Importation of Plumage (Prohibition) Act 1921

Last updated

Importation of Plumage (Prohibition) Act 1921
Act of Parliament
Coat of arms of the United Kingdom (1901-1952).svg
Long title An Act to prohibit the importation of Plumage.
Citation 11 & 12 Geo. 5. c. 16
Introduced by Lord Avebury (Lords)
Territorial extent United Kingdom
Dates
Royal assent 1 July 1921
Commencement 1 April 1922
Other legislation
Repealed by Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act 1976
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Importation of Plumage (Prohibition) Act, (11 & 12 Geo. 5. c. 16) known also as the Plumage Act 1908, is an act of United Kingdom legislation passed in 1921. It had been proposed to the UK Parliament in 1908 as the Plumage Bill and was the subject of determined campaigning by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Large amounts of plumage (birds' feathers) had been used to decorate women's hats, and a campaign against this "Murderous millinery" had been waged since the 1880s. [1] [2]

History

The bill was presented to the House of Lords in 1908 by Lord Avebury, and was passed by the Lords on 21 July. It was read in the House of Commons the next day, but did not proceed because of a lack of time. [1] :179 It came to the Commons again in 1913, had two readings, and was again set aside, apparently because of "trade interests". Gertrude Ansell, a 52-year-old businesswoman and suffragette, reacted by smashing a window of the Home Office as a protest and was jailed for a month. [1] :219 During the First World War, feathers were among the luxury items whose import was banned in February 1917, but only for the duration of the war. [1] :247

In July 1919, Etta Lemon and the Duchess of Portland delivered a letter signed by 150 men, including celebrities such as H. G. Wells and Thomas Hardy, to the president of the Board of Trade, Sir Auckland Geddes, asking that the war-time restriction on the importation of plumage should be continued until legislation was passed. Geddes replied that the import restriction would continue "as long as possible" and that he "hoped" that the bill would be passed early in 1920. [1] :256–7

In July 1920, Henry William Massingham, editor of The Nation , wrote a column about the bill's lack of success, pointing out that the much-prized egret feathers were obtained by shooting birds that had chicks on their nests, and asking "But what do women care? Look at Regent Street this morning". This provoked Virginia Woolf to write a strong piece, published in the Woman's Leader , in which she painted pictures of the crowds of feather-wearing ladies in Regent Street and of the cruelty of the slaughter of the birds, but pointed out that it was men who were the bird-hunters and men who were 66 of the 67 members of Standing Committee C which had on five occasions failed to produce a quorum of 20 members for a discussion of the bill. "The Plumage Bill is for all practical purposes dead. But what do men care?". [1] :257–60

When Nancy Astor took her seat in the Commons in December 1919, she took up the cause of the Plumage Bill and a parliamentary group was formed to support it; the bill passed into law on 1 July 1921. Although it forbade the import of plumage, it did not control the sale or wearing of it, and Etta Lemon wrote in the RSPB annual report that "It is impossible to say that the Act is a wholly satisfactory one". [1] :261–2

The Act was the subject of debate in the House of Lords in May 1928, following a proposal to amend it. [3] It was further debated in the Commons in March 1936, when it was alleged, and disputed, that bird skins were still being smuggled into the country, [4] and on several other occasions. [5]

It was suspended by the Import of Goods (Control) Amendment Order 1954. [6]

It was repealed by Section 13 of the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act 1976. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949</span> United Kingdom legislation establishing the supremacy of the House of Commons

The Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 are two Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which form part of the constitution of the United Kingdom. Section 2(2) of the Parliament Act 1949 provides that the two Acts are to be construed as one.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Railways Act 1921</span> Legislation rationalising the British Railway System

