One particular issue had an inescapable effect on the lives of all women of the Edwardian era, from milliners to lady's maids, shop-girls to factory workers. This was the issue of womens suffrage, or the right to vote. And the Edwardian actress was no less affected than any other, in fact she was perhaps impacted upon more than most. As a public figure she was looked up to by other women, for them she was a figurehead. As such she may have felt herself under no mean pressure to put herself firmly behind any issues that were for the good of the ordinary women of her day.
The actress occupied a unique position in Edwardian society, a position that was both a precarious and an ambiguous one. On the one hand she was empowered by being invested with a degree of freedom far beyond that enjoyed by most women of her time. On the other hand she was impoverished by being a woman in what was essentially a mans world, expected to subordinate herself to the men in her life.
The successful actress could earn enough money in her own name to become financially independent, provide for herself a comfortable standard of living and even provide for the future. She could even enter into management, taking over the lease of a theatre and producing her own shows - almost no other vocation in that era allowed a woman that kind of opportunity. And yet her role as leading lady was almost invariably subordinate to that of the leading man, who would generally enjoy all the most dramatic speeches. Whilst a leading lady could earn as much a leading man in the lower ranks young up-and-coing actresses earned less than their male equivalents and their costs were higher. Moreover, the great majority of producers were men and an aspiring actress could (and sometimes did) find herself thrown out of work for no better reason than that her producer desired to give her part to his latest mistress.
In marriage, unless she chose one of the more forward thinking men from her own profession, she would be expected to conform to the norms of society which frequently meant being expected to give up the stage. Even when she married a fellow actor, as many did, she might be expected to subordinate her career to his, turning down choice parts because their was no equal (or better) part for her husband. Add to these factors the added strains and pressures of working long hours and frequent travel and perhaps it is not surprising that divorce was not unusual for an actress at a time when it was most rare amongst other elements of society. But so unique was her position in society that she could divorce and even indulge in affairs with virtual impunity to a degree that would have scandalised any other woman. Ellen Terry for example married three times, her third husband being half her age, and had at least two well publicised affairs.
On stage, whatever the reality of her own position, she was regularly called upon to act in roles portraying the dutiful wife or daughter, obedient and submissive to husband or father. Roles which strayed from this male sponsored ideal usually involved blackening the character as a 'scarlet women'. Roles portraying a woman's strength of character in an unjust world, such as Ibsens Nora Helmer ("A Dolls House"), were rare and generally controversial.
This strange mix of empowerment and impoverishment gave the actress an acute sense of the unfairness of a womans place in Edwardian society together with the assurance in many cases to speak out against it. She recognised the risks inherent in her own career and understood perhaps better than most that working women needed the right to vote to in order to improve their economic and working conditions. Little surprise then that many actresses became instrumental in womens movements and in particular those dedicated to the cause of womens suffrage.
The first rumblings of the Womens Suffrage movement had begun in 1792 with publication of Mary Wollstonecraft's book "the Vindication of the Rights of Women". But the movement really began in earnest in the latter half of the nineteenth century, continuing to pick up pace until the outbreak of the First World War. In this period a bewildering number of societies were formed, each imbued with the aim of lobbying Parliament to give women the right to vote (and quite a few with the opposite intent).
The most notable of the pro-suffrage societies were the Female Political Association (founded in 1847 by Anne Knight), the National Union of Women's Suffrage (founded in 1897 by Millicent Fawcett), the Women's Social and Political Union (founded in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Sylvia and Christabel) and the Womens Freedom League (formed in 1907 as a splinter group of the WSPU). Most of these groups adopted the peaceful means of raising petitions and distributing leaflets to promote awareness to their cause. The major exceptions to this rule were the WSPU and WFL which both favoured more extreme methods (although the WSPU at least had begun peacefully). The term 'suffragette' was coined specifically as a reference to these militant activists, those believing in more peaceful action preferring to call themselves 'suffragists' (a term which could also be equally applied to male supporters of the cause). The suffragettes courted publicity by interrupting public meetings, breaking windows, vandalising artworks and chaining themselves to public meetings. As a result, many suffragettes were arrested, including on one occasion in London over one hundred and fifty being taken into custody at a single event.
