives of householders, occupiers of property with an annual rent of £5 or graduates of British universities. MPs rejected the idea of granting the vote to women on the same terms as men.

Women had their first opportunity to vote in a General Election in December, 1918.

from http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/W1918.htm

[suttontrust]

I had to ask this because I found women on the electoral lists in Hull in 1870.  I learned that the 1867 Reform Act, which gave the vote to men with a property qualification, resulted in some women being put on the lists.  Parliament acted quickly to stop them from voting.  But in 1869 (I think - don't quote me) women with the property qualification were allowed to vote in municipal elections.  So the registers from then on show those women allowed to vote locally, but not in parliamentary elections.  I would assume that subsequent electoral registers show only those women entitled to vote, just as they show only those men who were qualified.

[RJ_Paton]

Although Ms Pankhurst et al are the image that springs to mind when Womans Voting rights are thought of she apparently was introduced into that sphere by her mother in the 1870's and both of her parents were staunch advocates for womens rights ..

  Municipal Franchise Act of 1869 that had resulted in unmarried women householders being allowed to vote in local elections.

from http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WpankhurstE.htm

[RJ_Paton]

From Croydon Council History pages

The local government electorate (i.e. those who voted in the Borough Council elections) included men and women who had occupied rateable property in the borough for one year, paid rates, and lived within seven miles of the borough

From Doncaster we have

  Elections for borough councils were introduced in 1835. All ratepayers of three years' standing could vote for councillors

The various pieces of legislation allowing women restricted rights to vote would appear to have started as early as 1832 although the requirements placed upon women were so strict that it is unlikely that many qualified.

[Keith Sherwood]

Thanks for all that, Falkyrn and Suttontrust.  It's not at all straightforward, is it, and makes it difficult searching for certain women in the Electoral Rolls beyond 1918.
Keith

[RJ_Paton]

It seems that married women were "allowed" to vote if they fulfilled the other conditions from the early 1830's but unmarried women were denied the same rights until 1869

However married women were for a long time denied the right to own any property ... it immediately became the property of the husband ... I think that was changed in the 1850's .... but attitudes didn't until much much later

eg  Education Act 1944 .... women teachers who became pregnant were no longer forced to leave employment.
1980 women were granted the same rights in the marital home as the husband.

[suttontrust]

The women in the best position were widows.  I have someone whose husband died and, because the children were still minors, she inherited the business.  She kept ownership of it even when her eldest son took over the running of it.  So in 1871 he is still living in his mother's house.  She has the vote (in municipal elections at least) and he doesn't because he's not a property owner.

[Passing lecturer]

Far from legislation giving women voting rights from 1830s+, the 1832 Reform Act for the first time legally excluded women (by using the phrase "male persons") from voting in parliamentary elections. An Act of 1835 also had a similar impact on voting rights in parish based elections. Women ratepayers (who before the 1882 Married Womens Property Act were of necessity single or widowed) got voting rights in local elections under the legislation of 1869. Local government voting rights were further extended to women in Acts of 1888 and 1894. Between 1832 and 1918 all women were excluded from voting in parliamentary elections, whatever their marital status and property. However, one woman, Mrs Lily Maxwell, succeeded in voting in a Manchester by-election of 1867. A widow, she was a ratepayer and her name had got onto the list of voters. The Returning Officer was obliged to let her vote. Some women under 30 (not all, there were other conditions) were enfranchised under the 1918 Representation of the People Act. The vote on equal terms was obtained in 1928. Hope this is helpful: just passing through as the result of a Google search....