Extracts from the 'Kent Argus'.

1910

1 JANUARY
In a round-up of 1909 it is reported, that the suffragists pursued a "militant campaign that seemed to increase in vigour after every repulse from the guardians of the law." Also: "During the by-election at Bermondsey in October, the Suffragettes got into two polling-booths and poured staining fluid into the ballot-boxes... the women who committed the outrage were, of course, arrested and pretty severely punished".

8 JANUARY
"The Suffragettes and suffragists of Thanet are all forlorn... neither of the candidates will espouse their cause... nevertheless the ladies are determined not to be left out in the cold... they are attending the meetings in large numbers. At one of the meetings many of the male electors had to be content with standing room. Some of them could not even obtain that."
[The candidates were the Liberal Mr Weigall, father of Miss Weigall, who ran the anti-suffrage group, and Norman Craig, Conservative. As soon as Norman Craig was elected MP, he changed his mind and became a supporter of votes for women.]

22 JANUARY
"National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. This society has opened a committee room in King Street, Ramsgate where a petition lies for the signature of the electors."

20 APRIL
"Women's National Anti-Suffrage League (Thanet branch) held a meeting against women's suffrage on April 27th... Miss Weigall is Secretary".

21 APRIL
"A meeting of the Women's Social and Political Union was held... and an address given by Mrs Pankhurst; Miss Macaulay presided. "Mrs. Pankhurst said she had known men and women who had gone to anti-suffrage meetings and come out as warm supporters of women's suffrage (applause)" She spoke of womens' inequality under the law and of men having custody of children. She said, "Acts were passed to regulate womens' labour without their being consulted, and they are going to try to curtail the labour of married women. Of course they mean the paid labour. A woman might slave 23 hours out of 24 at unremunerative drudgery at home - but they must not do work where they are paid wages."

23 APRIL
"The Suffragettes have been making some of the public walls in Ramsgate hideous with their announcements written in chalk."

MAY
"On April 30th an Anti-Suffrage meeting was held. There was a moderate attendance and the audience included a number of supporters of women's suffrage. The speaker Mrs Colquhoun said of the suffragists: "They are striving for a power they are incapable of upholding. When they found that from the earliest times of istory, men had always kept control of legislation in their own hands, it was ridiculous to pretend that this was due to some inherent wickedness on their part or to a systematic unfairness. If women were just as able to legislate as men, they would have been doing so long before now."

1 JULY
"Miss Christabel Pankhurst at Ramsgate.
"At the Royal Pavilion on Friday evening the brilliant Suffragette leader addressed a large crowd among whom were a large number of men. Miss F E Macauley was the organising secretary. Miss Pankhurst delivered an inspiring address and expected the cause to be won very soon. "'Women are going to be outlaws no longer' she said. She also defended the militant tactics of the Suffragettes. Another large meeting was addressed on Saturday at he Thatre Royal."

During 1910 Frederick Mercer of James Street and F. Atkins of Southeastern Road were charged with persistent cruelty to their wives; and H. Ainswoth and John Collins with neglect of their wives and children.

1911

25 FEBRUARY
"Women and the Suffrage. . .Interesting address at Ramsgate."
NUWSS President Mrs. M.J. Poole said the society had existed since 1884 and that she wanted it understood that they did not belong to the militant section and they intended to work along constitutional lines. Mrs Rackham also addressed the meeting, explaining that the WSPU was non-party. At present 408 MPs out of 670 were in favour of Woman suffrage and Sir George Kemp would be introducing a Suffrage Bill on May 5th [this was the second reading of the Conciliation Bill].
She dealt with the history of woman suffrage in the House of Commons and said it was 42 years since the first reading of the Bill. There was a "large attendance at the meeting."

3 JUNE
"Woman Suffrage Meeting at Ramsgate...at the Conregational Hall on May 28th. Mr Laurence Housman and Mr Oak-Rhind presided.
Mr Housman pointed out that women had in the past more rights but she had gradually lost them. Regarding the Anti-Suffragists view that women were represented already, through their husbands, he said that where they differed the woman was not represented. Mr Housman continued that women had a right to the full development of their faculties and to apply those faculties and choose her own career. By present economic conditions women were forced into marriage, he said, and that was not for the benefit of the race. He also spoke of women's inequality in law, education and equal pay.