But contrary to popular opinion the fight was not purely one of women against men. Many of the suffrage groups had male adjuncts providing support and a number of prominent women were actually active in the anti-suffrage cause. When victory came it was the result of women and men working together to acheive a just cause.
*Franchise - A statutory right or privilege granted to a person or group of people by a government (especially the rights of citizenship and the right to vote).
Many actresses became members of one or other of the various suffrage movements, although they were rarely militant in their activities because of the damage this might do to their careers. Retired American actress Elizabeth Robins made an impromptu peech at a meeting of the National Union of Women Workers in 1906, but the power of the actresses as a group was not harnessed until 1908 with the formation of the Actresses Franchise League. This society came about when a young actress named Adeline Bourne became interested in the suffrage movement and began canvassing her fellow actresses with the view of banding together to support them. She soon found support among the ranks and with a small group of others, including Gertrude Elliot, Winifred Mayo and Sime Seruya she founded the Actresses Franchise League. Membership of that foundation was held open to any actress who supported the aims of suffrage for women and possessed the conviction to be active in that cause. They established an office at the Adelphi theatre and held their first public meeting at the Criterion theatre restaurant in December 1908. This was a glittering event attended by over 400 leading lights of the stage and theatre, mostly actresses and including most of the top billing stars of the era - names like Ellen Terry, Mrs Kendal and the Moore and Vanbrugh sisters.
It was decided at that meeting that the group should not affiliate to any of the major existing organisations (as many of its individual members were already enrolled in one or the other), but rather declared itself to stand in support of all of them. The League did not condone militant tactics, but neither did it condemn them, it did not pass judgement at all but simply stood ready to provide support for any group engaged in the struggle for the noble cause of womens emancipation.
When the evening ended a resolution had been passed declaring the League's aims in the following terms:
"This meeting of actresses calls upon the government immediately to extend the franchise to women; that women claim the franchise as a necessary protection for the workers under modern industrial conditions, and maintains that by their labour they have earned the right to this defence."
The AFL did not set out to be a political movement, favouring no political party. Furthermore, rather than conducting campaigns of its own in keeping with its resolution the main role of the AFL would be to support the work of other suffragist movements by lending volunteers from amongst its members to act as figureheads at events organised by the other groups: leading processions, speaking at lectures, and writing plays to be performed to publicise the cause etc. The League held regular meetings for its members at which guest speakers would be invited to take the chair, but when these guest speakers began to be drawn more and more from the militant ranks a number of its more passive-minded members withdrew, including including Irene Vanbrugh who resigned as Vice-president in 1910. Nevertheless, the League grew rapidly and by 1911 had established provincial branches in Liverpool, Eastbourne, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
In 1912 the League joined the newly formed Federated Council of Suffrage Societies (FCSS), and the following year a men's group was added. By 1914 the membership had grown to over 900.
A militant actress: Although by and large the actresses avoided militant activities for the sake of their careers, one exception to this was Westphalian born Kitty Marion (real name Katherina Maria Schafer). After selling copies of the journal "Votes for Women" for the WSPU she became one of the first members of the AFL. She was arrested twice in 1909, the second time for damage to property (a post office) for which she was imprisoned for one month. Going on hunger strike (a common tactic for incarcerated suffragettes) she was force fed by the prison authorities to which she reacted by setting fire to her cell. On her release she became even more militant, taking part in further attacks on property including a number of counts of arson (most notably to the Grand Stand at Hurst Park racecourse) resulting in further terms of imprisonment. At the outbreak of war in August, when most suffragettes were offered an amnesty, German born Marion found herself tagged an enemy alien and was deported, going to America where she would spend most of her remaining years.
One effect of the suffrage movement was that it politicised the minds of women of all classes to an extent never known before. This in turn inspired many women to seek to express their views and opinions in the form of essays, short stories, poetry, songs and other written works. Consequently, there was a veritable explosion in the volume of literary works produced by women. Much of this was published by the many suffrage movement owned printing presses and sold in suffrage shops or on street corners. Then, in June 1908, two women writers, playwright Cicely Hamilton and novelist Bessie Hatton, joined together and founded the Women Writers to Suffrage League to provide a forum for female authors who supported the suffragist cause.
