The National Society for Women's Suffrage was the first national group in the United Kingdom to campaign for women's right to vote. Formed on 6 November 1867, by Lydia Becker, the organisation helped lay the foundations of the women's suffrage movement. [1]
Eliza Wigham, Jane Wigham, Priscilla Bright McLaren and some of their friends set up an Edinburgh chapter of this National Society. Eliza and her friend Agnes McLaren became the secretaries. [2] By 1870, branches in Scotland were in Aberdeen, Glasgow, St. Andrews and Galloway. [3]
Jacob Bright, a Liberal politician, supported by a petition from Jane Taylour of the Galloway branch and others, [4] had suggested in 1871 that it would be useful to create a London-based organisation to lobby members of parliament concerning women's suffrage. The Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage first met on 17 January 1872. [5]
The national society was furthered later by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies and the Women's Social and Political Union.[ citation needed ]
In an oral history interview with the historian, Brian Harrison, recorded as part of the Suffrage Interviews project, titled Oral evidence on the suffragette and suffragist movements: the Brian Harrison interviews, [6] the British civil servant, Mary Smieton, talked about how she benefitted from the NSWS.