“And now a still wider field is open to the women of the nation. They are at last citizens in the fullest sense of the word.” Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 9 February 1918
WINNING THE VOTE
B
y 1914 many of the leading WSPU members were in prison and the organisation had been virtually driven underground. Christabel Pankhurst, for instance, had fled to Paris. Campaigning continued but other events soon took over. In August 1914 Britain and Germany went to war. The war, which became known as the First World War because so many countries were involved, changed everything. Across the country most suffrage organisations stopped campaigning and turned their energies into helping the war effort. Reflecting what was happening elsewhere, the local NUWSS suspended political work and members offered their help. With Jane Strickland’s help, the local Suffrage Club became an ‘aid bureau’ to help refugees and others suffering from war. Although women had still not gained the vote, many demanded their right to work. During the war women worked as drivers, factory workers, policewomen, nurses and doctors, replacing the men sent off to the front, and many doing work that had previously only been done my men. Some women joined the newly formed women’s branches of the armed
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