Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 4.djvu/1086

 

The chapter on Great Britain contributed by Miss Caroline Ashurst Biggs to Vol. Ill of this History of Woman Suffrage brought the story down to the passage of the Representation-ofthe-People Act of 1884 which extended Household Suffrage to the Counties and created the Service Franchise, thus giving the ballot to a large number of agricultural labourers and men who had their residence on premises of which their employers paid the rent and taxes, but which still left all such women without any franchise whatsoever.

With the passing of that Act may be said to have begun a new phase in the movement. During the '70's there had been a debate and division on the Women's Suffrage Bill in the House of Commons nearly every year. After the General Election of 1880 the question of Household Suffrage in the Counties came to the front, and all the efforts of the Women's Suffrage Societies were directed and inspired by the anticipation that when the claims of the agricultural labourer were dealt with, those of women would find their opportunity. But far from this, they were left practically in a worse position than before, for now 2,000.000 new voters were added to the number of those who could make prior claim to the attention of their representatives.

1885. — Immediately after the General Election which followed