Matilda Jackson

Word Count: 1995

Millicent Fawcett was an advocate for women’s rights until her death in 1929, a year after women

over 21 gained the vote. Fawcett’s importance in the fight for women’s rights can be seen in many

areas, such as social, educational, political and her leadership and work with the NUWSS. The view

that Fawcett’s importance has been overshadowed by the Pankhursts is also supported by many

historians, including Copeland and Rubenstein, who believe her praises should be sung louder than

they are.

According to Copeland, Fawcett ‘was in many ways the natural leader’1 and ‘seemed to be born a

feminist’1 . She was leader of the NUWSS from 1907. In Copeland’s view, Fawcett ‘ran the NUWSS

on exemplarily democratic lines’, and the NUWSS under her leadership was ‘undoubtedly efficient’.

Copeland stresses the importance of Fawcett’s leadership, saying that when Fawcett became

president of the Special Appeal Committee she was ‘urging suffrage societies to put aside their

differences and work together’. This shows Fawcett’s importance in the leadership of the NUWSS

and Suffragette movement as she united the campaigns. The main demand of the NUWSS was for

the vote on the same terms as granted to men, which was thought would get more support than a

broader measure that would put women into the electoral majority’. The group held public meetings

under Fawcett’s leadership, and published various pamphlets, leaflets, newspapers and journals

outlining the reasons and justifications for granting women the vote.2 Fawcett became well known

as a speaker and lecturer on political and academic subjects as well as women’s issues, when women

rarely ventured onto public platforms. Fawcett led the NUWWS, organising the Mud march in 1907

where more than 3,000 women trudged through the wet, cold and muddy streets of London from

1
http://www.historytoday.com/janet-copeland/millicent-garrett-fawcett
1 http://www.historytoday.com/janet-copeland/millicent-garrett-fawcett
2
http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/21cc/struggle/suffrage/background/suffragettesbackground.ht
ml
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Hyde Park to Exeter Hall to advocate for women's suffrage.3 Copeland’s view is also supported by

Rubinstein who describes Millicent as ‘showing unmistakable signs of political leadership’ and

Bartley also argues that the NUWSS was ‘coordinated rather than controlled’4, making the case that

Millicent was a successful suffrage leader who held a large organisation together well supported.

However, Pugh’s view is that Fawcett was ‘calm measured and well informed’, but lacked ‘the

inspirational qualities of a leader’5. However, this was due to her nervousness over public speaking

although she still managed to communicate and lead the NUWSS, giving some support to the

opinion that Fawcett was an exceptional leader supported. Fawcett was seen as more tolerable than

the Pankhursts by MPs who were willing to discuss women’s suffrage with her and the NUWWS

because of their peaceful methods. Many historians agree that if the NUWSS had supported the

peace movement, they would be seen as traitors to Britain, and would not have received the vote, due

to lack of support. Smiths view is that during the war if the NUWSS , led by Fawcett, ‘had supported

peace efforts, it is highly unlikely that women’s suffrage would have been granted after the war’6.

This view is supported by Rubenstein who argues Fawcett’s ‘support and her victory in 1915 were of

critical importance.’7 Strachey’s view is "she stood like a rock in their path, opposing herself with all

the great weight of her personal popularity and prestige to their use of the machinery and name of the

union.’8. There is evidence to support the view that Fawcett was a good leader as she led the

NUWSS decision to avoid any association with the peace movement, and although many disagreed

3
Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Women's Suffrage: A Short History of a Great Movement (London: T.C.
& E.C. Jack, 1912), 86.
4
Bartley, P. , Votes For Women 1860-1928. Accsess to History 27 Apr 2007
5
Pugh, Martin The March of the Women: A Revisionist Analysis of the Campaign for Women's
Suffrage, 1866-1914, 20 Jun 2002 P13-14
6
Harold L Smith, The British Women's Suffrage Campaign 1866-1928-26- Nov 2009 p78
7 David Rubenstein, Different World for Women: Life of Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Ohio state
University Press, 06/01/1992 p225
8
Millicent Garrett Fawcett Ray Strachey J. Murray, 1931 pg. 291

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and this caused a spit in the NUWSS, this decision was seen as ‘crucial to obtaining woman’s

suffrage”9 after the war by Smith, showing the importance of Fawcett in the NUWSS. In 1914, a

split in the NUWSS over support for the Peace Movement occurred, which came about at the

NUWSS’s annual council meeting on February 19th 1915. Members of the NUWSS who supported

the peace movement left to form the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Fawcett

and her followers agreed that contributing to the war effort would support the fight for women’s

suffrage and thought that supporting the Peace Movement would compromise the campaign for the

vote. Rubenstein states that the splits which happened in the NUWSS ‘while probably unavoidable,

were embittered by Fawcett's unwillingness to temper the expression of her views or to make any

real effort to placate those of her colleagues with whom she disagreed.’10 however, he also states that

Fawcett's ‘unique prestige made her a powerful source of encouragement to the war work of her

members, and her uncomplicated patriotism enabled her to carry out this function without doubts or

hesitation’11. Fawcett and the NUWSS used peaceful methods of campaigning for the vote, and

encouraged women to do war work. However, unlike the WSPU they didn’t give out white feathers

to men who didn’t join the army. Overall, Copeland’s view that Fawcett’s leadership and

organisation of the NUWSS was important is a reliable view, and despite some historians such as

Pugh thinking she lacked inspirational leadership qualities, there is evidence that she still managed to

lead the NUWSS efficiently and strongly.

