Scope and Contents

Memorandum [by Walter Jerred] on the addition to the electorate which would result from a scheme to extend the franchise to women over 25 years of age who have either brought up two or more children, have university or professional qualifications, or are serving on local authorities. Partly based on census figures from New South Wales [Australia] and New Zealand. Typescript. Sent with CHAR 2/47/72.

Scope and Contents

Letter from Walter McLaren (House of Commons) to WSC urging that the Prime Minister [Herbert Asquith, later 1st Lord Oxford and Asquith] should pledge that facilities for the discussion of a women's suffrage bill will be granted for the next session. Signed typescript. Annotated that WSC will carefully consider the matter.

Scope and Contents

Memorandum from Charles Masterman [Under- Secretary of State at the Home Office] to [WSC] on the opinion of the legal adviser to the Local Government Board on letting property in order to enfranchise women occupiers.

Scope and Contents

Letter from Frank Rutter (26 Leamington Street, Manningham, Bradford, [Yorkshire]) to WSC asking him to withdraw his implication that Rutter was paid to create a disturbance in favour of women's suffrage at a meeting being addressed by WSC in Bradford.

Scope and Contents

Letter from Lord Morley [earlier John Morley] (Flowermead, Wimbledon Park, [London]) to WSC thanking him for a note and asserting that the [Liberal] party will not agree to a referendum [on women's suffrage].

Scope and Contents

Letter from Walter McLaren (House of Commons Library) to WSC appealing to him to vote for the Women's Suffrage Bill. Annotated by WSC that he will see how the Bill shapes in its progress.

Scope and Contents

Letter from Constance Lytton (15 Somerset Terrace, Duke's Road, [London]) to WSC urging him to support the Conciliation (Women's Franchise) Bill as a measure on which all parties can agree. Regrets the rift which the issue has caused between WSC and her brother 2nd Lord Lytton.

Scope and Contents

Letter from WSC (Admiralty) to "Alick" [Alexander Murray, the Master of Elibank, later Lord Murray of Elibank] warning that the Government (and with it the cause of Home Rule) will fall if it tries to push through women's suffrage and expressing incomprehension at David Lloyd George's opposition to a referendum on the issue. Copy in WSC's hand.

Scope and Contents

Letter from WSC (Admiralty) to Sir Edward Grey [later Lord Grey of Fallodon] expressing disquiet at the ardent championing of women's suffrage by Grey and David Lloyd George and urging that a referendum be held on the issue. Typescript copy.

Scope and Contents Letter from Herbert Asquith [later 1st Lord Oxford and Asquith] (Archerfield House, Dirleton, [East Lothian, Scotland]) to WSC reporting that Sir Francis Hopwood [later Lord Southborough] has declined his (Asquith's offer) and, whilst acknowledging the force of what WSC has written about the danger to the Government posed by the issue of women's suffrage, defending the Government's conduct and reserving judgement on WSC's idea of a referendum. Thinks the recent by-election results in...

Scope and Contents

Notes [whilst in Cabinet] by [WSC, David Lloyd George and Sir Edward Grey] on WSC's suggested voting qualifications for women.

Scope and Contents

Letter from "Alick" [Alexander Murray, Master of Elibank, later Lord Murray of Elibank] (Grand Hotel de Genes, Genova, [Italy]) to WSC on the Government's approach to women's suffrage, [the wish of Sir Max Aitken, later Lord Beaverbrook, to be appointed one of the British members of the Imperial Commission to investigate the trade resources of the Empire], the desire of Sir Alfred Mond [later Lord Melchett] for a Government post and the possibility of his joining WSC at the Admiralty.

Scope and Contents

Letter from Lord Curzon (Hackwood, Basingstoke, [Hampshire]) to WSC thanking him for his letter [on women's suffrage] and asking for time to consult his friends.

Scope and Contents

Letter from Lord Curzon (Hackwood, Basingstoke, [Hampshire]) pledging that he and his friends will not charge WSC with inconsistency or illogicality on women's suffrage but questioning his distinction between that measure and others such as Home Rule and pointing out the problems connected with a referendum. Signed typescript.

Scope and Contents Letter from Henry Comyns (Local Government Board) to Edward Marsh enclosing an estimate [see CHAR 2/57/93-94] by the General Register Office of the number of persons aged 25 and over on the parliamentary electoral register for England and Wales. Signed typescript. Annotated with letter from WSC to Sir Edward Grey [later Lord Grey of Fallodon] asserting that the estimate shows that the restriction of the franchise to those aged 25 and over "wd not be a violent reduction, but a perfectly...

Scope and Contents

Letter from Walter McLaren (45 Ashley Gardens, [London]) to WSC urging him not to go back on his support for women's suffrage.

Scope and Contents Letter from Walter Runciman [later Lord Runciman] (West Denton Hall, Scotswood-on-Tyne, [Northumberland]) to WSC on: disruption by suffragettes of speeches by cabinet ministers; the Tories' split over Tariff Reform; the industrious campaigning of Richard Haldane [later Lord Haldane]; reaction to Haldane's army estimates and 2nd Lord Tweedmouth's naval estimates; the introduction of old age pensions and Labour Party criticism of them; the prospect of the miners' group adhering to the Labour...

Scope and Contents

Letter from Lady Dorothy Howard (en route for Castle Howard, York) to WSC apologising for her importunate behaviour but stressing her commitment to women's rights and hoping for WSC's support.

Scope and Contents

Letter from [WSC] (Colonial Office) to [? a suffragette] on the means of debating the issue of women's suffrage. Draft in the hand of Annette Anning.

Scope and Contents

Letter from Lady Dorothy Howard (Pudsey, [Yorkshire]) to WSC disassociating herself from the "rowdyism" of the Women's Freedom League and describing the gloomy prospects for the Liberals in the Pudsey by-election. Refers to a sermon by a High Church parson on the need to carry the Athanasian creed to the blacks of central Africa.

Scope and Contents

Letter from Rosalind Carlisle (1 Palace Green, Kensington, [London]) stating that she cannot see WSC at the suggested time as she is involved with a meeting with the Liberal Women's Suffrage Committee of MPs.

Scope and Contents

Letter from Harold Tennant MP (Brooks's, St James's Street, [London]) to WSC suggesting he speak at the Liberal Colonial Club either on the hollowness of the claim that Tariff Reform would be a cure for unemployment, or women's suffrage, or colonial preference in relation to foodstuffs.

Scope and Contents

Letter from Margot Asquith [later Lady Oxford and Asquith] (Archerfield House, Dirleton, [East Lothian], Scotland) to WSC enclosing an earlier letter of her's to WSC [see CHAR 2/36/39] and reporting that she has been cheered by the good reports she has received about Herbert Asquith [later Lord Oxford and Asquith]. Refers to David Lloyd George's speech [?about women's suffrage].

Scope and Contents

Letter from J W S Callie, secretary of the Financial Reform Association (18 Hackins Hey, Liverpool) to Eliot Crawshay Williams enclosing copies of the Financial Reformer [see CHAR 2/38/18-19] and describing the history and policy of the Association. Refers to the Association's efforts to exclude suffragettes from the forthcoming meeting in Kensington, [London]. Signed typescript.

Scope and Contents

Letter from Lady Dorothy Howard (1 Palace Green, Kensington, [London]) to WSC asking whether it is true that he will not vote for the Reform and Suffrage Bill.