The Railways Act 1921, also known as the Grouping Act, was an Act of Parliament enacted by the British government and intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four large companies dubbed the "Big Four". This was intended to move the railways away from internal competition, and retain some of the benefits which the country had derived from a government-controlled railway during and after the Great War of 1914–1918. The provisions of the Act took effect from the start of 1923.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which creates an offence in England and Wales of inciting hatred against a person on the grounds of their religion. The Act was the Labour Government's third attempt to bring in this offence: provisions were originally included as part of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Bill in 2001, but were dropped after objections from the House of Lords. The measure was again brought forward as part of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill in 2004-5, but was again dropped in order to get the body of that Bill passed before the 2005 general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006 (LRRA) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was enacted to replace the Regulatory Reform Act 2001 (RRA). The Act was and remains very controversial, because of a perception that it is an Enabling Act substantially removing the ancient British constitutional restriction on the Executive introducing and altering laws without assent or scrutiny by Parliament, and it has been called the "Abolition of Parliament Act".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual Offences Act 1967</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Sexual Offences Act 1967 is an act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It legalised homosexual acts in England and Wales, on the condition that they were consensual, in private and between two men who had attained the age of 21. The law was extended to Scotland by the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980 and to Northern Ireland by the Homosexual Offences Order 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Road Traffic Act 1930</span> British legislation

The Road Traffic Act 1930 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom introduced by the Minister of Transport Herbert Morrison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arms Act 1983</span>

In New Zealand, the Arms Act 1983 is the primary statute controlling the possession and use of firearms and air guns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Act of Parliament (UK)</span> Primary legislation in the United Kingdom

An Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom is primary legislation passed by the UK Parliament in Westminster, London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Section 28</span> Former British anti-homosexuality law

Section 28 or Clause 28 was a legislative designation for a series of laws across Britain that prohibited the "promotion of homosexuality" by local authorities. Introduced by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government, it was in effect from 1988 to 2000 in Scotland and from 1988 to 2003 in England and Wales. It caused many organisations such as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender student support groups to close, limit their activities or self-censor.

The Weeks–McLean Act was a law of the United States sponsored by Representative John W. Weeks (R) of Massachusetts and Senator George P. McLean (R) of Connecticut that prohibited the spring hunting and marketing of migratory birds and the importation of wild bird feathers for women's fashion, ending what was called "millinery murder". It gave the Secretary of Agriculture the power to set hunting seasons nationwide, making it the first U.S. law ever passed to regulate the shooting of migratory birds. It became effective on 4 March 1913 but, because of a constitutional weakness, was later replaced by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbados Independence Act 1966</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Barbados Independence Act 1966 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that granted independence to Barbados with effect from 30 November 1966. The Act also provided for the granting of a new constitution to take effect upon independence, which was done by the Barbados Independence Order 1966.

Canadian liquor plebiscites, held in 1920 under the Canada Temperance Act and the Dominion Elections Act, were referendums on the strengthening of the Prohibition measures in effect in several provinces of Canada. Voters were asked if they supported banning of importation of liquor across provincial boundaries. The referendums were held on July 10, 1920, in New Brunswick; on October 20 in British Columbia; and on October 25 in Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and Saskatchewan.

The federation of Stoke-on-Trent was the 1910 amalgamation of the six Staffordshire Potteries towns of Burslem, Tunstall, Stoke-upon-Trent, Hanley, Fenton and Longton into the single county borough of Stoke-on-Trent. The federation was one of the largest mergers of local authorities, involving the greatest number of previously separate urban authorities, to take place in England between the nineteenth century and the 1960s. The 1910 federation was the culmination of a process of urban growth and municipal change that started in the early 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Increased Penalties Act</span> Prohibition-era US federal law

