{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Conciliation bills''' were bills proposing to introduce women's suffrage in the United Kingdom subject to a property qualification, which would have given just over a million wealthy women the right to vote in parliamentary elections. Three Conciliation bills were put before the House of Commons, in 1910, 1911, and 1912, but each failed.
After the January 1910 election, the '''Parliamentary Franchise (Women) Bill''' was drafted by a '''Conciliation Committee for Woman Suffrage''', ultimately comprising 54 Members of Parliament (MPs — 25 Liberal, 17 Conservative, 6 Labour and 6 Irish nationalist<ref>{{multiref| {{cite book |last1=Pankhurst |first1=E. Sylvia |authorlink=Sylvia Pankhurst |title=The Suffragette: The History of the Women's Militant Suffrage Movement 1905–1910 |via=Project Gutenberg |date=May 1911 |publisher=Sturgis & Walton |location=New York |page=490 |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/54955/54955-h/54955-h.htm#Page_490 |language=en}}| {{cite web |last1=Poffinberger |first1=Alice |title=Henry Noel Brailsford letters, probably 1911 |url=https://archives.lib.duke.edu/catalog/brailsfordhenrynoel |website=David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library |publisher=Duke University |access-date=23 April 2025 |language=en |date=June 2018}} }}</ref>), with Lord Lytton as chair and H. N. Brailsford as secretary.<ref name=":0">"Woman Suffrage", ''The Times'', 27 May 1910, p. 10.</ref><ref>Leventhal 1985 p.{{nbsp}}75</ref> While the minority Liberal government of H. H. Asquith supported the bill, a number of backbenchers, both Conservative and Liberal, did not, fearing that it would damage their parties' success in general elections. Some pro-suffrage groups rejected the bills because they only gave the vote to propertied women; some MPs rejected them because they did not want any women to have the right to vote. Liberals also opposed the bills because they believed that the women whom the bills would enfranchise were more likely to vote Conservative than Liberal.
==Conciliation Bill 1910== Prime Minister Asquith agreed to give the bill parliamentary time after pressure from the Cabinet. The bill passed its first reading. It passed a second reading on 12 July by 320 votes to 175.<ref>"Woman Suffrage", ''The Times'', 13 July 1910, p. 9.</ref> However, for committee stage it was referred to a Committee of the Whole House rather than to a public bill committee, which in effect meant it would never be passed within the parliamentary session. Further parliamentary progress became impossible on 18 November 1910, when Asquith announced a dissolution of parliament for 28 November and ensuing general election in December. The Women's Social and Political Union (WPSU) saw this as a betrayal, and their protest march later on 18 November became known as Black Friday.
==Conciliation Bill 1911== The Second Conciliation Bill was debated on 5 May 1911 and won a majority of 255 to 88 as a Private Members Bill.<ref>"Parliament, House of Commons, Friday, May 5. Private Business. Women’s Enfranchisement Bill", ''The Times'', 6 May 1911, p. 14.</ref> The bill was promised a week of government time. However, in November Asquith announced that he was in favour of a manhood suffrage bill and that suffragists could suggest and propose an amendment that would allow some women to vote.<ref>"Manhood Suffrage. Government Bill Next Session. Statement By Mr Asquith.", ''The Times'', 8 November 1911, p. 8.</ref> On 21 November 1911, the WPSU carried out an "official window smash" along Whitehall and Fleet Street; its targets included the offices of the ''Daily Mail'' and the ''Daily News'' and the official residences or homes of leading Liberal politicians. The bill was consequently dropped.