The aim of the WWSL was similar to that of the AFL, like the AFL it gave no regard to class or political persuasion but existed solely to harness the special skills of its members to promote awareness of the cause of womens suffrage and support the work of the many other suffragist movement. It provided speakers to other suffrage groups and sold suffrage literature at public meetings, as well as organising author's readings, exhibitions, and book fairs to raise funds for the cause. It also staged literary contests for the best suffrage fiction and plays to encourage new writers. The League could count among its members many of the most distinguished female writers of its day, including Marie Belloc Lowndes, Alice Meynell, Violet Hunt, and Margaret Woods. But the organisation was equally open to newcomers and honorary male writers alike (the most notable being Laurence Houseman and Ramsay MacDonald), any writer in fact who was pro-suffrage was welcomed to join. At its height it numbered over 400 members.
Although the WWSL members contributed many essays and articles to the many suffragist newsheets and pamphlets they were by no means limited to that, taking advantage of whatever other means might lay open to them, ie. letters to the press. It also worked in conjunction with the AFL to produce countless matineés of plays and pageants meant to illustrate the justice of their cause.
A militant writer: As with the actresses, few established writers took part in militant activities though again there were exceptions. One such was the childrens novelist and journalist Evelyn Sharp. She became a key figure in WSPU and was twice arrested and imprisoned. She was also one of the few suffragists to refuse to suspend activities on the outbreak of war whereupon she became a tax resister and editor of "Votes for Women".
The Pioneer Players was a womens company that grew out of the work of the AFL. It was founded in 1911 by Edith Craig, the actress daughter of Ellen Terry. The first appearance of the company was at the Kingsway theatre in May 1911 when it performed two short suffragist plays, "The First Actress" and "Jack and Jill and a Friend". Most of its later productions were put on at The Little Theatre which operated as a club theatre to avoid official censorship. Although it grew from suffragist roots the company quickly grew beyond those bounds, producing plays that dealt with any social, political or moral issues that affected the women of the day. Many of its plays were penned by members of the WWSL, but it drew no distinction here either so long as the play dealt with femininst issues and some of those produced were written by men.
When war broke out in 1914 an emergency meeting of the FCSS voted (albeit by the narrowest of majorities) to suspend their activities for the duration so as not to interfere with the war effort. In recognition of this, the government released unconditionally all suffragettes currently incarcerated. The AFL then joined in with other groups in forming the Women's Emergency Corps with the aim of raising a register of volunteer women with skills to assist in the war effort. When the government showed little interest, they instead created the Women's Theatre Camps Entertainments group which toured military bases raising morale throughout the country. This particular effort was led by Lena Ashwell who organised fifty travelling companies to rotate through the army around the country entertaining the troops who were preparing to leave for France. When the troops departed for France, Lena organised concert parties to follow them keeping up the good work of maintaining morale. In addition, in 1915 the AFL was instrumental in organising the British Women's Hospital to help to care for the troops wounded in action.
The WWSL also changed its focus in the war years to aid the nation and the troops fighting for liberty abroad. Its members worked tirelessly in providing reading material for wounded soldiers, setting up a libraries in a military hospitals and circulating all types of fiction.
Even before the end of the war, the government had announced its intention to provide limited emancipation for women by extending the vote to women over the age of thirty (the voting age for men was then 21), and this was duly passed into law on February 6th 1918, in the Representation of the People Act. Less than a year later the barriers to women standing for parliament (which in light of the consession of the vote had become ambiguous) were removed. Paradoxically, as there was no differential between men and women in the minimum age in this respect, that meant that a woman could stand for parliament even before she had achieved voting age.
In common with many other suffragist societies the WWSL was formally dissolved within a year of the enfranchisement of women (even though the franchise at this point was not yet equal). The AFL continued in existence until 1934, some six years after the Equal Franchise Act of 1928 equalised the voting ages for men and women, although it took little part in any further campaigns. Still the actresses could look back with pride, secure in the knowledge that they had played an important part in the battle for the franchise and winning their sisters the vote.
International Timeline of Womens Enfranchisement| Author: Don Gillan, www.stagebeauty.net. |
| Primary Sources: Innocent Flowers, Julie Holledge; Oxford Interactive Encyclopaedia, (CD-ROM) 2002; Plus various other online and literary sources. |
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