Before the vote

In the 1600s Hackney was described as ‘The Ladies University’. By 1694 three of the thirteen well-known ladies boarding schools in the country were in Hackney.

Pioneering educators continued to be drawn to the area. In 1824 Fleetwood House, Stoke Newington became the Newington Academy for Girls, an experimental school run by Susanna Corder, which broke new ground by teaching subjects such as astronomy, chemistry and physics to girls.

It is unsurprising then that the area was home to many hugely influential women writers. These include some of the earliestchampions for the universal education of women, an idea then viewed as radical and dangerous.

Even without the parliamentary vote, Hackney women were shaping policy in education and poor relief from the late 1800s as elected representatives on school boards and as poor law guardians. Following the Qualification of Women Act 1907, women played an influential role in Hackney’s local politics, both voting and standing in local elections.

In 1910, Nettie Adler was elected as the Progressive Party candidate for the Central Hackney Division of the London County Council. The daughter of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations, she campaigned on “social questions affecting the welfare of women and children and especially in matters relating to the industrial status of women workers.”

Hannah WOOLLEY, 1623 - after 1677

“We are debar’d from the knowledge of humane learning, lest our pregnant Wits should rival the towering conceits of our insulting Lords and Masters.”

Hannah Woolley was one of the earliest and most vocal champions of women’s education, and an internationally successful author at a time when it was rare for a woman to be a professional writer.

After the death of her parents, Woolley became a teacher aged only 14. She later ran a school in Hackney with as many as sixty pupils.

She published several popular books in which she asserted the essential intellectual equality of the sexes. Woolley insisted that women were capable of the same achievements as men if given the same educational advantages.

Olive Christian Malvery, 1871 – 1914

“The first book that roused the public to shame and sympathy.”

Olive Christian Malvery was a pioneering undercover journalist and social reformer of mixed Asian and European heritage, best known for her investigations into the working conditions of poor women and children in London.

Malvery was born in what is now Pakistan. After her parents separated she was raised in India by her grandparents before moving to Britain c.1898.  She was an actively involved with 'The Girl’s Guild of Good Life' based at Hoxton Hall, and after befriending many of the poor local women was inspired to explore women’s work in various trades in London. To do this she went undercover as a flower seller, factory girl, and waitress.

The articles were eventually published together as ‘The Soul Market’. The book was a huge success. Malvery used the royalties to build two shelters for homeless women in London and went on to write another exposé on child labour.

Mary Wollstonecraft, 1759 – 1797

“The DIVINE RIGHT of husbands, like the divine right of kings, may, it is hoped, in this enlightened age, be contested without danger.”

Mary Wollstonecraft was a radical author and philosopher who challenged convention in her life and her writing. She wrote what many view as the founding text of feminism and inspired women’s suffrage campaigners, including Millicent Fawcett.

In 1783 she opened a school for girls in Newington Green with her sister and best friend. She wrote about her experiences in her first book ‘Thoughts On The Education Of Daughters’.

Wollstonecraft was an influential figure amongst the community of radical thinkers at Newington Green. In 1792 she published ‘Vindication Of The Rights of Woman’ which argued that women were not naturally inferior to men, and it was a lack of education which stopped women from fulfilling their potential. It became an instant bestseller, translated into French and German, and published in America.

The Humble Petition, c.1900-1910

“The exclusion of Women, otherwise legally qualified, from voting in the election for Members of Parliament is injurious to those from whom the vote is withheld, and contrary to the principle of just representation.”

Haggerston residents signed this petition asking for women to be given the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

A large number of people signed with an ‘X’. This may be because they could not write their name, and suggests that many local women at this time did not have access to an education.

Despite this they clearly still wished to have their views represented in national government.

Anna Letitia Barbauld, 1743 - 1825

In the late 1700s, when politics was largely regarded as a man’s concern, Anna Barbauld’s radical writings proved women’s ability to publicly engage in politics.

She attacked the international Slave Trade in her influential poem ‘Epistle to William Wilberforce…’ and took an anti-war position in ‘Sins of Government, Sins of the Nation’. She was also one of the earliest children’s authors.

Readers were often shocked to discover that her reasoned arguments were the work of a woman, and other female authors began to follow her ground-breaking example.

She moved to Stoke Newington in 1802 when her husband became minister of

Newington Green Chapel. Despite her success, Barbauld had a difficult and sometimes violent home life. In one case she had to escape the house when her husband chased her with a knife.

Votes for Women badge, early 20th century

In 1903, the ‘Votes for Women’ campaign was energised by the creation of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU).

Women at this time had been campaigning for the right to vote in British parliamentary elections for over half a century through non-violent means such as petitions. Followers of the WSPU – who became known as the suffragettes - took a more militant approach, breaking the law by trespassing and vandalising property.

Many suffragettes were sent to prison, including the owner of this badge, Gertrude Hussey, who was once imprisoned with Sylvia Pankhurst, who was one of the WSPU’s founders.

In 1918 the Representation of the People Act awarded the vote to some women over 30. Ten years later all women won the vote at 21, the same age as men.