Google has celebrated the 171st anniversary of suffragist Millicent Fawcett’s birthday with a Doodle.
Dame Millicent was a leading light of the woman’s suffrage movement and formed the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies in 1897. It was the largest association of its kind and a precursor to the more famous and radical Suffragette movement led by the Pankhurst family.
The organisation, which Dame Millicent was president of until 1919, distanced itself from the militant activities of the suffragettes and pursued a campaign of non-violence to achieve their goals.
Its tactics included peaceful demonstration and the lobbying of MPs and it stressed its membership consisted only of “law-abiding suffragists” – at loggerheads with the more militant tactics of the Pankhursts’ Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU).
The colours of her suffragist movement were green, white and red which stood for Give Women Rights – and the Doodle has represented them accordingly.
The doodle shows Ms Fawcett campaigning alongside other suffragettes. Images released by Google of early concepts of the Doodle show Dame Millicent speaking to a group of women, and giving her famous quote: “Courage calls for courage everywhere.”
Dame Millicent, who was famed for her clear but expressive speaking voice and razor-sharp intellect, was recently honoured with the unveiling of a new statue in Parliament Square in London.
The monument, created by Turner Prize-winning artist Gillian Wearing, was the first of a woman to be unveiled in the square and marked a century since MPs passed the Representation of the People Act which bestowed some women with the right to vote for the first time.
Born in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, on 11 June 1847, Dame Millicent was the eighth of 10 children in a family of prosperous barley merchants.
“The Garretts were a close and happy family in which children were encouraged to be physically active, read widely, speak their minds, and share in the political interests of their father, a convert from conservatism to Gladstonian liberalism, a combative man, and a keen patriot,” according to Ray and Barbara Strachey’s book The Cause: A Short History of the Women’s Movement in Great Britain.
Her older sister Elizabeth Garrett Anderson – who went on to become Britain’s first female doctor – introduced her to Emily Davies as a child. Davies was a fellow suffragist and trailblazing campaigner for women’s rights to university access.
At the age of 12, Dame Millicent was sent away to boarding school in Blackheath, London, with her sister Elizabeth.
This was a formative time for Dame Millicent. At the age of 19, she heard a speech by the radical MP John Stuart Mill – an early supporter of universal women’s suffrage – that inspired her to become involved in politics and seek fair representation for all.
Awestruck by Mill’s radical credentials, she became actively involved in his campaign, becoming secretary of the London Society for Women’s Suffrage at the age of just 19.
Mill went on to introduce her to many other women’s rights activists – including Liberal MP Henry Fawcett who initially planned to marry her sister Elizabeth before she chose to focus on her medical career.
In spite of their 14 year age gap, Dame Millicent and Henry married in 1867. The couple had a daughter called Philippa.
It was not until 1868 that Dame Millicent joined the London Suffrage Committee and spoke at the first public pro-suffrage meeting to be held in London.
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The tireless campaigner, who considered herself a moderate, was also a leader in education, helping to found the all-women Newnham College at Cambridge University.
Her lengthy and illustrious career also saw her lobby for the criminalising of incest and of cruelty against children within the family and for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act, which punished prostitutes for passing venereal complaints on to their clients. In 1901, she investigated Britain’s use of concentration camps in South Africa during the Boer War.
She did this all alongside being a mother and caring for her husband who was blinded in a shooting accident in 1858.
She was made a dame in 1925 and died at her home in Gower Street, London in 1929 – a year after women were granted full equality in voting without a property requirement.
Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the birthday of suffragette Millicent Garrett who campaigned for women’s right to vote in the UK during the early 20th century.
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She was born on 11 June 1847 and went on to become a leading women’s rights activist, leading the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies for over 20 years.
In 1918 many British women over the age of 30 were given the opportunity to vote for the first time, something that Millicent had worked hard to achieve,
She remains a key figure for the suffragettes and a symbol of the fight for women’s rights across the UK.
Suffragette Millicent Garrett Fawcett (Photo by Michael Nicholson/Corbis via Getty Images)
What is the Fawcett Society?
The Fawcett Society is a charity that campaigns for gender equality and women’s rights in the UK, carrying on the work of Millicent Fawcett.
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The London Society for Women’s Suffrage was renamed The Fawcett Society in 1953 to honour her legacy and show appreciation for her impact on gender equality.