The Increased Penalties Act was a bill that increased the penalties for violating prohibition. Enacted on March 2, 1929, it is also called the "Jones–Stalker Act" or the "Jones Act". The legislation was sponsored by two Republicans, Sen. Wesley L. Jones of Washington and Rep. Gale H. Stalker of upstate New York State. It stipulated that wherever any penalty was prescribed for the illegal manufacture, sale, transportation, importation, or exportation of intoxicating liquor as defined in the Volstead Act of 1919, the penalty imposed for each such offense should be a fine not to exceed $10,000 or imprisonment not to exceed five years, or both. The Act did not repeal any minimum penalties then prescribed by law. It further declared that it was the intent of Congress that the courts, in sentencing offenders, "should discriminate between casual or slight violations and habitual sales of intoxicating liquor, or attempts to commercialize violations of the law."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Etta Lemon</span> English bird conservationist (1860–1953)

Margaretta "Etta" Louisa Lemon was an English bird conservationist and a founding member of what is now the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). She was born into an evangelical Christian family in Kent, and after her father's death she increasingly campaigned against the use of plumage in hatmaking which had led to billions of birds being killed for their feathers. She founded the Fur, Fin and Feather Folk with Eliza Phillips in Croydon in 1889, which two years later merged with Emily Williamson's Manchester-based Society for the Protection of Birds (SPB), also founded in 1889. The new organisation adopted the SPB title, and the constitution for the merged society was written by Frank Lemon, who became its legal adviser. Etta married Frank Lemon in 1892, and as Mrs Lemon she became the first honorary secretary of the SPB, a post she kept until 1904, when the society became the RSPB.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018</span> United Kingdom legislation

The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to repeal the European Communities Act 1972, and for parliamentary approval to be required for any withdrawal agreement negotiated between the Government of the United Kingdom and the European Union. Initially proposed as the Great Repeal Bill, its passage through both Houses of Parliament was completed on 20 June 2018 and it became law by Royal Assent on 26 June.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act 2017</span> United Kingdom legislation

The European Union Act 2017 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to empower the Prime Minister to give to the Council of the European Union the formal notice – required by Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union – for starting negotiations for the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union. It was passed following the result of the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum held on 23 June in which 51.9% of voters voted to leave the European Union.

<i>Mrs Pankhursts Purple Feather</i> 2018 history book about bird protection

Mrs Pankhurst's Purple Feather: Fashion, Fury and Feminism – Women's Fight for Change is a 2018 book by Tessa Boase about Etta Lemon and her campaign against the use of feathers in millinery which led to the foundation of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. This campaign is compared and contrasted to Emmeline Pankhurst's campaign for women's suffrage in Britain, which it pre-dated. Ironically Etta Lemon was an anti-suffragist and anti-feminist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019</span> United Kingdom legislation

The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019, commonly referred to as the Cooper–Letwin Act, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made provisions for extensions to the period defined under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union related to the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union. It was introduced to the House of Commons by Labour MP Yvette Cooper and Conservative MP Sir Oliver Letwin on 3 April 2019, in an unusual process where the Government of the United Kingdom did not have control over Commons business that day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Offensive Weapons Act 2019</span> United Kingdom law

The Offensive Weapons Act 2019 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act addresses crimes related to acid attacks ; knife crime prevention orders; the sale of, delivery and possession of knives and other offensive weapons; and introduced further restrictions on firearms. It was introduced to Parliament as a government bill by Sajid Javid and Baroness Williams of Trafford of the Home Office.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Boase, Tessa (2018). Mrs Pankhurst's Purple Feather . Aurum Press. ISBN   978-1-78131-654-2.
  2. Patchett, Merle (2011). "Murderous Millinery". Fashioning Feathers. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  3. "Importation of Plumage (Prohibition) Act, 1921, Amendment (no. 2) Bill". Hansard. 8 May 1928. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  4. "Importation of Plumage (Prohibition) Act, 1921, Amendment". Hansard. 25 May 1936. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  5. "Importation of Plumage (Prohibition) Act 1921 (index of debates and written questions)". Hansard. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  6. "SI 1954: 627: Importation of Goods (Control) (Amendment) Order 1954" (PDF). HMSO. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  7. "Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act 1976". legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 30 June 2021.