15 JULY
"Woman Suffrage Meeting at Ramsgate. The speaker was Mrs Pethick Lawrence [the well-known feminist]. She thanked Ramsgate council for passing a resolution to beg Parliament to pass the Conciliation Bill into law. She said that when men had wanted the vote they had "done some very shocking things indeed. They had destroyed life, injured people and destroyed property to the value of hundreds of thousands of pounds. Women have to pick a tiny leaf out of the men's book".

9 SEPTEMBER
Dr Elizabeth Knight, a visitor staying in Broadstairs, was summonsed to court on Monday for defacing a footpath on 24th August. She used the footpath for the purpose of advertising a meeting of the Women's Freedom League. Witnesses said they had seen the handwriting all over the place. She was fined one shilling.

27 SEPTEMBER
"Thirty feminine policemen are to be appointed in Berlin."

4 OCTOBER
"When a man says 'will you marry me?' what he really means is will you look after my house, do my mending for me, bear my children, bring them up, cook for me, and see that the plumbing is in perfect order? I shall give you board and clothes - though you may have to speak several times about the clothes - and an occasional pat on the cheek..."
Myrtle Reed

22 NOVEMBER
Women's Meeting under the NUWSS... Miss Chrystal MacMillan LLD spoke about the Insurance Bill, saying it would be formed better if women had had the vote.

6 DECEMBER
Women's place in local government... Meeting in connection with the newly-founded Women's Local Government Society (WLGS) at Ramsgate.

1912

[There was a lot of violent suffragette activity at the beginning of the year; then in March the Pethick Lawrences were arrested and sentenced to nine months in prison. Christabel Pankhurst escaped to Paris - despite the paper's suggestion that she was in hiding at Margate.]

17 JANUARY
Equal suffrage has been established or promised in Portugal, Iceland, Sweden and China, Miss Anna Rogstad took her seat as the first Scandinavian woman M.P. In the USA Miss Kelly is managing one of the most important departments of the US Treasury, and Mrs Leone Wells was appointed Under Secretary in the Department of War, and Miss Mary Drefer is appointed to the Industrial Commission. Women clerks in New Zealand are demanding equal pay with men.

7 FEBRUARY
WOMEN'S WORK...Activity of Suffragettes in Ramsgate.
The NUWSS branch here now has 125 members. At a meeting held in York House, Grange Road by Miss Stokes, the officers were elected. 1911 was said to have been "a year of promise for suffragettes". That the second Concilliation Bill had passed its second reading and by a majority of 167 was good news. Asquith had promised to give it its third reading in 1912. The Branch had also managed to influence Ramsgate Town Council to pass the following resolution:

"That this council approves of the Parliamentary Franchise (Women's) Bill for enfranchisement of women householders and urges the government to grant facilities for its passage into law this session."

28 FEBRUARY
"Woman and the Home" column...
Women teachers in the state of Virginia, USA, are demanding pay equal to men's.

The window smashers.
"At a meeting of the Ramsgate NUWSS on Monday a resolution was passed to protest about the outrageous actions of the militant suffragettes and deplore the damage done..."

27 MARCH
"MISS PANKHURST. . .1S SHE AT MARGATE?
"Interest in the chase for Miss Pankhurst the missing Suffragette leader, has been aroused at Margate owing to a widespread rumour that she is in hiding in the town. A daily paper stated that Police are keeping watch on a house where a heavily veiled woman, said to resemble the missing suffragist arrived a few days ago... Scotland Yard is said to have received more communications as to the supposed whereabouts of Miss Pankhurst than in the case of any other "wanted" person. It will be remembered that she spoke in Ramsgate and Margate."
[She was in Paris]

3 APRIL
Letters page...
Defeat of the Suffrage Bill. Letter from Millicent Garrett Fawcett stating that the NUWSS wishes to make it clear that the Bill only lost by 14 votes and that this was attributable to various causes unconnected with women's suffrage.

