eligibility as Poor Law Guardians; and made them also eligible as Parish and District Councillors. Women were for the first time made eligible as Poor Law Guardians in Ireland. The system of local government in Ireland was reorganized on similar lines to that in England. Women who had hitherto been excluded from the municipal franchise now had all local franchises conferred on them, and were made eligible for Rural and Urban District Councils. Changed the system of vestries to that of Borough Councils throughout the Metropolitan districts. Women had been eligible on the old vestries and several were then serving. Their claim to sit on the new Borough Councils was however, rejected. B.-Civil Status, as Wives and Mothers. 1839. Custody of Infants Act (2 & 3 Vict. ch. 54). (Known as Sergeant Talfourd's Act). 1870. Married Women's Property Act (33 & 34 Vict. ch. 93). 1874. Ditto (37 & 38 Vict. ch. 50). 1877. Ditto for Scotland (40 & 41 Vict. ch. 29). 1882. Ditto (45 & 46 Vict. ch. 75). 1873. Custody of Infants Act (36 Vict. ch. 12.). 1878. Matrimonial Causes Act (41 Vict. ch. 19). Empowered the Lord Chancellor to leave custody of her child to the mother up to the age of seven. The Acts of 1870 and 1874 secured to married women all rights to property acquired by their own skill and industry, and to all investments of their own money in their own names. The Act of 1882 consolidated and amended the previous Acts, enabling married women to acquire, hold and dispose by will or otherwise of any real or personal property without the intervention of a trustee. Allows the mother to have custody of her child up to sixteen. Enables a wife, in cases of aggravated assaults, to get a separation order. Raises the age of consent from thirteen to sixteen. Greatly improves the status of mothers by giving the surviving mother the right to be joint guardian in addition to any appointed by the father. The Act also enables her to appoint a guardian to act in case of the father's death or incapacity; it also requires the Court to have regard to the wishes of the mother as well as of the father. When a man dies intestate, leaving a widow and no children, all his estate, if under £500, goes to the widow; if over £500 she shall have £500 in addition to her share in the residue. Renders imputation of moral misconduct actionable, without having first to prove damages. Extends and strengthens the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1878. i C.-Professional and Industrial Status. 1842. Coal Mines Act (5 & 6 Vict. ch. 99). 1844. (7 Vict. ch. 16.) 1847. (10 Vict. ch. 29.) 1850. (13 & 14 Vict. ch. 54.) 1876. Medical Education Act (39 & 40 Vict. ch. 41). 1878. Factory and Workshop Act (1878) (41 Vict. ch. 16). 1895. Factory and Workshop Act (1895) (58 & 59 Vict. ch. 37). 1901. Factory and Workshop Consolidation and Amendment Act. Prohibited the work of women in mines. Women were brought under the same rules as young persons. Ten hours a day for women and young persons. Fixing a uniform working day for women and young persons. Permitting medical degrees to be conferred on women. Consolidated the above and various intermediate acts dealing with particular trades. Intensified the special restrictions on women's labour. Consolidated all previous legislation and rendered some of the regulations for women more elastic. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT IN THE BRITISH ISLES.1 1792. VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects. By Mary Wollstonecraft. London. 8vo, 452 pp. 1825. APPEAL OF ONE-HALF OF THE HUMAN RACE, Women, against the pretensions of the other half, Men, to retain them in political and thence in civil and domestic slavery, in reply to a paragraph of Mr. Mill's celebrated article on Government. By Wm. Thompson. 1841. WOMAN AND HER SOCIAL POSITION: article in Westminster Review, No. xlviii. [This was reprinted in 1872, at the instance of friends of the writer, Mrs. John Mylne.] 1 Exclusive of Annual Reports of the various Women's Suffrage organizations. |