§ 11. The First Petition.

A Reform Bill was before the country and the friends of Women's Suffrage had a champion in the House of Commons. Surely the time to move had come! They asked Mr. Mill if he would present a petition from women. He said he would, if it had a hundred names -he would not approve of presenting one with less. Still they hesitated, lest the time might not be ripe, but when on the morning of 28th April 1866 they read in the morning's paper that Mr. Disraeli had said the night before in the House of Commons, "I say that in a country governed by a woman-where you allow women to form part of the other estate of the realm-peeresses in their own right, for example-where you allow a woman not only to hold land, but to be a lady of the manor and hold legal courts-where a woman by law may be a churchwarden and overseer of the poor—I do not see, where she has so much to do with the State and Church, on what reasons, if you come to right, she has not a right to vote."

"Those words were

Then all doubts were removed. the spark that fired the train." Moved by a common impulse, Mrs. Bodichon, Miss Boucherett and Miss. Davies came together that morning; they drafted a petition, sent it for Mr. Mill's approval and then set to work.

Day by day a little informal committee of workers met at Miss Garrett's, where Miss Rosamond Hill also came and worked with them. The petition was quickly circulated through the groups of the pioneer workers,

and through them to many beyond, and instead of one hundred, 1499 signatures were collected in little over a fortnight. The petition was as follows:

"That it having been expressly laid down by high authorities that the possession of property in this country carries with it the right to vote in the election. of Representatives in Parliament: it is an evident anomaly that some holders of property are allowed to use their right, while others, forming no less a constituent part of the nation, and equally qualified by law to hold property, are not able to exercise this privilege.

"That the participation of women in the Government is consistent with the principles of the British Constitution, inasmuch as women in these islands have always been held capable of sovereignty and women are eligible to various public offices.

"Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray your Honourable House to consider the expediency of providing for the representation of all householders, without distinction of sex, who possess such property or rental qualification as your Honourable House may determine."

The signatures included many names well known, or names to hereafter become known amongst the workers of the world-among writers, Frances Power Cobbe, Amelia Barbara Edwards, Matilda Betham Edwards, Eliza and H. M. Keary, Harriet Martineau, Mary Somerville, Anna Swanwick, Augusta Webster, Susanna Winkworth; among leaders of social work, Martha Merrington (first woman elected Poor Law Guardian),

Florence Davenport Hill, Joanna Hill, Louisa Boucherett (first movers in boarding out pauper children), Mrs. W. Grey, Miss Shireff (leaders in the Girls' High School movement), Mrs. Samuel Lucas (first President, British Women's Temperance Association), Mrs. Josephine Butler; and amongst those who became leaders in the Women's Suffrage work, Viscountess Amberley, Lady Anna Gore Langton (successive Presidents of the Bristol Society), Mrs. Priscilla Bright M'Laren (President of the Edinburgh Society), Mrs. P. A. Taylor, Miss Lilias Ashworth (Mrs. Hallet), Miss C. A. Biggs, Mrs. Haslam, Miss Agnes M'Laren, Mrs. Pease Nichol, Misses Priestman, Miss Eliza Wigham, etc., etc.

The day came when the petition was to be taken down to Mr. Mill at the House of Commons by Mrs. Bodichon, but she was very unwell, and asked Miss Davies to go in her stead, who set forth not a little nervous at such a mission; Miss Garrett offered to accompany her, and they took a cab with the portentous roll, to Westminster Hall. There, to their relief, they met Mr. Fawcett, who went at once in search of Mr. Mill. Meantime they felt ill at ease with their big roll in that great Hall, thronged as it was in those days with many going to and fro to the old law courts. They made friends with the applewoman whose stall was near the entrance, and she hid the roll beneath her table. Presently Mr. Mill arrived. "Where is the petition?" he asked-then they had to confess it was hidden away beneath the applewoman's stall. But it was quickly produced thence, and Mr. Mill, on seeing it, exclaimed, "Ah, this I can brandish with effect."

It was presented on June 7th, the day the House went into Committee on the Representation of the People Bill. Mr. Mill stated in the House that the signatures had been collected in little over a fortnight.1

1 The Times described it as a petition of over 1500 signatures from ladies of Westminster-this was an error, the number was 1499 and collected from all parts of the Kingdom.