17 APRIL
Reported that Dr Almroth Wright said: "Young girls are trained at school and college by a staff of unmarried Suffragettes to hate and despise men."

24 APRIL
NO DEFAULTERS FROM THE WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE CAUSE IN RAMSGATE
40 members of the local NUWSS branch met at a social tea. Mrs Wyatt did full justice in castigating Dr Wright which she said was an insult to suffragists and anti-suffragists alike.

Miss Henrietta Quimby has become the first woman to pilot an aeroplane across the channel. She is a 25 year-old U.S. journalist. She flew from Deal to Cape Grisnez.

22 MAY
"The setback to women's suffrage... woman councillor at Ramsgate. Miss Eleanor Rathbone, a councillor from Reading, addressed a meeting of the NUWSS on 15th at which there was an excellent attendance. Miss Rathbone spoke of the recent defeat of the third reading of the suffrage Bill, after having had a 167 majority at the second reading, and she described it as a setback."
[She was later a Labour MP.]

5 JUNE
Dr Heber Hart, who was liberal candidate for Thanet in 1895, has written a book called "Women's Suffrage" In it he describes it as a "national danger" and that the "race must fall and the state must fall" if women get the vote.

"Woman and the Home" column...
As strong as death.
Miss Gertrude Atherton, the American author, says: "The English Suffragette is the highest type of modern woman; strong, sane, with a powerful, complex brain; with a tendency toward sexlessness and an obsessing desire to stand alone in complete independence. She is at the top of the earth, the very acme of feminine development."

18 JULY
Miss R Pattenden was committed to trial at the assizes for concealing the birth of a child conceived when she was 15, and letting it die.

The body of a new-born child was found in Margate. It had been strangled with a bootlace.

7 AUGUST
Ramsgate Town Council has decided to appoint a female sanitary inspector at £80 p.a.

Indignation has been aroused by Wandsworth Council's decision to appoint women as librarians.

14 AUGUST
"The Suffragettes and Mr Churchill. "For several days militant suffragettes have been trying to run Mr Churchill to ground at Sandwich, where he has taken Mr Astor's house. After two days unsuccessful watching, on the 12th the suffragettes were able to hold up Mr Churchill, lady cyclists riding into the road in front of his car. They addressed him on the question in which they were interested and the car then drove away."

21 AUGUST
"There are now three woman opticians in England out of a total of forty."

Edward Christian was fined £1 for assaulting his wife.

"Several batches of militant suffragettes have been "visiting" Mr Churchill at Sandwich..."

28 AUGUST
Women on the Surrey/Sussex borders propose to run a 400 acre farm... without any men. Fifty women will be employed and it will yield a profit of £1000 per annum.

4 SEPTEMBER
Women outnumber men by 3051 in Ramsgate and 2873 in Margate.

The house of Mrs Snowden, the anti-suffrage campaigner, was struck by lightening.

9 OCTOBER
Madame Severine says: "Women in England are forty years ahead of the French in the feminist movement... from the economic point of view women ought to be the equal of man in every way... We had to fight ten years before women in factories could obtain their salaries themselves.. I am convinced that women will have the same rights as men in the future..."

16 OCTOBER
Robert Read received six weeks imprisonment for assaulting his wife.

Wandsworth council has changed its mind and decided not to employ women as librarians while there are men without jobs.

'Woman and the Home" column...
A woman prison governor has been appointed in Berlin. Although she is expected to do exactly the same duties as her male confreres she will not receive the same pay. Why is a woman paid less than a man for the same work? The Saturday Journal says that a vast amount of men have dependents, and: "even when single, a man cannot live as cheaply as a woman. The woman's food costs her less, and strange as it may seem, her dress costs her less."

There are now 175 woman doctors in Germany. 5 are widows, 42 married and 78 single.

30 OCTOBER
Miss Sutton of Reading Town Council gave an address to women on women in local government.

Elizabeth Pritchard, 19, is charged with letting her llegitimate baby die at birth.

There are now 14 women on the Finnish Parliament.

4 DECEMBER
LETTERS DESTROYED
Tar in pillar boxes in Margate was generally regarded as being the work of the militant suffragettes.

