ED's involvement with the sufrrage campaign can be split 1865-67 and 1890-1918. Her early involvement included active support for J S Mill's campaign of 1865 for electoral reform and extension of the franchise to women. She went on to form a committee (of which she was secretary) to draft a petition in support of the franchise, which was presented 7 June 1866. After the work of the petition she became disenchanted with the more radical members of the suffrage committee, feeling that they did the cause no good by their extremism. She made a decision at this point to concentrate single mindedly on the establishment of Girton College and remained silent on the issue until the end of the century when she was confident that the College was firmly established. In 1890 she joined the Executive Committee for the National Society for Women's Suffrage and from that time on was an active worker publishing articles, including some in the Girton Review.