STRUGGLE AND SUFFRAGE IN PLYMOUTH

Women's lives were transformed during the 100 years between 1850 and 1950. In 1850 a married woman was not legally entitled to own property or assets, and had to hand everything over to her husband, but by 1950 she could graduate from university and enter most professions, retaining control of her own earnings whatever her circumstances. This book about women's emancipation focuses on the women of Plymouth, from the six women MPs during this period, including Nancy Astor who was the first female MP, to the mother of six and wife of an unco-operative husband who informed a survey, "I haven't any outdoor clothes so I chat to neighbours and sit on the back step mending and darning". The Ladies' National Association, originally formed to combat the humiliating treatment of prostitutes, was active in Plymouth particularly in the Nonconformist and Quaker communities. Domestic abuse was a common problem, and in 1923 women were finally allowed to petition for divorce. Overcrowding was a problem and 5,000 people, mainly women, regularly used the public washhouses for washing and drying laundry. By the 1890s there were women's suffrage groups in every town throughout the country, but there was also a vociferous anti-suffrage lobby. Women were active in philanthropic causes and in late 19th century Plymouth there were four women guardians of the local workhouse, though unfortunately they were voted off the board when they refused to allow the children to go to the pantomime. In 1918 many women gave up their jobs to returning soldiers, but the potentiality for independence had been established. 202pp, paperback, photos.