WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE COLLECTION
from Manchester Central Library

Part 2: The Papers of Millicent Garrett Fawcett - sections on Women’s Suffrage,
Education, Employment, Welfare, the First World War and other Women’s Issues (M50/2-8)

In 1867 she married Henry Fawcett, Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge and MP for Brighton. This brought her into close contact with radical thinkers such as John Stuart Mill.

She was on the Executive Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage from 1867. She served as President of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) from 1897 to 1918. She was Vice-President of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance.

Besides the suffrage question, Millicent Garrett Fawcett was involved in many other causes to improve the position of women. She was one of the founders of Newnham College - there are several papers in the collection about her attempts to have women admitted to degrees (M50/3/1-3) and others which show her interest in the advancement of female education in general (M50/3/4-28). She was also concerned about conditions of employment and the formation of women's sick benefit societies.

This collection includes:

- Correspondence between leading figures of the international feminist movement, from America, Australia, Europe, Britain and New Zealand (including Carrie Chapman Catt, Lucy Stone, Emily Davies, Eva McLaren and Amy Delay).
- Her Subject Files and Minutes of the NUWSS.
- Papers of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance
- Papers of the International Council of Women, 1911-1920.
- Newspaper cuttings (1876-1911) and pamphlets on Women's Suffrage (1866-1919).
- Papers on the Men's League for Women's Suffrage, the Women's Franchise League, the Women's Freedom League and the Women's Social and Political Union.