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Today is the 99th anniversary of something remarkable happening: on 28 December 1918 the first woman MP was elected to the House of Commons. She was an Irishwoman, a nationalist, a revolutionary & a suffragette: Constance Markievicz, ‘the Rebel Countess.’ (Thread - a long one)
The general election of Dec 1918 was the 1st general election at which women could vote (only if aged over 30: Rep’n of People Act, Royal Assent in Feb) & also in which women could stand (incongruously, women aged 21+: Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act, Royal Assent in Nov)
3/ Constance Markievicz stood for election from Holloway Prison. Her gender was the only reason she could do so:she’d been sentenced to death for her part in 1916 Easter Rising but this was commuted as she was a woman.Her response:”I do wish your lot had the decency to shoot me”
4/ Of 1,623 candidates in Dec 1918 general election, only 17 were women & only one, Markievicz, succeeded. However,she never took her seat. She was one of 72 Sinn Féin MPs;all followed an abstentionist policy, not recognising the validity of Westminster’s jurisdiction in Ireland
5/ Markievicz is a key figure in the 20th century history curriculum in Irish schools, but seems to be ignored in England at least despite her key role as 1st female MP. She gets a passing,& misleading,reference in a 2010 House of Commons paper on ‘Women in the House of Commons’:
6/ This paper says she “never campaigned for women’s rights” & describes it as “ironic” that she was elected when many suffragettes were not http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-information-office/m04.pdf Bunkum. Markievicz joined the NUWSS in 1892 when a student in London & had campaigned for women’s suffrage for yrs.
7/ For example, in April 1908 she campaigned alongside other suffragists (including her sister, Eva Gore-Booth) to oppose Winston Churchill’s re-election in Manchester North West by-election, as he failed to support legislation which provided for votes for women. (Almost there!)
8/ There’s a rather fantastic story abt Markievicz riding a coach & four into the constituency as a stunt to highlight Churchill’s failure to support women voting.A male heckler from the crowd asked her if she could cook a dinner & she replied,”Yes. Can you drive a coach & four?”
9/9 Constance Markievicz did many remarkable & controversial things before & after 28 Dec 1908, not touched on in this thread. I’ve posted this today because her achievement 99 years ago should be remembered & respected.It was a landmark day for women’s rights in the UK & Ireland
