Tag: Women’s history

18th Century history, Georgian Lords, Royal family, Women and Parliament

The Princess Mother: Augusta, Princess of Wales, the power behind the throne?

Today, on International Women’s Day, Dr Robin Eagles, editor of our Lords 1715-1790 project, looks at the life of Augusta, Princess of Wales. As mother of the heir to the throne, Augusta had great political importance- but how did she use this to her advantage…? In March 1771 James Townsend spoke in the Commons of his concerns of secret influence behind the throne. He insisted … Continue reading The Princess Mother: Augusta, Princess of Wales, the power behind the throne?

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20th century history, Conferences/seminars, Electoral Reform, Women and Parliament

‘She is an Outsider in Public Life’: women parliamentary candidates, 1918-1923

Ahead of tonight’s Parliaments, Politics and People seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, we hear from Lisa Berry-Waite, a Leverhulme-funded PhD candidate at the University of Exeter.  She spoke at our previous session on 28 May about her research into the parliamentary election campaigns of women candidates in Britain between 1918 and 1931. Her paper focused on the under-explored source of women’s parliamentary election … Continue reading ‘She is an Outsider in Public Life’: women parliamentary candidates, 1918-1923

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20th century history, Women and Parliament

The First Woman Cabinet Minister: Margaret Bondfield, 1873- 1953

In this new blog for our ‘Women and Parliament’ series, Dr Paula Bartley gives an overview of the political career of the first woman Cabinet Minister, Margaret Bondfield, who was appointed as such 90 years ago today. This blog is inspired by Paula’s research from her newly published book, Labour Women in Power, which examines the lives of Margaret Bondfield, Ellen Wilkinson, Barbara Castle, Judith … Continue reading The First Woman Cabinet Minister: Margaret Bondfield, 1873- 1953

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20th century history, Women and Parliament

Reflections on the Vote 100 project and the Lady Astor Statue project #Astor100

The final installment for the Women and Parliament blog series in 2018 is rather appropriately written by Linda Gilroy, former MP for Plymouth Sutton (1997-2010). Linda tells us about an exciting project to raise a statue of the first woman to take her seat in Parliament, Lady Nancy Astor, which is part of the #Astor100 project that will be taking place throughout 2019… Celebrating the … Continue reading Reflections on the Vote 100 project and the Lady Astor Statue project #Astor100

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20th century history, Women and Parliament

A night in Parliament: Militant Suffragettes and Parliament

We are delighted to post this guest blog in our Women and Parliament series from one of the public historians who has been at the forefront of activities to commemorate the centenary of the first women winning the right to vote in this country. Vicky Iglikowski-Broad, Diverse Histories Records Specialist at The National Archives (TNA) gives us an account, based on the collections at TNA, … Continue reading A night in Parliament: Militant Suffragettes and Parliament

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'The Story of Parliament', 18th Century history, 19th Century history, 20th century history, Electoral Reform, Women and Parliament

Voice and Vote: Celebrating 100 Years of Votes for Women – a guidebook

Dr Paul Seaward is one of the editors of the “Voice & Vote guidebook” to accompany the UK Parliament Vote 100 project‘s landmark exhibition in Westminster Hall. In today’s blog he explains the contents of the book, who contributed to it and where you can get one… Last week we were delighted to celebrate with the curators of the wonderful Voice and Vote exhibition in Westminster … Continue reading Voice and Vote: Celebrating 100 Years of Votes for Women – a guidebook

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20th century history, Oral history, Post-1945 history, Women and Parliament

Women MPs in the 1990s

This month’s blog for the Women and Parliament series as part of our activities in celebration of the centenary of the Representation the People Act 1918, which allowed some women to vote in the UK for the first time, comes from our Assistant Director and one of the coordinators of our oral history project, Dr Emma Peplow. She discusses the experiences of women MPs in parliament … Continue reading Women MPs in the 1990s

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'The Story of Parliament', 20th century history, Elections, Women and Parliament

The Representation of the People Act, 1918: A radical reform measure bill

This is the second in our blog series, women and parliament in this, the centenary year of the Representation of the People Act 1918. Here at the History of Parliament we are closely involved in celebrations, commemorations and projects relating to this anniversary. So today, on the actual anniversary that this Act became law it seemed pertinent to honour its passage. To that end, our … Continue reading The Representation of the People Act, 1918: A radical reform measure bill

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'The Story of Parliament', Elections, Medieval history, Women and Parliament

Women and Parliament in the Fifteenth Century

2018 is the centennial anniversary of the Representation of the People Act 1918 under the terms of which, for the first time in the history of the British Politics, some women were permitted to vote in Parliamentary elections. In order to mark this step in the progression of equality for women in our country’s political system we will be publishing a series of blogs about … Continue reading Women and Parliament in the Fifteenth Century

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Magna Carta & Simon de Montfort, Medieval history, Social history

Eleanor de Montfort, countess of Leicester (b. c. 1215-d. c. 1275): A countess and a rebel

Continuing our ongoing series celebrating the anniversaries of Magna Carta and Simon de Montfort’s Parliament, this week’s guest blogpost looks at the role of a woman who helped to shape the politics of her time. Louise Wilkinson, Professor of Medieval History at Canterbury Christ Church University, explains the key role of Eleanor de Montfort… In the thirteenth century, Eleanor de Montfort was one of the … Continue reading Eleanor de Montfort, countess of Leicester (b. c. 1215-d. c. 1275): A countess and a rebel

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