Some of the current campaigns include closing the gender pay gap, securing equal power and defending women’s rights post-Brexit.
The charity produces various reports and briefings, as well carrying out research and special projects focusing on equality in all areas of life.
The statue of women’s suffrage leader Millicent Fawcett is the first monument of a woman and the first designed by a woman, Turner Prize-winning artist Gillian Wearing OBE, to take a place in parliament Square. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Where is the Millicent Fawcett statue?
Millicent was given her own statue in Parliament Square in April 2018 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of voting rights being given to some women over 30 years-old.
The decision was made after a campaign that saw over 80,000 people sign an online petition.
It features her displaying one of her most famous quotes that she said during a speech in 1913 – ‘Courage calls to courage everywhere’.
It is the first statue of a woman to be erected in Parliament Square and it was designed by artist Gillian Wearing.
A march of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage, 1908. From left to right, Lady Frances Balfour (1858 – 1931), Millicent Fawcett (1847 – 1929), Ethel Snowden (1880 – 1951), Emily Davies (1830 – 1921) and Sophie Bryant (1850 – 1922). (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Millicent Fawcett quotes
Millicent Fawcett made many famous quotes during her time campaigning and as president of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies.
Here are some of her best known quotes –
‘However benevolent men may be in their intentions, they cannot know what women want and what suits the necessities of women’s lives as well as women know these things themselves.’
‘What draws men and women together is stronger than the brutality and tyranny which drive them apart.’
‘The evil state of the law, the evil state of the general tone of public opinion in regard to morals, is an outcome of the subjection of women, of the notion that women are possessions or chattels, with whom men are freely justified in dealing as they please.’
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‘The real protection women needed was the power to protect themselves.’
‘The women brought under [the influence of female emancipation] will have a wider intellectual horizon…they will have more dignity and more happiness in their lives…in a word, we shall see “the utmost expansion of which the female nature is capable”.’
‘I feel that no one, man or woman, ought to be forced into marriage by fear of social or legal penalties. That is one main reason why I should like to see honourable and honoured careers, other than marriage, open to women.’
‘Those who write and speak against the extension of liberty of action and conscience to men and women have always said that the change they deprecate will undermine or decompose the foundations of society. A few years pass by, the change is accomplished, and it turns out that society is not undermined or decomposed at all, but is all the healthier and more vigorous, through being possessed of a larger proportion of free citizens.’
‘We would greatly prefer an imperfect scheme that can pass to the most perfect scheme in the world that could not pass.’– on campaigning tactics, in 1917
‘My husband took care that I should hear important debates in the House of Commons, and the Speaker and Serjeant-At-Arms were very kind in frequently offering me a seat in that portion of the ladies’ galleries which they controlled.’
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A STATUE commemorating suffragist leader Millicent Fawcett has been unveiled in Parliament Square.
Fawcett has been honoured for her work to secure women’s right to vote during the early 20th century and is one of the most influential feminists of the last 100 years. Here's what you need to know.
EPA The statue of Millicent Fawcett stands alongside 11 other historical male figures in Parliament Square
Who was Millicent Fawcett?
Millicent Garrett Fawcett was born on June 11, 1847, in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, and was the eighth of ten children born to entrepreneur Newson Garrett and his wife Louisa.
In 1858, aged just 12, Millicent was sent to London with her sister Elizabeth to study at a private boarding school in Blackheath.
Aged 19, Fawcett went to hear a speech by radical MP John Stuart Mill – a day that would be a pivotal one for the future campaigner.
Stuart Mill was an early advocate of universal women’s suffrage and his speech on equal rights for women made a big impression on Millicent.
She soon became actively involved in his campaign, growing increasingly impressed by Mill's practical support for women’s rights on the basis of utilitarianism, rather than abstract principles.
In collaboration with ten other young and mostly unmarried women, Fawcett began work to establish the Kensington Society, a discussion group focused around English women's suffrage in 1865.
Months after joining Mill’s campaign, Fawcett organised signatures for the first petition for women's suffrage and became secretary of the London Society for Women's Suffrage.
In 1868, she joined the London Suffrage Committee, and a year later spoke at the first public pro-suffrage meeting in London.
Hulton Archive - Getty Dame Millicent Fawcett addresses a meeting in Hyde Park as president of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies
Why has she been honoured with a statue in Parliament Square?
