Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

§ 31. Isle of Man.

In the summer of 1880 a movement had begun to make itself felt in the Isle of Man for a more extended franchise for election of the ancient "House of Keys," and the Governor had given notice of a Bill for household suffrage to male persons. This was the occasion for a movement on the part of the Manchester Society to urge that the claim of women be considered. Miss Becker and Mrs. Oliver Scatcherd visited the Island and held a series of meetings in August, addressing crowded audiences in Douglas, Ramsey, Peel and Castletown.

They were everywhere received with the utmost cordiality, the Isle of Man Times and other papers giving efficient help; and to judge by the results, their lectures proved instrumental in initiating the movement to obtain a measure for enfranchising women in this ancient kingdom, which does not send members to the British Parliment, but "has its own Governor, House of Lords (the Council), House of Commons (the Keys), Bishop and Judge (the Deemsters); it enacts its own laws, imposes its own taxes-the only Imperial control being the sanction of the Queen, which is necessary before a law takes effect."

Its story is summarized in the Women's Suffrage Journal of December 1880 and January 1881.

"The House of Keys has survived as a legislative assembly from a period long antecedent to the formation of the English House of Commons. It was founded by a Scandinavian prince, named Orry, who, after conquering many of the western islands of Scotland, arrived at the Isle of Man about the year 938 A.D. with a large

fleet. He brought order out of the chaos which then existed in the Island, and established stable and popular government. King Orry instituted the House of Keys. He divided the Island into six districts called sheadings, every sheading having its coroner, who acted as sheriff and was intrusted with the peace of his district. The House of Keys was the lower House of the Insular Legislature, and consisted of twenty-four freeholders, sixteen being chosen in those days from the lands of Man, and eight from the Isles of the West of Scotland, which were under the sway of the Manx kings. King Orry died in 940, and his dynasty lasted till about the time of the invasion of England by William the Conqueror. Since that period the Island has been subject to vicissitudes of conquest and the changes of dynasty, but it has preserved its independence, and throughout the whole course of its history the House of Keys has at all times resisted encroachments on the liberties of the people.

[ocr errors]

"In the year 1417 Sir John Stanley, the then King and Lord of Man,' paid a visit to the Island. He settled the order of the Tynwald Assembly. At a Tynwald Court held at Castle Rushen in 1430, among other things it was enacted 'that controversies be decided, not by the savage warfare of battle, but by the good and true in the country.' It was settled that the House of Keys, which in King Orry's days consisted of twenty-four members, sixteen from Man and eight from the outer Isles, should in future consist of twenty-four, all to be elected in Man, but subject to the approval of the King. In 1430, thirty-six were chosen by the whole commons of Man-from these the lieutenants chose twenty-four. In later days it came to be the custom for the Keys to hold office for life, and for vacancies to be filled up by election among themselves and the Governor. Thus the people came to have no voice in the election of those who constituted what had been in former times the popular House in the Legislature, and they had also lost the power which they possessed in ancient times of raising their voice and voting in the Tynwald Court on Midsummer Day.

"From being the freest and most popular of constitutions the insular government had become one of the most absolute, and this condition of things continued till 1866, when the Keys agreed to

their own dissolution, and an Act was obtained authorising a septennial House of Keys, elected by the people.

"The franchise in this election was given, in sheadings (counties) to owners of real estate of £8 annual value, and to occupiers of not less than £12 annual value, and in towns to owners and occupiers of not less than £8 annual value.

"This franchise has been felt to be too restricted, and a Bill was lately introduced by the Governor in the House of Keys to give the franchise to every male person who was a householder under certain conditions. In committee of the House of Keys, on November 5th, an amendment was moved by Mr. Richard Sherwood to omit the word 'male' for the purpose of extending the franchise to women who possessed the required qualification. This amendment was carried by 16 votes to 3, being a majority of more than five to one of those present and voting, and a vote of two-thirds of the whole number of the House of Keys."

"The Council (the other branch of the Manx Legislature), among whom there was a difference of opinion, agreed to give the franchise to all male and female owners of real estate of £4 annual value. They refused it to female occupiers and lodgers.

"On this being brought before the Keys, they gave up the lodger franchise for women; its effect in the Island is so trifling that they held it to be of little consequence as regards either men or women, but they adhered to the franchise for the woman occupier. The Bill thus altered was forwarded to the Council, and was again returned to the Keys with a message that the Council refused to agree. The Keys then proposed a compromise, raising the qualification for women occupiers to £20 a year. This again was refused, and the Keys were informed that the Council would reject the Bill if they stood out.

"A conference then took place, and the Keys came to the conclusion that it was advisable to get the concession to women owners secured, as thereby the principle of women's suffrage was conceded. They therefore agreed to the Bill, but they forwarded a protest, and passed a resolution that they agreed to the proposal simply to

secure the partial concession, rather than lose the whole; and that their opinion as to the equal rights of males and females remained unaltered. This was passed unanimously."

The Governor, Sir Henry Brougham Loch, gave his assent on December 21st, and on 5th January 1881 Her Majesty Queen Victoria gave her Royal assent.

The Act came into force on 31st January 1881, when it was formally promulgated from the Tynwald Hill.

The first election under the new electoral Act began on 21st March 1881. In the Ayre Sheading, the largest electoral division in the Island, women were the first at the poll at each of its four polling-stations, only two possible voters among them being absent. In Glenfalba Sheading, Mr. Sherwood, who had been leader of the movement in the House of Keys, received the votes of all the women voters, and was returned at the head of the poll. In Douglas, Mr. Stephen, the first candidate to give prominence to the question, was also at the head of the poll.

The women voters were pronounced to be quick, intelligent and business-like in their procedure, and they always knew for whom they wished to vote.

Here we may antedate the further progress in Man and record that the measure of 1880 was soon after completed by the extension of the qualification to women occupiers as well as owners.

§ 32. Political Organizations and Women's Suffrage.

Reference to the Parliamentary Chart, p. 101, will show that Mr. Hugh Mason's prolonged endeavours to

secure a day for a debate on his resolution prevailed at last, and a debate and division took place on 6th July 1883, which resulted in a much more favourable vote than that in the previous Parliament on Mr. Courtney's resolution-the figures being 114 ayes, 130 noes, as against 103 ayes and 217 noes in 1879.

This resolution was as a preliminary skirmish before the Reform Bill of the following year, and brightened the hopes of the workers for the coming battle. Great encouragement was also given by the great Conference of Liberal Associations, held at Leeds on October 17th, to consider Parliamentary reform. At that Conference, convened by the National Liberal Federation and the National Reform Union, 2000 delegates attended from all parts of the United Kingdom, including nine women delegates.1

After a resolution affirming that the same electoral rights should be conferred on householders in the counties as were enjoyed by those in boroughs, the Rev. Dr. Crosskey (Birmingham) moved as an addition to the former motion: "That in the opinion of this meeting, any measure for the extension of the suffrage should confer the franchise on women, who, possessing

1 Mid-Somerset Liberal Association.—Mrs. Helen Bright Clark, Mrs. Tanner.

Bristol Women's Liberal Association. -Miss Emily Sturge, Miss Eva Tribe.

Darlington Women's Liberal Association. Muller.

Miss Lucas, Miss

York Women's Liberal Association. -Miss Anna Wilkinson.

Morley Liberal Club.-Mrs. Oliver Scatcherd.
Midhurst Liberal Association. -Miss Jane Cobden.

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »