{{Short description|British suffragist organization (1914–1918)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} The '''United Suffragists''' was a women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom.
== History == The group was founded on 6 February 1914, by former members and supporters of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). In contrast to the WSPU, it admitted men,<ref name=":0" /> and it also admitted non-militant suffragists.<ref name="crawford">Elizabeth Crawford, ''The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866-1928'', p.694</ref>
Founder members of the United Suffragists included Louisa Garrett Anderson, H. J. Gillespie, Gerald Gould, Agnes Harben, Bertha Brewster and Henry Devenish Harben, Bessie Lansbury, George Lansbury, Mary Neal, Emmeline Pethick Lawrence, Julia Scurr and John Scurr, Evelyn Sharp,<ref name="crawford" /> and Edith Ayrton.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |url=http://spartacus-educational.com/WzangwillE.htm |title=Edith Zangwill |work=Spartacus Educational |access-date=2017-11-06}}</ref> Louise Eates and Lena Ashwell also became members in 1914,<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Atkinson |first=Diane |title=Rise up, women! : the remarkable lives of the suffragettes |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2018 |isbn=9781408844045 |location=London |pages=535 |oclc=1016848621}}</ref> and Ellen Smith who was in the Fabian Society,<ref>{{Cite journal |date=April 1915 |title=Biographies of new candidates |journal=Fabian News}}</ref> like H. J. Gillespie, who was the United Suffragists treasurer.<ref name="crawford" /> Maud Arncliffe Sennett became its first vice-president.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mrs Alice Maud Mary Arncliffe-Sennett / Database - Women's Suffrage Resources |url=https://www.suffrageresources.org.uk/database/1534/mrs-alice-maud-mary-arncliffe-sennett |access-date=2021-01-03 |website=www.suffrageresources.org.uk}}</ref>
Louisa Garrett Anderson was in the Edinburgh branch, and another branch was in Liverpool,<ref name=":1" /> supported by Patricia Woodlock.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Crawford |first=Elizabeth |author-link=Elizabeth Crawford (historian) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uUrKCVn9VZkC&q=Mary+Patricia+Woodlock&pg=PA18 |title=The Women's Suffrage Movement in Britain and Ireland: A Regional Survey |date=2013-04-15 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-01054-5 |language=en}}</ref> Helen Crawfurd formed a branch in Glasgow in 1915.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Suffrage in Glasgow |date=30 July 1915 |work=Votes for Women}}</ref> Labour Party members Annie Somers and Hope Squire were also active in the organisation,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Røstvik |first1=Camilla Mørk |last2=Sutherland |first2=Ella Louise |title=Suffragette Legacy: How Does the History of Feminism Inspire Current Thinking in Manchester |publisher=Cambridge Scholars |year=2015 |location=Newcastle |page=8 |isbn=9781443880336 |oclc=921166816}}</ref> and Mary Phillips worked with them during 1915 and 1916, and continued to develop with the Suffragette Fellowship and Six Point Group.<ref name=":1" /> Lilian Hicks was a former WSPU militant activist who became secretary of the Hampstead branch.<ref name="crawford" />
The United Suffragists organisation adopted ''Votes for Women'' as its newspaper; as this was run by Pethick-Lawrence and had formerly been associated with the WSPU, with Evelyn Sharp as its main editor.
Unlike the WSPU, United Suffragists continued to campaign through World War I, and although its newspaper circulation dropped, the organisation itself gradually attracted more members from both former WPSU as well as from the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).<ref name="crawford" />
With the introduction of women's suffrage in 1918, the group dissolved itself, after holding a victory celebration, and also participating in the NUWSS celebrations, and discontinued its newspaper.<ref name="crawford" />
==References== <references />
Category:Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom Category:1914 establishments in the United Kingdom Category:1918 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Category:Defunct feminist organisations in the United Kingdom Category:Political organizations established in 1914 Category:Organizations disestablished in 1918 Category:First-wave feminism in the United Kingdom