11 DECEMBER
"Woman and the Home" column...
"... is there any way the government could show its appreciation and approval of the admirable work done by women in many directions? Nothing would satisfy the extremists, of course, but the vote."

PILLAR BOX OUTRAGE
A bottle of staining fluid placed in a pillar box outside the Royal Hotel is attributed to the women's suffrage movement.

1913

"WOMAN'S SPHERE IN THE WORLD OF WORK"
The Blue Book, issued in connection with the 1913 Census.
In England and Wales there are 4,830,734 women in paid employment (and 11,463,665 men). Of the women 680,191 are married, 411,011 are widows and 3,739,532 are single.
In the following occupations women outnumber men: bakers, bookbinders, button makers, cartridge and firework makers, cardboard box makers, chocolate makers, celuloid makers, corset makers, cooks (not domestic), dressmakers, envelope makers, flower makers, glove makers, hospital service, indoor domestics, jam and sweet makers, laundry workers, lodging house keepers, matchbox makers, milliners, needle and pin makers, nurses, paper bag makers, rag dealers, shirt makers, waiters (not domestic). In teaching, women outnumber men by 187,283.
There are (women): 4,204 painters and sculptors, 24,272 musicians and singers, 9,171 actresses, 477 doctors, 5,689 literary,scientific and political, 3 clergy, 117,057 commercial clerks, 231 blacksmiths, 42 coal heavers, 25 bailiffs, 1 coachman, 1 cabdriver, 2 woodmen, 6 shepherds, 7 coal miners, 159 tin miners, 3 shipwrights, 4 bricklayers, 14 masons, 56 carpenters, 358 barge pilots on rivers and canals, 10,971 dairy keepers, 11,881 butchers, 53,638 grocers, 15,376 costermongers, 10,000 tobacconists, 20,000 independent farmers, 96,850 farm workers, 3,519 gardeners & florists, 5,010 photographers, 4,031 insurance agents, 6,476 bank officials, 4,031 merchants/agents/accountants, 86 plumbers, 5 gasfitters, 3 navvies, 70 paperhangers, 166 painters/decorators, 657 cabinetmakers and 605 boatmen and pilots.

8 JANUARY
"Woman and the Home" column...
No less an authority than the Times has flung the privileges of married women back in their teeth as a reason they should not have any rights. "That her husband has to pay her debts, that he is liable for her torts committed by her, that he is liable for her costs even if he sucessfully divorces her, that she cannot be made bankrupt. These privileges are generally not mentioned by those demanding a change in the legal position of women." Pearl Humphrey says: "Why should women who are fighting for their rights waste their time on denouncing privileges. If they work for equality it stands to reason that they are not working for privileges; it would be a contradiction in terms."

"A correspondent to the Standard declares that the reason there are no wonderful women musicians or artists is because no assistance or encouragement is given to girls clever in those lines... she would receive no help whatsoever... that would not get her a husband, she would be admonished that such doings were unladylike."

15 JANUARY
WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE MEETING AT RAMSGATE
The NUWSS held a meeting at the Royal Sailors Rest. Miss Bertha Kennett MA spoke to a large and enthusiastic gathering. She gave a long speech about women's suffrage, outlined the history of the movement and said that there are now 350 branches of NUWSS, and there are another 20 separate societies as well. "Seven times the Suffrage Bill has had a second reading, only to be refused further facilities by the government of the day." She gave an able speech. Many new members joined the branch, which has made great progress during the past year.

29 JANUARY
The Royal Geographical Society has voted by 130 votes to 51 to admit women, following in the footsteps of the Royal Meteorological Society, Historical Society and Anthropological Society.

5 FEBRUARY
"Suffragette Scene... Railwaymen to the rescue... Ambulance company at Ramsgate.
Railwaymen from East Kent participated in an imaginary Suffragette riot on Thursday. At a mock political meeting a number of Suffragettes caused a riot, and the railwaymen followed them into the street. A fight ensued. Contestants have to explain the probable injuries and how to treat them. This was one of the most difficult tests at the annual competitions. The result was: 1st Deal; 2nd Faversham; 3rd Ramsgate.

