Vote 100: Suffragettes

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act, GWL is developing an animated web resource highlighting the forgotten heroines who have campaigned for women across the world to have the right to vote.

Suffragettes adopted a more militant approach to campaigning. They chained themselves to railings, disrupted public meetings and damaged public property, and many were arrested and imprisoned for their actions.

Catherine Hogg-Blair

Catherine Hogg-Blair was a Suffragette from East Lothian whose farm was a secret refuge for Scottish suffragettes who had been released from prison under the Cat and Mouse Act.

Frances McPhun

Frances McPhun graduated with an MA in Political Economy from Glasgow University, where she and her sister Margaret were members of the University’s suffrage union. Arrested for smashing windows in London, they went on hunger strike in Holloway Prison.

Ann Shanks

Ann Shanks was a dressmaker from Dundee whose home was a safehouse for militant Suffragettes.

Nellie Letitia McClung

Nellie Letitia McClung was was one of “The Famous Five” who launched a case in 1927 contending that women could be “qualified persons” eligible to sit in the Canadian Senate, clearing the way for women to enter politics in Canada.

Margaret Fraser Smith

Margaret Fraser Smith, a Suffragette was imprisoned for trying to disrupt a meeting, went on hunger strike and was released to loud cheers from the crowd that had gathered to greet her and sister hunger strikers.

Muriel Matters

Australian-born suffragette Muriel Matters once sailed over London in an airship with ‘Votes for Women’ on the side, dropping leaflets.

Ethel Moorhead

Ethel Moorhead, an artist from Dundee, was known as Scotland’s most turbulent Suffragette.

Anna Munro

Anna Munro was a Suffragette and the organising secretary of the Women’s Freedom League.

Lila Clunas

Lila Clunas was a primary school teacher with a passion for women’s rights.

Dorothea Chalmers-Smith

Dorothea Chalmers-Smith was a pioneer doctor and a militant Scottish suffragette.