Copeland’s view is that Fawcett ‘was of greater importance than Mrs Pankhurst in the growth and

ultimate success of the movement’12. Fawcett and Pankhurst ‘had much in common’ but were

9
Harold L Smith, The British Women's Suffrage Campaign 1866-1928-26 Nov 2009 pg78
10
David Rubenstein, Different World for Women: Life of Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Ohio state
University Press, 06/01/1992 p211
11
David Rubenstein, Different World for Women: Life of Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Ohio state
University Press, 06/01/1992 p215
12 http://www.historytoday.com/janet-copeland/millicent-garrett-fawcett

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‘worlds apart in their outlook’ and Fawcett’s story ‘lacks the drama’13 of Mrs. Pankhurst, who went

to prison like other suffragettes and used militancy and hunger striking to get the vote, getting

publicity for the cause. Fawcett ‘never went to prison or suffered for the cause’ but ‘worked long and

hard to bring about votes for women’. Therefore, in Copeland’s view, she ‘qualifies as a heroine

whose praises should be song more loudly than they are’14. Fawcett used law abiding constitutional

methods to get across the message of votes for women, and was against the use of militancy,

believing that the WSPU actions were in fact harming women's chances of gaining the vote, as they

were alienating the MPs who were debating whether or not to give women the vote, as well as

souring much of the general public towards the campaign15. However, she admired the WSPU, and

kept her criticism to a minimum. There is evidence to support Copeland’s view, as Hanlon also

argues that the ‘accomplishments of peaceful suffragists are often overshadowed by the legacy of the

militant suffragettes, but those in Fawcett’s law abiding camp played an equally important role in the

struggle for the vote’16. Also, in support of Copeland’s view, despite publicity given to the WSPU,

the NUWSS retained the majority of the support of the women's movement and by 1905, Fawcett's

NUWSS had reached 305 constituent societies and nearly fifty thousand members, showing great

support for the NUWSS and their leader. In 1913 they had 50,000 members compared to 2,000 of the

WSPU17 showing the united support for the society. Overall, there is evidence which supports the

view that Fawcett’s importance in achieving the vote is more substantial than the work of Mrs.

Pankhurst, and that without Fawcett and the NUWSS, the vote may not have been granted after the

war, as if the NUWSS had supported the peace movement, many historians believe, women would

have not achieved the vote.

13 http://www.historytoday.com/janet-copeland/millicent-garrett-fawcett
14 http://www.historytoday.com/janet-copeland/millicent-garrett-fawcett
15
Van Wingerden, Sophia A. The women's suffrage movement in Britain, 1866–1928. Palgrave
Macmillan. p. 100. (1999).
16 http://www.sheilahanlon.com/?page_id=1260
17
National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. "NUWSS". National Union of Women's Suffrage
Societies.
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Matilda Jackson

Phillip’s view is that ‘the leading advocate for equality was Fawcett’ and this is supported by

evidence that Fawcett ‘almost alone, dealt briskly and confidently with the argument over marriage’,

‘simply felt women ought not be coerced into marriage’18 and that ‘alternatives should be open to

them’19. There is evidence for this view, as Fawcett fought against the 1857 Matrimonial Causes Act

. "In 1857 the Divorce Act was passed, setting up by law a different moral standard for men and

women meaning a man can obtain the dissolution of the marriage if he can prove one act of infidelity

on the part of his wife; but a woman cannot get her marriage dissolved unless she can prove that her

husband has been guilty both of infidelity and cruelty."20 According to Phillips, Fawcett wanted to

retain the concept of fault, although some others wanted divorce to have mutual consent. Despite this

all wanted to equalize the divorce law to raise the status of women. Throughout her life, Fawcett

believed that it was important that the NUWSS campaigned for a variety of causes, which included

helping Josephine Butler in her campaign against the white slave trade21 and the Contagious

Diseases Act. Phillip’s view is that Fawcett ‘ had taken such care to distance the suffrage campaign

from the controversy over prostitution, nevertheless attacked the sexual double standard’22

However, one field in which she was not active, according to Rubenstein, surprisingly, ‘was the

movement for married women's property rights, a leading feminist campaigns of the period’23 but

despite this, ‘her speeches often made reference to the subject’24 Overall, Phillip’s view that Fawcett

18
Pugh, Martin The March of the Women: A Revisionist Analysis of the Campaign for Women's
Suffrage, 1866-1914– 20 Jun 2002 pg31
19
Pugh, Martin The March of the Women: A Revisionist Analysis of the Campaign for Women's
Suffrage, 1866-1914 - 20 Jun 2002 pg31
20
http://spartacus-educational.com/WfawcettM.htm
21
http://spartacus-educational.com/WfawcettM.htm
22
Melanie Phillips The Ascent Of Woman: A History of the Suffragette Movement 4 Nov 2004
pg294

23 David Rubenstein, Different World for Women: Life of Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Ohio state
University Press, 06/01/1992 p53
24 David Rubenstein, Different World for Women: Life of Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Ohio state

University Press, 06/01/1992 p53

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Matilda Jackson

was a key leading member in the fight for equality is supported by evidence of her work in

campaigns helping the cause, such as the Contagious Diseases Act, the 1857 Matrimonial Causes

Act, and questioning social spheres, such as the women’s place in the home, and the importance of

women’s contribution in society.

