Qualification of Women (County and Borough Councils) Act 1907
The Qualification of Women (County and Borough Councils) Act 1907 was as Act of Parliament (7 Edw. VII) that clarified the right of certain women ratepayers to be elected to Borough and County Councils in England and Wales. It followed years of uncertainty and confusion, which included challenges in the courts when women first tried to stand for the London County Council.[1]
Women had been elected to separate boards dealing with the Poor Law and the Elementary Education Act 1870 and were entitled to serve on the new urban and rural district councils from 1894. Women had lost their influence on education boards when the free-standing boards were absorbed into the newly established councils. Women had also lost places when towns grew and obtained Borough status.[1] The 1907 Act which was seen as a victory for the Women's Local Government Society[2] gave widows and unmarried women the right to stand anywhere in local government.[1]
Five women were elected in 1907: Elizabeth Garrett Anderson in Aldeburgh, Edith Sutton in Reading, in Bewdley, in Oxford, and Mrs Dove in Wycombe. was elected as an alderman in Oldham at a by-election shortly after the regular elections. Numbers of councillors gradually increased, with Mrs Hughes in Oxford and Margaret Ashton in Manchester winning seats in 1908, Eleanor Rathbone in Liverpool, Helen Hope in Bath, Miss Coulcher in Ipswich and Mrs Chapman in Worthing in 1909, in Walsall, Elizabeth Bannister in Southend and Maud Burnett in Tynemouth in 1910, and in Pinsent and in Birmingham, Mrs Redford in Manchester and in Godalming in 1911.[1]
References[]
- United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1907
- 1907 in law
- Election law in the United Kingdom
- Election legislation
- Women's rights in the United Kingdom
- Women's rights legislation
- 1907 in women's history