==Conciliation Bill 1912== The Parliamentary Franchise (Women) Bill was again introduced on 19 February 1912 and set down for Second Reading on 22 March,<ref>''[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1912/feb/19/parliamentary-franchise-women-bill Hansard]'', HC 5ser vol 34 cols 305-6</ref> although the debate was later delayed to 29 March. However this time the bill was defeated by 208 to 222.<ref>''[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1912/mar/28/parliamentary-franchise-women-bill#S5CV0036P0_19120328_HOC_357 Hansard]'', HC 5ser vol 36 col 728-31</ref> The reason for the defeat was that the Irish Parliamentary Party believed that a debate over votes for women would be used to prevent Irish Home Rule. However, the WPSU blamed Asquith, as the eight members of the Government who had voted against the bill would have overturned the result had they voted the other way.<ref>"The Conciliation Bill Rejection", ''The Times'', 1 April 1912, p. 6.</ref>
A Franchise and Registration Bill, for universal manhood suffrage, was introduced in 1912. On 27 January 1913, James Lowther, the Speaker, ruled that amendments relating to women's franchise were out of order, and the bill was withdrawn.<ref>Leventhal 1985 p.{{nbsp}}90</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Franchise and Registration Bill — Women Suffrage Amendments |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1913/jan/27/women-suftoage-amendments |website=Hansard |publisher=UK Parliament |access-date=23 April 2025 |pages=ser 5 vol 47 cc1019–1091 |no-pp=y |date=27 January 1913}}</ref>
==See also== * Representation of the People Act 1918 - included partial enfranchisement of UK women * Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928 - included full enfranchisement of UK women
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== ; Primary {|class="wikitable" |+ !rowspan="2"| Name of bill !rowspan="2"| Text of bill<br>{{small|(Parliamentary sessional papers)}} !colspan="2"| Proceedings relating to the bill |- ! ''Hansard'' ! ''House of Commons Journals'' |- ! Parliamentary Franchise (Women) Bill 1910 | [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951d01840919i&seq=337 HC 1910 iv (180) 325] | [https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/bills/parliamentary-franchise-women-bill#:~:text=1910 Index 1] [https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1910/jul/29/adjournment-winter-sittings#S5CV0019P0_19100729_HOC_189 2] [https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1910/jun/23/parliamentary-enfranchisement-of-women 3] | [https://assets.parliament.uk/Journals/HCJ_volume_165.pdf#page=414 HCJ vol 165] pp. 172, 186, 204, 211, 225, 229, 236, 258, 261, 279, 286 |- ! Women's Enfranchisement Bill 1911 | [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951d01840925n&seq=931 HC 1911 v (164) 923] | [https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/bills/womens-enfranchisement-bill#:~:text=1911 Index 1] [https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1911/may/31/womens-suffrage#S5CV0026P0_19110531_HOC_403 2] | [https://assets.parliament.uk/Journals/HCJ_volume_166.pdf#page=681 HCJ vol 166] pp. 20, 196, 203, 214, 223, 261 |- ! Parliamentary Franchise (Women) Bill 1912 | [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951d01840929f&seq=217 HC 1912-13 iv (3) 201] | [https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/bills/parliamentary-franchise-women-bill#:~:text=1912 Index] | [https://assets.parliament.uk/Journals/HCJ_volume_167.pdf#page=682 HCJ vol 167] pp. 17, 78, 87 |}
;Secondary: * {{cite book |last1=Leventhal |first1=F. M. |title=The Last Dissenter: H.N. Brailsford and His World |date=1985 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-820055-0 |pages=67–91 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lCmjhNy_xzYC&pg=PA67 |language=en |chapter=Conciliation Committee (1909–1913) }} * {{cite book |last1=Pankhurst |first1=Christabel |author-link=Christabel Pankhurst |editor-last1=Pethick-Lawrence |editor-first1=Frederick |editor-link=Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, 1st Baron Pethick-Lawrence |title=Unshackled: The Story of How We Won the Vote |date=1919 |publisher=Hutchinson |location=London |pages=148–236 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.500484/page/n153 |language=en }}
Category:1910 in British law Category:Proposed laws of the United Kingdom Category:Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom Category:1911 in British law Category:1912 in British law Category:1910 in women's history Category:1911 in women's history Category:1912 in women's history Category:H. H. Asquith