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Time traveller's guide to Victorian Britain
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the Vote

 

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Websites

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Barbara Bodichon
www.victorianweb.org/gender/wojtczak/
bodichon.html

One of the foremost founders of the women's rights movement in Britain, whose work helped to increase the age of consent to 13 in 1875.

Charles Booth
http://booth.lse.ac.uk/static/a/2.html
Well-researched biography of the man who devised, organised and funded one of the most comprehensive and scientific social surveys of London life, on the London School of Economics website, as part of the Charles Booth Online Archive.

Chartism
www.cottontimes.co.uk/charto.htm
Looks at the rise and fall of Chartism and the influence of Irish radical politician Feargus O'Connor.

The Co-operative Movement
www.cottontimes.co.uk/co-op.htm
Part of the Cotton Times website, this article charts the co-operative movement in Britain from its beginnings in Rochdale in 1844.

Emancipation of Women 1750-1920
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/women.htm
A website directed at schools containing biographies of key figures in the history of the British women's movement, plus information on pressure groups, strategy and tactics, and parliamentary reform acts.

James Keir Hardie (1856-1915)
http://scotlandvacations.com/hardie.htm
Surprisingly good biography of the creator of the Independent Labour Party on a Scottish tourism site.

Legal milestones for women 1832-1928
http://members.tripod.co.uk/
HastingsHistory/19/legal.htm

An overview of legislation related to women's legal status.

London, 13 November 1887
http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/
sr224/charlton.htm

Article by John Charlton in the Socialist Review on the events of 'Bloody Sunday' and the lessons learned by the participants.

Marx and Engels Internet Archive
www.marxists.org/archive/marx/index.htm
Comprehensive resource of the writings of Marx, Engels and many other Marxist writers of the 1800s.

Millicent Garrett Fawcett
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/
WfawcettM.htm

A short biography of the doyenne of the British female suffragist movement.

Newport Rising: The Chartists are coming
http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/
sr235/knight.htm

A Socialist Review article by Phil Knight, commemorating the 'Red Letter Day' of the rising and giving a brief history of Chartism.

The Struggle for Democracy
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/
citizenship/struggle_democracy/citizenship3.htm

This website from the National Archive takes in the anti-slavery movement, Chartism, child labour, and a local history case study on Birmingham. Lots of original documents.

History of Toynbee Hall
www.toynbeehall.org.uk/page.asp?section=
00010001000100010002&pagetitle=History
+of+Toynbee+Hall

Interesting website describing the origins and effects of the settlement in London's East End, which brought 'the most privileged – the future élite – to live in the poorest area of London, a privilege for which they had to pay'.

The Working Class Movement Library
www.wcml.org.uk
A unique national collection on the history of British labour and radical movements.

Books

Book coverAristocratic Women and Political Society in Victorian Britain by K D Reynolds (Oxford University Press, 1998)
Examines the contribution made by women to the public culture of the British aristocracy in the 19th century, challenging the view that power and authority were predominantly masculine attributes and showing that a partnership of authority between men and women was integral to aristocratic life.
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Book coverDefining the Victorian Nation: Class, race, gender and the British Reform Act of 1867 by Catherine Hall and Jane Rendall (Cambridge University Press, 2000)
The authors demonstrate that the Reform Act of 1867 was marked not only by extensive controversy about the extension of the vote, but also by new concepts of masculinity and the masculine voter, the beginnings of the movement for women's suffrage, and a parallel debate about the meanings and forms of national belonging.
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Book coverJohn Stuart Mill: Autobiography edited by John Robson (Penguin, 1989)
Mill's own life story, edited by the general editor of 25 volumes of the work of this prolific journalist, brilliant logician, philosopher, liberal MP and a pioneer of women's suffrage.
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Book coverThe Last Rising: The Newport Chartist insurrection of 1839 by David J V Jones (University of Wales Press, 1999)
This book details the full story of the rising, its origins and its aftermath, and analyses the profound impact that armed insurrection had on the social and political climate of the period. It also considers the response of the government and propertied classes – from the special commission that condemned three of the leaders to death, to the new interest in paternalism and the political concessions that were designed to prevent the rising's recurrence.
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Book coverOne Hand Tied Behind Us: Rise of the women's suffrage movement edited by Jill Norris (Rivers Oram Press, 2000)
Centred around the textile industry were large numbers of women who were active in the trade union and labour movement. They gained the respect and support of those men who would have to be influenced if the vote was to be won. This book contains unpublished material and interviews with the last surviving suffragists and those who saw their work at first-hand.
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Book coverThe Pankhursts by Martin Pugh (Penguin, 2002)
Provides a full account of the lives of the founders of the British suffragette movement: Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel, Sylvia and Adela. The book draws on original research, building together a portrait of the triumphs and tragedies of this exceptional family.
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Book coverThe Subjection of Women: Contemporary responses to John Stuart Mill edited by Andrew Pyle (St Augustine's Press, 1995)
First published in 1869, Mill's Subjection of Women observed that half the population was denied the most elementary legal and political rights. This volume features a collection of responses to his polemical work, many of them from women intellectuals of the period.
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Book coverVotes for Women edited by June Purvis and Sandra Holton (Routledge, 1999)
Charts the history of the movement in Britain from the 19th century to the post-war period, assessing important figures such as Emmeline Pankhurst and the militant wing; Millicent Garrett Fawcett, leader of the constitutional wing; and Jennie Baines and her link with the international suffrage movements.
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Class and customsDividerIndustrial might
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