The Commons Debate on Woman Suffrage | Glasgow Women’s Library Collections

Front cover: The Commons Debate on Woman Suffrage; The Women's Press; 1908; GWL-2022-59-4

NWSPU details: The Commons Debate on Woman Suffrage; The Women's Press; 1908; GWL-2022-59-4

Back page listing material on sale: The Commons Debate on Woman Suffrage; The Women's Press; 1908; GWL-2022-59-4

Back cover listing Pamphlets for Women: The Commons Debate on Woman Suffrage; The Women's Press; 1908; GWL-2022-59-4

Name/TitleThe Commons Debate on Woman Suffrage

About this objectSlim pamphlet titled 'The Commons Debate on Woman Suffrage with a reply by Christabel Pankhurst, L.L.B.', which begins: "The second reading of the Women's Enfranchisement Bill has been carried by a large majority, and our object now is to force the Government to adopt the Bill. The difficulty of this task has been increased by Mr. Stanger's [Henry Yorke Stanger, Liberal Party] ill-advised compromise with the opponents of the Bill."

The pamphlet is divided into the following sections:
I - An Introductory Note by Christabel Pankhurst, March 1908
II - Answers to Opponents
III - Impressions of the Debate by F.W. Pethick Lawrence

Also includes information about the NWSPU (inside cover) and a list of Newspapers, Books, Picture Postcards, Button Badges, Leaflet and Pamphlets for Women published by The Women's Press (back cover). Priced one penny.

Fully digitised (16 pages)

MakerThe Women's Press

Maker RolePublisher

Date Made1908

Period1900s

Place MadeEngland, London

Place NotesThe Women's Press, 4 Clements Inn, Strand, W.C.

Medium and MaterialsOrganic, paper

Inscription and MarksFront cover, top right, in pencil: "396- 11B"

MeasurementsH: 212 x W: 141 mm

Subject and Association KeywordsWomen's suffrage

Subject and Association KeywordsGender equality

Subject and Association KeywordsParty politics

Subject and Association Descriptionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christabel_Pankhurst:
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 its militant actions from exile in France from 1912 to 1913. In 1914 she supported the war against Germany. After the war she moved to the United States, where she worked as an evangelist for the Second Adventist movement.

In 1905 Christabel Pankhurst interrupted a Liberal Party meeting by shouting demands for voting rights for women. She was arrested and, along with fellow suffragette Annie Kenney, went to prison rather than pay a fine as punishment for their outburst. Their case gained much media interest and the ranks of the WSPU swelled following their trial. Emmeline Pankhurst began to take more militant action for the women's suffrage cause after her daughter's arrest and was herself imprisoned on many occasions for her principles.

After obtaining her law degree in 1906, Christabel moved to the London headquarters of the WSPU, where she was appointed its organising secretary. Nicknamed "Queen of the Mob", she was jailed again in 1907 in Parliament Square and in 1909 after the "Rush Trial" at Bow Street Magistrates' Court. Between 1913 and 1914 she lived in Paris to escape imprisonment under the terms of the Prisoner's (Temporary Discharge for Ill-Health) Act, better known as the "Cat and Mouse Act" but continued to provided editorial lead to The Suffragette through visitors such as Annie Kenney and Ida Wylie who crossed the Channel for her advice. Other campaigners visited Paris to have Christmas dinner with her in 1912; these included Irene Dallas, Hilda Dallas, Blanche Edwards and Alice Morgan Wright.

The start of World War I compelled her to return to England in 1914, where she was again arrested. Pankhurst engaged in a hunger strike, ultimately serving only 30 days of a three-year sentence.

She was influential in the WSPU's "anti-male" phase after the failure of the Conciliation Bills. She wrote a book called The Great Scourge and How to End It on the subject of sexually transmitted diseases and how sexual equality (votes for women) would help the fight against these diseases.

She and her sister Sylvia did not get along. Sylvia was against turning the WSPU towards solely upper- and middle-class women and using militant tactics, while Christabel thought it was essential. Christabel felt that suffrage was a cause that should not be tied to any causes trying to help working-class women with their other issues. She felt that it would only drag the suffrage movement down and that all of the other issues could be solved once women had the right to vote.

Named CollectionGlasgow Women's Library

Object TypeDocument

Object numberGWL-2022-59-4