Women's Suffrage. A Short History of a Great Movement.

First edition of this short, popular work by one of Britain's leading suffragists and social reformers.

Millicent Garrett Fawcett's (1847-1929) life encompassed the entirety of the suffrage movement. Born into the progressive and politically connected Garrett family, she and her sisters were encouraged to become educated and to speak their minds, and in the late 1850s they became involved in the nascent women's movement. In 1866 Millicent and her friend Emily Davies were among the organisers of a suffrage petition to Parliament, and 'as a committee member of the London National Society for Woman (later Women's) Suffrage from its foundation in 1867, Millicent made her début as a speaker for the cause at the first public suffrage meeting held in London on 17 July 1869' (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography). In 1905, after the Pankhurst's militancy brought the movement back into the spotlight, the less radical National Union of Women Suffrage Societies was re-established under Fawcett's leadership. In the present work she describes this period as 'the most difficult time of my forty years of suffrage work' and while she remained committed to a pragmatic, conservative style of activism, she publicly supported the militant suffragettes. After women gained the right to vote she continued campaigning for their rights to education and equal pay.

First edition; 8vo; single-leaf publisher's ads dated February, 1912, contents toned, half title tanned, pages 34 and 35 tanned from inserted material, occasional small spots and marks; original green cloth blocked in black, spine rolled and tanned, upper corner bumped, cloth lightly worn, some small spots to the top edge of the text block, very good condition; 94pp.