Buildings in Oxford play an important part in suffrage history, not only in architectural terms but through the events which took place inside and outside their walls.

The Town Hall - The suffragists and the anti-suffragists used the main hall and assembly room frequently.  The inaugural meeting of the anti-suffragists was held here on 8 February 1909.  The Countess of Jersey pledged that the movement would resist ‘by every means in its power the proposal to extend the parliamentary suffrage to women’. 

The Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU or suffragettes) and the Oxford Women’s Suffrage Society (OWSS) held a meeting here on 18 August 1909, addressed by Maude Royden, a frequent speaker in Oxford.   This was followed by a suffragette meeting addressed by their leader, Mrs Pankhurst.  Many meetings at the Town Hall were disrupted by the suffragettes, the last one being in 1914 when they threw purple, green and white handbills (the WSPU colours) and shouted ‘Justice or Death’ as a Labour MP was addressing a Bethnal Green Settlement meeting.

Christ Church Cathedral - The interior contains monuments and stained glass windows dedicated to women.  They include St Frideswide, Oxford’s patron saint, with sceptre and book, which was used in the design of the first Oxford suffrage banner and carried in national and local demonstrations.  The Bishop of Oxford between 1911 and 1919, the Right Reverend Charles Gore (1853-1932) was an active supporter of the Church League for Women’s Suffrage.  In 1913 he signed a petition with other leading clergy protesting against the force-feeding of suffragettes.

Pillar Box At Carfax Tower - In 1913 the suffragettes launched their national pillar box campaign.  On February 15 1913 nine pillar boxes in the city centre were damaged with green fluid and printer’s fluid, and a hundred letters were destroyed.  This was followed by an incident on May 8 when the pillar box at Carfax was found daubed with the message ‘Down with Lloyd George!!!’ in green paint.  When it was opened an envelope burst into flames.  Cotton wool soaked in an inflammable substance and some fragments of glass were found.  The final action came on November 17 when a hundred letters were destroyed at other sites in the city.

Taken from 'Women On The March' by Katherine Bradley.

Published by the Oxford International Women's Collective.