"Woman and the Home" column
Schoolmistresses are paid £10 - £15 p.a. less than men, yet they have the same amount of work plus they additionally teach needlework. They are paid less simply because they are women.

[On July 26th 1913, two hundred women of Kent joined the massive "Pilgrimage" organised by the NUWSS, and took part in a mass demonstration in Hyde Park designed to show the Liberal government how strongly women felt they should have a vote.]

The 1913 Ramsgate NUWSS report stated that there were 191 members in the Ramsgate Branch and 118 in Margate. The total income for the Kent Federation was £540 (worth approximately £130,000 today) and for the Ramsgate Branch was £42 (£10,000 today) plus £7 10s collected in the street for the Pilgrimage (£1,800 today).

19 FEBRUARY
"Woman and. the Home" column. Minimum wage
Writing in the Women's Industrial News, Miss Zimmerman says that in the tailoring trade women are paid 3 1/2d per hour, men 6d; women 13s 10d for a 51 hour week; men 25s 6d for exactly the same work.

MILITANTS ON THE GOLF LINKS
Two of the greens on the Royal St Georges Limes at Sandwich have been damaged by militant Suffragettes using sulphuric acid. Holes had been scooped out as though with a trowel, and papers inserted bearing the words: "VOTES FOR WOMEN".

12 MARCH
Non-militants NUWSS meeting held at York Villa, 120 Grange Road at the invitation of Miss Stokes. Miss Griffith Jones, organiser of the Kent Federation, said they should work at elections to unseat all anti-suffrage Liberals, particularly Asquith and his Cabinet, as he had broken his promises to the suffragists. She spoke of the formation of new branches at Margate, Canterbury and Rochester and said that a new Society had been set up in Ramsgate called Friends of Suffrage for those who did not wish to go so far as to join the NUWSS, and this is to be administered from 19 Royal Crescent, Miss Poole reported that she held a cake sale at her home at 12 Chapel Place to raise funds. There were 50 new members.

19 MARCH
Miss Rachael Weigall has resigned as Hon.Sec. of the Anti-suffragists, her place being taken by Mrs Arthur Danie.

2 APRIL
Mrs Despard addressed a meeting in Margate and spoke against women's sweated labour and the white slave trade.

9 APRIL
Mr Dickinson MP has introduced the Representation of the People (women) Bill.

16 APRIL
"Women's Suffrage...NUWSS meeting. Lady Guardians address at Broadstairs. A well attended meeting at Caves Cafe. Mrs Rackham, a poor law guardian and member of the National Executive Committee of the NUWSS, gave an interesting address. Also, Mrs Rackham spoke to a meeting at Margate about why women want the vote.

23 APRIL
"SUFFRAGETTE SCARE...
News of militant suffragette activities has evidently reached the Young Blood of Minster, who planted a hoax bomb wrapped inside a copy of "The Suffragette" at Minster Parish church. This stupid act was attributed to "the youths of the village."

7 MAY
Margate Suffrage society... meeting at Foresters Hall. About 200 ladies and gentlemen were present.

14 MAY
"SUFFRAGETTES HOOTED by Margate visitors... Suffragettes were busy on Whit Monday at Margate selling copies of their newspapers... At Cliftonvilie, two women bearing suffragette badges were followed by a large crowd which contented itself with hooting."

21 MAY
"Bomb" at Margate Station... The "suffragette bomb hoax" has again been worked in Thanet. 0n Friday a passenger at Margate Sands Station called Inspector Osborne to a parcel left in the lavatory which turned out to be merely coal dust.

18 JUNE
WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE MEETING AT RAMSGATE.
An extremely interesting meeting was held by the NUWSS... the speaker was Frau Anker, who spoke of the franchise in her native Norway, which was granted in 1907 (limited), and then on June 13th this year universal adult suffrage was granted.

25 JUNE
Broadstairs council declined an application to allow a Suffragette (sic) meeting in the bandstand, as requested by the NUWSS.

The NUWSS is planning a women's suffrage pilgrimage, marching to London to a mass rally in Hyde Park on 26th July. The programme of the Thanet division includes open-air meetings at Margate on July 1st, Broadstairs on 2nd, Ramsgate on 3rd and Minster on 4th. "Every pilgrim will have in her heart a deep sense of reverent happiness that it has fallen to her lot to have the chance of dedicating herself to one of the greatest movements which has ever taken place in the history of the world".

