Post-World War I Civil Rights
During the First World War, Spain remained neutral and was not a danger to the security of the fortress. Yet Gibraltar was a crucial strategic point for British convoys and Mediterranean liners. Political life continued, and a City Council was created in Gibraltar in 1921 that replaced the Sanitary Commissioners. The Governor remained the executive and legislative authority, but he was advised by the new Executive Council and City Council. It was an important step in catering to the civilian population, which surpassed 18,000 inhabitants. In 1921 the first elections were held in Gibraltar for City Council, and for the first time under British rule, the civilian inhabitants of Gibraltar had a right to elect their own representatives. Suffrage was limited to male taxpayers yet the Governor remained a military man, with all legislative and executive authority vested in him.
Read more about this topic: History Of Nationality In Gibraltar
Famous quotes containing the words war, civil and/or rights:
“Our lives laid down in war and peace may not
Be found acceptable in Heaven’s sight.
And that they may be is the only prayer
Worth praying. May my sacrifice
Be found acceptable in Heaven’s sight.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“... two great areas of deafness existed in the South: White Southerners had no ears to hear that which threatened their Dream. And colored Southerners had none to hear that which could reduce their anger.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 1, ch. 16 (1962)
“Rights! There are no rights whatever without corresponding duties. Look at the history of the growth of our constitution, and you will see that our ancestors never upon any occasion stated, as a ground for claiming any of their privileges, an abstract right inherent in themselves; you will nowhere in our parliamentary records find the miserable sophism of the Rights of Man.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)