Access a variety of podcasts, film, articles and case studies of suffrage campaigners to support subject knowledge for both teachers and students, covering the history of women at the hustings from the 17th century right up to questions of citizenship and equality today. There are also a number of fully resourced history enquiries and citizenship activities in the Activities section.
Born: 1836
Died: 1917
Occupation: doctor
Claims to fame: first female doctor to qualify in the UK; also town mayor of Aldeburgh – the first female town mayor in England
Becoming a doctor
Elizabeth Garrett was born in London and later lived in Suffolk. She had several siblings, one of...
In this podcast, Dr Sarah Richardson of the University of Warwick discusses women in politics in the 19th century.
The overall theme is politics and women’s exercise of power before the franchise, focusing on activities in the early to mid-19th century leading up to the 1866 suffrage petition and the...
In this podcast Edward Vallance, Professor of Early Modern British Political Culture at the University of Roehampton, discusses women and politics in the 17th century.
The podcast starts by looking at the general view during the Early Modern period that women's sphere should be limited to the home, owing to beliefs about the difference between men's and women's nature and physiology. It...
In this podcast Dr Mari Takayanagi, Senior Archivist at the UK Parliamentary Archives, looks at parliament and the suffrage campaign, from the first women's suffrage petition in 1866 through to the end of the First World War.
The podcast begins by looking at what we we mean by petitioning parliament, and at the events...
In this podcast Elizabeth Crawford, researcher and author of a number of books on the women’s suffrage movement, discusses the suffrage campaign from its beginnings in the 1860s.
The podcast starts by looking at why it's important to remember the women’s suffrage campaign, and at the campaign's slow beginnings in 1866 with the...
In this podcast suffrage historian Dr Jill Liddington discusses the too-often forgotten working-class women in the Suffrage movement.
The podcast starts by highlighting the obstacles faced by working-class women seeking to join the campaign for women's suffrage, and yet at how many did join the movement nonetheless. Dr Liddington then looks at the significant contribution working-class women made to the...
Born: 1891
Died: 1972
Occupation: social campaigner
Claims to fame: one of the most famous women pursued by the police as a suffragette, with wanted posters of her
Her background
Lilian grew up in Leicester and trained as a professional dancer. She was inspired to join the WSPU after hearing...
Born: 1824
Died: 1894
Occupation: lecturer and doctor
Claims to fame: she was an abolitionist and a suffragist
Her background
Sarah was born in Salem, Massachusetts in the USA into a family of successful businesspeople, entrepreneurs and anti-slavery campaigners. Despite being born free, her parents had experienced racism and were...
Born: 1831
Died: 1903
Occupation: journalist and writer
Claims to fame: one of the early female writers on a newspaper
Her background
Isa was born in Edinburgh, the only child of John Craig, a glove-maker who died when she was young. She left school aged ten, probably to find work...
Born: 1875
Died: 1953
Occupation: social campaigner
Claims to fame: used her wheelchair to distribute leaflets and parade the WSPU colours
Her background
May (as she preferred to be called) was from Lewisham in London and joined the WSPU in 1907. She had polio as a child, leaving her partially...
