Actresses' Franchise League

In 1908 the Actresses' Franchise League was founded by Winifred Mayo and Sime Seruya at a meeting in the Criterion Restaurant in London. While "actresses" are specified in the organization's name, any woman who was or had been in the theatrical profession was welcome to join. British actresses who joined included Sybil Thorndike, Italia Conti, Inez Bensusan, Madge Kendal, Gertrude Elliott, Ellen Terry, Lillah McCarthy, Decima Moore, Cicely Hamilton, Beatrice Forbes-Robertson Hale, Christabel Marshall, Lena Ashwell, Edith Craig, Janette Steer, Ellison Scotland Gibb and Lillie Langtry.

The group had three main objectives:

1. To convince members of the Theatrical profession of the necessity of extending the franchise to women.

2. To work for Votes for Women on the same terms as they are, or may be, granted to men by educational methods.

3. To assist all other leagues whenever possible.

The League itself was strictly neutral in regard to suffrage tactics meaning the organization did not either publicly endorse or condemn militancy. However, there were some members who were also a part of militant societies such the Women's Freedom League and Women’s Social and Political Union, and who were arrested and imprisoned for militant actions. By 1913 the AFL membership had reached 900 members, and there was an affiliated men's group as well as over 100 patrons.

The AFL had very specific means of accomplishing their goals. These were delineated in its first annual report as:

i) Propaganda Meetings,

ii) Sale of Literature,

iii) Propaganda Plays,

iv) Lectures.

Literature, including plays and sketches by pro-suffrage writers, was sold at all AFL events. The AFL often collaborated with other suffrage groups, particularly the Women Writers' Suffrage League. Writers and dramatists in this group, like Cicely Hamilton, provided many of the plays and skits performed by the AFL. The two groups shared many of the same members. The AFL performed at WSPU’s Women’s Suffrage Exhibition in 1909 and then at WSPU’s Christmas Fair and Festival in 1911.

Papers of the Actresses' Franchise League are held in the Women's Library in London at LSE. [1] The Museum of London has a large banner of the AFL in its collection.[2] Many of the plays created for the AFL to perform have been reprinted since the 1980s, most recently by Dr Naomi Paxton in two anthologies with Methuen Drama in 2013 and 2018 [3]

From October 2018-January 2019 there was an exhibition at the National Theatre in London about the Actresses' Franchise League and Women Writers' Suffrage League. It was called "Dramatic Progress: Votes for Women and the Edwardian Stage".[4]

[5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]