National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies - Formation and Campaigning

Formation and Campaigning

The group was founded in 1897 by the merger of the National Central Society for Women's Suffrage and the Central Committee, National Society for Women's Suffrage, the groups having originally split in 1888.

The groups united under the leadership of Millicent Fawcett, who was the president of the society for over twenty years. The organization was democratic, aiming to achieve women's suffrage through peaceful and legal means, in particular by introducing Parliamentary Bills and holding meetings to explain and promote their aims.

In 1903, NUWSS suffered the split of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU, the "suffragettes"), who wished to undertake more militant action. Nevertheless, the group continued to grow, and by 1914 there were in excess of 500 branches throughout the country, with over 100,000 members. Many, but by no means all, of the members were middle class, with some of the working class. Unlike the WSPU, their group also had some male members.

For the 1906 UK general election, the group formed committees in each constituency to persuade local parties to select pro-suffrage candidates.

The NUWSS organised the Mud March of February 7, 1907, its first large, open-air procession.

Ms. Fawcett said in a speech in 1911 that their movement was "like a glacier; slow moving but unstoppable".