Millicent Fawcett is considered one of the most instrumental people in the fight for women to gain the right to vote.
Her actions saw six million British women over 30 years old granted the right in 1918 and she has been described as one of the most influential feminists of the past 100 years.
The Fawcett Society continues to teach British women's suffrage history to younger generations and inspires young girls and women to continue the fight for gender equality.
The statue has been erected to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act 1918 - which granted voting rights to some women over the age of 30.
It stands alongside 11 historical male figures including Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi.
The bronze casting, by artist Gillian Wearing, is the first statue of a woman erected in Parliament Square, and was commissioned following an online campaign that garnered more than 84,000 signatures.
Fawcett’s statue holds a placard containing a quote from a speech she gave following Emily Wilding Davison's death during the 1913 Epsom Derby.
It reads "Courage calls to courage everywhere".
AP:Associated Press Prime Minister Theresa May spoke at the unveiling of the statue
Who unveiled the statue?
The statue was unveiled by local schoolchildren, in the presence of Prime Minister Theresa May, London mayor Sadiq Khan and BBC journalist Mishal Husain.
Among those present were schoolgirls from Millbank Academy and Fawcett’s great-great niece.
Speaking at the unveiling, Theresa May said: “I would not be here today as prime minister, no female MPs would have taken their seats in parliament, none of us would have had the rights and protections we now enjoy, were it not for one truly great woman, Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett.
“For generations to come, this statue will serve not just as a reminder of Dame Millicent’s extraordinary life and legacy, but as inspiration to all of us who wish to follow in her footsteps.”
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What were Millicent Fawcett’s most famous quotes?
“Courage calls to courage everywhere, and its voice cannot be denied.”
“What draws men and women together is stronger than the brutality and tyranny which drive them apart.”
“However benevolent men may be in their intentions, they cannot know what women want and what suits the necessities of women's lives as well as women know these things themselves.”
"I cannot say I became a suffragist. I always was one, from the time I was old enough to think at all about the principles of Representative Government."
"I can never feel that setting fire to houses and churches and litter boxes and destroying valuable pictures really helps to convince people that women ought to be enfranchised."
Statue commemorating life of suffragist, Millicent Fawcett, unveiled in Parliament Square by Theresa May
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Today's Google Doodle marks the 171st anniversary of the birth of British feminist trailblazer Millicent Fawcett.
Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett GBE was a leading suffragist and instrumental in securing votes for women in 1918.
Born in the seaside town of Aldeburgh, Suffolk, on June 11, 1847, she was sent to a London boarding school and took an interest in women's suffrage aged 19 after hearing a speech by radical MP John Stuart Mill.
Her sister, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, faced an almighty struggle to become the first female doctor in the UK and this fight spurred on Fawcett in her campaign for female equality.
(Image: Hulton Archive)
She married Henry Fawcett, a politician and professor of political economy at Cambridge, in 1867 and made her first speech on women's suffrage in 1868.
(Image: Collect Unknown)
(Image: Collect Unknown)
She became a well-known activist and speaker before becoming president of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies in 1897. This group joined together lots of suffrage factions, including Emmeline Pankhurst's suffragette movement.
Fawcett was an advocate for peaceful protest, using non-violent demonstrations and petitions to MPs. She believed that by demonstrating that women were intelligent, law-abiding citizens then they would be seen to be responsible enough to participate fully in politics.
(Image: PA)
(Image: Getty)
In 1913, Emily Davison threw herself under King George V's horse at Epsom in a bid to draw attention to the plight of women in the UK. Shortly afterwards, Fawcett made a speech in which the line "courage calls to courage everywhere" was said.
The phrase is on the banner which Fawcett is holding on the bronze statue in Parliament Square.
(Image: AFP)
In 1918, the Representation of the People act was passed, granting voting rights to some women in the UK. To qualify, you had to be over 30 years old and hold £5 of property, or have a husband who did.
In 1928, voting rights were extended to all women over 21, in line with men, and an 81-year-old Fawcett watched on in the public gallery in the House of Commons as the bill was passed.
She died one year later.
Today, the Fawcett Society, named in her honour, continues to fight for gender equality and in February this year Fawcett won a BBC Radio 4 poll for the most influential women of the past 100 years.
