AN OCTOGENARIAN SUFFRAGIST.

Manawatu Times, Volume LXV, Issue 1868, 12 March 1913, Page 2

AN OCTOGENARIAN SUFFRAGIST.

MEMORIES OF A PETITION PRESENTED IN 1866. London, January 31. Among the many distinguished women who are anxiously watching the issue of the struggle in the House of Commons over the question ot" female suffrage, none has worked longer or more arduously in the cause of the sex than Miss Emily Davies, one of the founders of Girton College, Cambridge. Although 82 years of age, Miss Davies still takes an active share in the women's movement, and has lent the dignity of her presence to mere than one of the women's processions in the last two years. She was one of a small committee which assembled in the sixties at the house of Miss Elizabeth Garrett (Mrs Garrett Anderson), and she helped to draft the petition to the House of Commons which was presented by John Stuart Mill on June 7, 1866. 3 "The petition was to have been taken by Madame Bodichon ) '' said Miss Davies to a member of the Daily News staff, "but at the last moment she was prevented from attending and Miss Garrett and I undertook it.'' There is a story that when Mr Mill arrived the ladies had to confess that, being ill at ease with their big roll'in Westminster Hall, they had hidden beneath the stall of an old apple woman near the door. Miss Davies says the general attitude towards women has changed beyond belief. "When Miss Buss and I were asked to give evidence before the Schools Inquiry Commission it was thought to be a great concession; there had even been hesitation as to whether the education of girls should be considered at all. Now women are invited to sit on Royal Commissions, and they take their seats on all kinds of committees with men. In mixed Boards of Guardians women have been selected by their men colleagues as chairmen, Forty years ago this would have been an incredible." Miss Davies ascribes the increasing body of opinion in favour of the extension of the Parliamentary vote to women largely to the admirable work done by women in local government, particularly as guardians of the poor.