Speech in the House of Commons on Women's Suffrage.
Susan B. Anthony's Copy
[Anthony, Susan B.]. Courtney, M.P., [Leonard Henry]. Pamphlet: "Speech in the House of Commons of Women's Suffrage", London: The Central National Society for Women's Suffrage, [c. 1892].
8-3/8 x 5-1/2" pamphlet, 4pp. + text at the rear inside cover; Susan B. Anthony's copy with her stamp at the inside cover; printed self-wrappers; surplus stamp, Library of Congress, at front; lower corners chipped with 1/4" lower foretip lacking and 1/2 x 7/8" triangular piece lacking at tail of fold; front leaf dusty; about very good.
An eloquent speech in support of the "Women's Franchise Bill" which would extend the right to vote in Parliamentary elections to women who were entitled to vote municipal or county elections. To those members who foresee dire consequences arising from the bill, Courtney says: "Are they [women voters] not also of our own flesh and blood? Have they not the same sort of interest in what we do, in the laws we proclaim...?" He foresees that if the bill passes "it will initiate this principle — that woman is a citizen as well as man, and that woman self dependent has the same right to be represented".
The text of the bill is printed at the inside rear wrapper. Parliament passed the "Women's Franchise Bill", with some modifications, in 1894. As Courtney observed, the bill was "a very small measure in itself, but it is part of a great movement, which may be pregnant with important consequences".
Susan B. Anthony donated her books to the Library of Congress, this title being among them. Like their American counterparts, British women's rights groups sought limited suffrage as a wedge; with this bill they succeeded. OCLC and NUC do not locate a copy.
(#7860)
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