PANEL 123    Women Get the Vote

Elsie Inglis became a founder member of the Scottish Women’s Suffragette Federation in 1906 and worked hard to see the franchise extended. Others were even more militant and Flora Drummond, a postmistress, went to prison nine times as a leader of the Women’s Social and Political Union. Some poured acid into pillar boxes, slashed portraits of the king and set fire to buildings such as Ayr Racecourse, Leuchars Railway Station and the Whitekirk in East Lothian. In prison, many went on hunger strikes. The First World War supplied unexpected support as suffragettes suspended campaigning. While men fought and died on the Western Front in their millions, many women worked in the munitions industries, joined the Women’s Land Army or drove buses and ambulances. All were seen in a different light as a result. New legislation was enacted in 1918 to give all women over the age of 30 the right to vote in general elections and to stand as MPs. But pressure for equality did not abate and, in 1928, women 21 and over were allowed to vote.

 

Panel stitched by:

Soroptimist International of Edinburgh

Edith Elliot

Jane Green

Clephane Hume

Winifred Keeves

Isabel Smith

Stitched in:

Dalkeith, Edinburgh