2 JULY
The Margate section of the great pilgrimage leaves today from Cecil Square at 3.30pm. A largely attended meeting was held in Cecil Square yesterday, and a trenchant address given by Miss Matters and Miss Mosely of Tunbridge Wells.

Miss Griffith Jones addressed an open-air meeting at Garlinge on Monday.

Mme Dieulafoy the celebrated explorer and feminist... said the French ministries of War and Marine employ 155,880 women.

9 JULY
"Miss Muriel Matters of the NUWSS delivered a powerful speech at the Assembly rooms, Broadstairs... many effective points characterised a brilliant speech..." She said "Woman does not ask for man's protection; she wants the privileges of citizenship, that she might protect herself" (applause)

16 JULY
Mr Norman Craig replies to suffragists... he says he detested the excesses and outrages into which a few of its overzealous advocates have been betrayed. "Untold injury has been done to the cause of women's suffrage by the wanton crimes of the militant extremists."

[No report was given of Lloyd George's country house being firebombed by Suffragettes in February, nor of suffragette Emily Davison who died after she threw herself under the Kings horse at the Derby in June.]

23 JULY
Miss Matters spoke in favour of women's suffrage at a well-attended meeting on Ramsgate Sands. "The speaker, possessing a wonderful grip on the subject was making a great point of the decision of the High Court judge who held that a woman taking the highest degree in law was precluded from practising as a lawyer because she was not a "person" within the meaning of the act. "What are they then? Disembodied spirits or angels, perhaps? When it comes to paying rates and taxes, women are recognised as "persons" she said.

The first Suffragist meeting ever held in Minster took place on Friday. Miss Griffith Jones addressed the crowd. In Birchington Square the local Suffragists held a very successful meeting.

3 SEPTEMBER
SUFFRAGETTE OUTRAGES were reported from Folkestone where black fluid had been poured into letter boxes and telephone wires cut. The black fluid was poured into two boxes and 24 letters were damaged. On the top of one of the boxes was chalked "VOTES FOR WOMEN" and "DOWN WITH MEN".

THE REASON WHY WOMEN WANT THE VOTE
Mrs Snowden delivered a brilliant address at Ramsgate. The Congregational Hail was full to the doors and there was barely standing accommodation. She said that the Ramsgate branch of the NUWSS now had 160 members.

1914

14 JANUARY
"The Pilgrimage in July was the greatest demonstration that any suffrage society has ever produced," said Sir Edward Grey. There was a final mass meeting at Hyde Park. He said that the NUWSS now had 50,000 members and the newly formed Friends Of Women s Suffrage numbered 30,000. The Queen of Holland has promised women the vote, and the President of Poland also. Altogether 17 national governments were considering the question. In Finland there are already 21 women MPs.

RAMSGATE SUFFRAGISTS... THE YEAR''S WORK
At the AGM of Ramsgate NUWSS at Foresters Hall, Mrs Chaning Pearce said that new ground had been broken with the new branches opening at Margate, Broadstairs and Minster. This of course meant the loss of members from the Ramsgate branch but even with that the membership had still risen, and now stood at 190, and the new "Friends of Women's Suffrage" numbered 53.

[It was noted that Miss Stancomb-Wills had been appointed to the Town Council last year. Ten years later she was Mayor of Ramsgate.]

25 MARCH
"One of the favourite arguments of the Anti-suffragists is that women should not have the vote because they have less physical strength than men, and that they do not serve as soldiers, sailors or policemen. But this test of strength does not apply to men. A man can vote even if he is blind, lame, crippled or undersized. Are only soldiers, sailors and policemen allowed to vote?"

1 APRIL
"Sir, some people say that women already have too much influence and it is unfair to increase it by giving them votes as well... it soon appears that this influence is irresponsible, that it cannot be called to account, and it is exercised by those women who have the least want of it, who are not suffering as much as many of their sisters from injustice and the hard laws."

Copy-typed by Julian Rhodes.