Rubenstein’s view is that Fawcett was ‘a natural recruit to the movement for the higher education of

women.’25 being one of ‘the principal founders and supporters of Newnham College, at an age when

she could easily have been a student herself.’26 According to Rubenstein she gave ‘continuing efforts

to improve the education of girls and women’27. Fawcett's interest in women's education meant she

became one of the founders of the Newnham College for Women, located in Cambridge. This is

evidence for Rubenstein’s view that she made many efforts to improve education for women as she

‘was closely involved in organising lectures and raising money and in attracting serious students’28.

Fawcett also served on the school's council, making important decisions and she was also supportive

when there was a controversial bid for all women to receive Cambridge degrees. Rubenstein’s is that

Fawcett asserted early in her career that ‘girl’s formal education was grossly inadequate’29 and she

urged that ‘girl’s education should be greatly improved, and stressed that the choice of occupations

was very narrow for the educated’30. One of Fawcett's first articles on women's education was

published in Macmillan's Magazine in 1875, and the article attracted attention to the cause. Further

25 David Rubenstein, Different World for Women: Life of Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Ohio state
University Press, 06/01/1992 p53
26 David Rubenstein, Different World for Women: Life of Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Ohio state

University Press, 06/01/1992 p53

27 David Rubenstein, Different World for Women: Life of Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Ohio state

University Press, 06/01/1992 53

28 David Rubenstein, Different World for Women: Life of Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Ohio state

University Press, 06/01/1992 p53

29 David Rubenstein, Different World for Women: Life of Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Ohio state

University Press, 06/01/1992 p26

30 David Rubenstein, Different World for Women: Life of Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Ohio state

University Press, 06/01/1992 p26

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Matilda Jackson

evidence of her contribution to women’s education can be seen in 1875, when Fawcett was a speaker

and lecturer at girl's schools, women's colleges and adult education centres. She returned to Queen's

College to give a series of lectures on political economy in 1889 and from 1888 until 1891 she

lectured at the King's College Department for Ladies, declining invitation to give lectures elsewhere

in October 1890. For her services to education the University of St. Andrews awarded her an

honorary LLD. Overall, the view that Millicent Fawcett made an important contribution to girls’

education is well supported by evidence of her work at Newnham College, and her informative

articles about women’s education, which gained attention for educational rights of women.

In conclusion, the importance of Fawcett in the achievement of women’s rights is wide spread over

many areas, such as social, educational, and political. This view is supported by historians such as

(Copeland n.d.), (Rubenstein 1992), (Pugh 2002), (Phillips 2004) , and (Smith 2009). There is

adequate evidence from the actions and campaigning of Fawcett, to support the view that Fawcett is

as important as Mrs. Pankhurst, but over shadowed by the WSPU’s militant, dramatic tactics, when

in fact, Fawcett’s leadership of the NUWSS and the work she did socially and educationally for

women exceeds the praise she is given There is also evidence of her work in areas other than the

vote, in the social and educational rights of women, such as the founding of Newnham College, the

fight against the Matrimonial Causes Act, and her campaigning against the Contagious Diseases Act,

alongside Josephine Butler.

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Matilda Jackson

Bibliography
Bartley, Paula. , Votes For Women 1860-1928. Hodder Education 2007.
Fawcett, Millicent Garrett. , Women's Suffrage: A Short History of a Great
Movement (London: T.C. & E.C. Jack, 1912)
Hanlon, Sheila. "Millicent Garrett Fawcett : The suffragist Cyclist."
Phillips, Melonie. The Acsent Of Women. Little, Brown 2004.
Pugh, Martin. The March of the Women: A Revisionist Analysis of the
Campaign for Women's Suffrage, 1866-1914 Oxford University Press.
2002.
Rubenstein, David. Different World for Women: Life of Millicent Garrett
Fawcett. Harvester Wheatsheaf 1992.
Smith, Harold L. The British Women's Suffrage Campaign 1866-1928.
Pearson Education Limited 1998.
Strachey, Ray. Millicent Garrett Fawcett . J. Murray, 1931.
Van Wingerden, Sophia A. "The women's suffrage movement in Britain,
1866–1928."Palgrave Macmillin 1999.

Websites:
http://www.historytoday.com/janet-copeland/millicent-garrett-fawcett
http://spartacus-educational.com
www.sheilahanlon.com