{{Short description|British politician and suffragist}} thumb|right|Alison Garland '''Alison Vickers Garland''' (10 April 1862 – 26 September 1939), was a suffragist and British Liberal Party politician.

==Background== Garland was born in Birkenhead in 1862.<ref name="refBook">{{cite book |last1=Crawford |first1=Elizabeth |title=The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, 1866-1928 |date=1999 |publisher=UCL Press |isbn=1-84142-031-X |page=236}}</ref> She was the second daughter of Alfred Stephen Garland, master silversmith and Isabella Priestley of Grovefield, Birkenhead.<ref>The Times House of Commons 1929</ref>

==Political career== Garland was involved in various political groups. She was a member of the executive committee of the Union of Practical Suffragists in 1897. In 1899, she was elected as the president of the Devon Union of the Women's Liberal Associations. Also in 1899, she was the delegate from the British Indian Parliamentary Committee that was sent to the Indian National Congress in Lucknow.<ref name="refBook" />

She rose to prominence in the Liberal Party, firstly as President of Tavistock Women's Liberal Association. In 1904 she became a member of the executive of the Women's National Liberal Federation.<ref>The Times House of Commons 1929</ref> She was also an active member of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, the leading mass organisation campaigning for Votes for Women. In 1908 she joined the Women's Liberals Forward Suffrage Union, a successor organisation to the Union of Practical Suffragists. In 1911, she was part of this group that met with Liberal Government leaders H. H. Asquith and David Lloyd George to discuss the introduction of Votes for Women.<ref>Mark Pottle, ‘Garland, Alison Vickers (1862–1939)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/56231, accessed 26 Dec 2013]</ref> Despite her prominence in the Liberal Party and in the Suffrage movement, she never secured a candidacy in Tavistock or any promising constituency for a Liberal candidate. She was Liberal candidate for the Portsmouth South Division of Hampshire at the 1918 General Election. She had the support of Liberal Party Leader H. H. Asquith but not that of the Coalition Prime Minister David Lloyd George who endorsed her Unionist opponent; {{Election box begin | |title=General Election 1918: Portsmouth South<ref>British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig</ref> }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Unionist Party (UK) |candidate = Herbert Robin Cayzer |votes = 15,842 |percentage = 68.3 |change = n/a }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Liberal Party (UK) |candidate = '''Miss Alison Vickers Garland''' |votes = 4,283 |percentage = 18.5 |change = n/a }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Labour Party (UK) |candidate = J. Lacey |votes = 3,070 |percentage = 13.2 |change = n/a }} {{Election box majority| |votes = 11,559 |percentage = 49.8 |change = n/a }} {{Election box turnout| |votes = |percentage = |change = n/a }} {{Election box win |winner = Unionist Party (UK) |swing = }} {{Election box end}} She was Liberal candidate for the Dartford Division of Kent at the 1922 General Election. Again, she lacked the support of Lloyd George, whose candidate gained the seat; {{Election box begin | |title=General Election 1922: Dartford<ref>British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig</ref> }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = National Liberal Party (UK, 1922) |candidate = George William Symonds Jarrett |votes = 16,662 |percentage = 49.6 |change = n/a }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Labour Party (UK) |candidate = John Edmund Mills |votes = 14,744 |percentage = 43.9 |change = +6.3 }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Liberal Party (UK) |candidate = '''Miss Alison Vickers Garland''' |votes = 2,175 |percentage = 6.5 |change = -10.3 }} {{Election box majority| |votes = 1,918 |percentage = 5.7 |change = }} {{Election box turnout| |votes = |percentage = 71.2 |change = }} {{Election box hold with party link| |winner = National Liberal Party (UK, 1922) |loser = Labour Party (UK) |swing = n/a }} {{Election box end}} She did not contest either the 1923 or 1924 General Elections. In July 1924, at the women's international housing congress at Caxton Hall, she identified a lack of tradesmen as a factor in the housing shortage in Britain.<ref>Mark Pottle, ‘Garland, Alison Vickers (1862–1939)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/56231, accessed 26 Dec 2013]</ref> Early in 1929 she was approached by Barrow Liberal Association to be their prospective parliamentary candidate but declined.<ref>Aberdeen Journal, 18 Feb 1929</ref> She was instead Liberal candidate for the unpromising Warrington Division of Lancashire at the 1929 General Election; {{Election box begin | |title=General Election 1929: Warrington<ref>British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig</ref> }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Labour Party (UK) |candidate = Charles Dukes |votes = 21,610 |percentage = 50.6 |change = }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Unionist Party (UK) |candidate = Noel Barre Goldie |votes = 18,025 |percentage = 42.2 |change = }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Liberal Party (UK) |candidate = '''Miss Alison Vickers Garland''' |votes = 3,070 |percentage = 7.2 |change = }} {{Election box majority| |votes = 3,585 |percentage = 8.4 |change = }} {{Election box turnout| |votes = |percentage = |change = }} {{Election box gain with party link| |winner = Labour Party (UK) |loser = Unionist Party (UK) |swing = }} {{Election box end}} She did not stand for parliament again.<ref>British parliamentary election results 1885-1918, Craig, F.W.S.</ref> However, she continued to speak for the Liberal Party around the country. She was President of the Women's National Liberal Federation from 1934-36. On 11 May 1937 she was awarded the OBE for political and public services.<ref>The London Gazette, 14 May 1937</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

== Further reading == * Biography - Women's Suffrage Movement by Elizabeth Crawford - Page 236

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garland, Alison Vickers}} Category:1862 births Category:1939 deaths Category:Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Category:Bishops of Birkenhead