Politics1. Introduction Up until the 20th century most women were unable to vote in elections. In 1918 the vote was given to women over thirty, in1928 to women over twenty-one and in 1969 to women over eighteen. There is evidence of a growing involvement of women in politics during the 19th century.
2. Peterloo Anne Lister the Halifax diarist commented that after the Peterloo Massacre at Manchester in August 1819, Halifax was full of talk "of the sad work at Manchester". On 16 August nine men and two women from a crowd of over 50,000 gathered to hear the radical orator, Henry Hunt, speak on parliamentary reform. They suffered fatal injuries when the yeomanry attempted to arrest Hunt and disperse the assembly on the orders of the magistrates. On Monday 4 October 1819 an estimated 50,000 "male and female reformers" attended a large open-air meeting in Halifax. This was followed by a patriotic dinner, during which toasts were proposed to "the People, the source of all legitimate power" and "Henry Hunt, the Champion of Liberty".
Copyright 2004, John Hargreaves |
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