The first women's suffrage society in Britain was formed in 1867, following the temporary Committee of the previous year. This book appears appropriately in the centenary year. That women should vote is now so generally accepted that few of the post-war generation can appreciate the long and intense struggle before women's right to political equality was recognized. John Stuart Mill presented his Women Suffrage Petition to the House of Commons in 1866. It took Parliament fifty-two years to enfranchise the first women.
Dr. Rover, using much original research, discusses the interaction between the political parties and the two movements for women's suffrage, constitutional and militant. The analysis of the attitude of the party leaders towards women's enfranchisement illuminates the characters of the prime ministers of the period and emphasises the difficulties inherent in our parliamentary procedure.