Northern Men's League for Women's Suffrage

The Northern Men's League for Women's Suffrage was an organisation which was active in Scotland during the later part of the campaign for women's suffrage.

Maud Arncliffe Sennett c.1908

Formation

In 1907, after the imprisonment of his wife, Maggie Moffat for suffrage activity, Graham Moffat formed the Glasgow Men's League for Women's Suffrage. It was intended to offer support and solidarity for the husbands and brothers of women involved in the campaign, as well as male sympathisers.[1][2][3]

Many of the members were politically active and powerful men who wanted to use their influence in the campaign.[4]

In July 1913, organised by Maud Arncliffe Sennett, a large delegation of Scottish men travelled to London for an audience with the prime minister, H. H. Asquith, to discuss extending the franchise to women. The request for a meeting was refused. A direct result of this failure to meet with them was that they formed the new campaigning organisation. The artist John Wilson McLaren wrote a verse about the trip:

We've come from the North, and the heather's on fire,
To fight for the women–our only desire;
At last we've been roused thro' the treachery shown
By knaves at Westminster–the knaves we disown!'[4]

The inaugural meeting was held in Glasgow on 11 September 1913. The founder, president, and main organiser of the July deputation was Maud Arncliffe Sennett. She had discussed the possibility of a men's campaigning organisation on the train to the funeral of Emily Davison, which she attended on behalf of the Actresses' Franchise League.[5] The honorary secretary of the Edinburgh branch was Nannie Brown.[1]

Branches were formed in Midlothian and Berwick upon Tweed.

Activities

The league had no party political loyalties, and supported all of the different suffrage groups, whether militant or constitutional. They sent petitions and resolutions to those in power, and corresponded with other organisations to rally support.[2]

They held a meeting in Bridgeton in November 1913, which was addressed by Maud Arncliffe Sennet, Henry Harben, JP, Bailie Alston and Helen Crawfurd, who "welcomed the NMF as a new order of chivalry: it came to fight for the oppressed and sweated women worker".[1] In the same month they also met in the Synod Hall, Edinburgh, and were addressed by John Cockburn, Mrs Cavendish Bentinck, and Maud Arncliffe Sennett.[6] In April 1914, the league took part in a larger demonstration at Cupar, where H. H. Asquith was standing in a ministerial by-election. They announced their intention of opposing him at the next general election.[1]

The league continued their campaigning work during the war years, which included an open-air meeting at The Meadows, Edinburgh in May 1915, a demonstration in July 1915, addressed by Maud Arncliffe Sennett, and a meeting in April 1916.[1] Their activities continued until 1919.[5]

Notable Members and speakers

References
  1. Leneman, Leah (1994). A Guid Cause: The Women's Suffrage Movement in Scotland.
  2. King, Elspeth (1993). A Hidden History of Glasgow's Women. p. 105.
  3. Moffat, Graham (1955). Join Me in Remembering: The life and Reminiscences of the Author of "Bunty Pulls The Strings". p. 52.
  4. "'Men from the North': The Northern Men's Federation for Women's Suffrage, 1913–1918". UK Parliament. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  5. "Christmas crackers and women's suffrage - Untold lives blog". blogs.bl.uk. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  6. The Vote. 21 Nov 1913. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. "Charles B Mabon". Glasgow Museums. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
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