Cold Open

It’s February 9th, 1907, at Hyde Park in the center of London, England.

Amid gray skies and relentless rain, a huge demonstration is underway. 59-year-old Millicent Fawcett stands beneath an 18-foot statue of Achilles, the great warrior of Greek myth. The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies has chosen this statue as their meeting spot because it’s an easy landmark. But it is also a fitting symbol for today, which feels a lot like riding into battle.

Thousands of other women have joined Millicent here, forming a line that stretches well into Hyde Park. The turnout is impressive – especially considering the weather. Freezing cold rain has been pouring down all morning, turning the streets of London into a muddy mess.

Millicent herself is soaked to the skin. She’s been standing for hours and can barely feel her feet. But none of that matters. She’s waited too long for this moment.

For years, Millicent and her fellow suffragists have been fighting to be heard. Their argument is simple: women deserve the same basic rights as men, including the right to vote. In response they’ve been mocked and attacked – but they’ve refused to be ignored.

Today, as the British Parliament formally opens for its newest session, the suffragists and their supporters are going to march through the heart of London. It will be the largest demonstration in the history of the women’s liberation movement in Britain.

Millicent glances at her watch. It’s 2 PM. Finally time.

With Millicent leading the way, the procession sets out from Hyde Park. The women come from all walks of life, from the aristocracy to the factories, all united by their desire for change. They hold their posters and placards high, undeterred by the mud splattering onto their boots and raincoats. They march toward Parliament, determined that today their voices will be heard.

Millicent’s demonstration will be covered widely in the national press and draw huge public interest across the country. And although real change for the women of the United Kingdom will still be many years away, the fight for liberation and equality will never be the same after the so-called “Mud March” through the rainy streets of London, on February 9th, 1907.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is February 9th, 1907: The Mud March for Women's Liberation. 

Act One: The Movement

It’s October 19th, 1896, in London, England, eleven years before the Mud March.

Millicent Fawcett sits at the center of a wood-paneled room, preparing to chair a ground-breaking conference. She’s surrounded by dozens of women, representing 20 regional suffrage societies from all across the United Kingdom. They’ve all been working hard for years, fighting for change in their local communities. But now, they’re ready to join forces.

For as long as anyone in the room can remember, women have been seen as second-class citizens in Britain. In 1832, Parliament passed the so-called Great Reform Act which revolutionized the British electoral system – and formally excluded women from the process. Under this law, only a man could be classified as a voter.

But many women have begun to question the logic of the law. Thanks to changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution, women are increasingly joining the workforce, earning a living outside of the home, and seeing possibilities for themselves that go beyond being a wife or mother. And the more time they spend out in the world, the more their situation rankles them. To many, it’s absurd that men should be the only ones who get a say in the future of their country. 

Millicent recognized the injustice of it all when she was very young. She knew the exclusion of women was fundamentally unfair. And thanks to her privilege, she's had the ability to do something about it.

Millicent’s father was a wealthy merchant who paid for all of his children to be privately educated, girls and boys alike. He also encouraged them to engage with politics, philosophy, and current affairs. Millicent’s sister, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, became one of Britain’s first female doctors. Another sister, Agnes, was a successful businesswoman. So, Millicent grew up understanding that women could do anything they set their minds to.

And when she was a little bit older, she wrote articles promoting women’s education and economic independence and campaigned for voting rights alongside her husband, Henry Fawcett, a Liberal Member of Parliament. Henry died young though, leaving Millicent a widow at the age of just 37. But she didn’t let her grief stop her. Instead, she threw herself more fervently into her activism than ever before and became one of the leaders of the growing women’s rights movement.

Twelve years later though, that same movement is still made up of grassroots organizations separated by geographic regions. Despite the energy and passion of the women in these groups, nothing is getting done. If they want to make real change happen, Millicent knows they have to come together.

And so, a joint meeting of women’s suffrage societies has been called and Millicent has been asked to preside. Though she’s never been keen on public speaking, she has agreed. And the wood-paneled room falls silent as she rises to her feet to begin the conference.

The talks go on for hours. But by the end of the day, it’s agreed that the regional groups will unite to form the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies or NUWSS.

Under this umbrella organization, the suffragists coordinate their efforts and campaign more effectively. But by the early 20th century, women’s equality does not seem any closer, and a new division threatens to tear the movement apart.

Some suffragists have grown so frustrated by the lack of progress that they want to be more aggressive. They propose civil disobedience, vandalism, and even violence – whatever it takes to get their message across.

Millicent is now president of the NUWSS and is firmly opposed to any of this. She champions peaceful demonstrations and political advocacy, arguing that more extreme acts will only alienate people from their cause. But the two sides can’t come to an agreement, and in the end, the movement breaks in two. The more militant activists form their own group - the Women’s Social and Political Union, led by Emmeline Pankhurst.

And for the next few years, the two groups carry on their separate and very different kinds of activism. Using her political connections, Millicent is able to meet with sympathetic politicians and make quiet inroads through the constitutional route. Meanwhile, the WSPU organizes a series of demonstrations which are designed to cause as much disruption as possible. When the women taking part are arrested and imprisoned, they carry on the protest behind bars by going on hunger strikes.

Millicent can’t deny that these tactics are effective. Public awareness and sympathy for the women’s rights movement is now at an all-time high. And though Millicent and her colleagues are not willing to go as far as the WSPU, they will begin brainstorming their own version of a headline-grabbing protest. Something big, something ambitious, something impossible to ignore. Something that will go down in history.

Act Two: The March

It’s February 9th, 1907, in central London, England, where the Mud March for women’s suffrage is well underway.

Millicent Fawcett and her fellow protestors trudge through merciless wind and rain. Their procession brings the busy streets of the capital to a standstill. The 3000 marchers are flanked by a band and a cluster of carriages and cars, bearing flags with the letters “WS” for Women’s Suffrage.

Crowds of spectators watch, amazed at the sight of respectable, well-dressed women marching like soldiers, chanting in unison, caked in mud up to their knees. The London weather is doing its worst, but it’s not deterred the largest demonstration in the history of the women’s suffrage movement.

The march is a unifying moment, bringing together leaders from both Millicent’s moderate NUWSS and the more extreme WSPU. Despite their tactical disagreement, the two groups still work together closely, and today, any tension within their ranks is overshadowed by their single shared goal: to force Parliament to listen.

The women march through Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, and the theater district. Every time Millicent spots a group of men in the crowd, she feels tense. For all their male supporters, she knows that some men will always see progress for women as a direct threat to their own rights. Suffragists have faced mockery and even violence in the past.

So, Millicent braces herself for jeers and laughter. But to her surprise, it's few and far between. Or perhaps they’re just drowned out by all the people cheering them on. At long last, it seems to Millicent that the tide really is turning.

As the rain finally begins to let up, the women continue through Trafalgar Square and onto their final destination: a large public hall in the heart of London. The purpose of the gathering is to discuss and raise awareness of a bill to give women the vote, which is to be introduced at Parliament later this month.

Millicent is among the speakers at the meeting, but the most memorable address belongs to the Jewish novelist and activist Israel Zangwill, who will speak out passionately against those who oppose votes for women, asking: “How do they justify their monstrous proposition that one-half of the human race shall have no political rights?... Woman is a separate and individual personality; a human soul, and, what is more to the point, a taxpayer… How dare we then leave her out of the reckoning?”

Upon its conclusion the Mud March has the desired effect – it forces people to sit up and take notice and wins supportive press coverage across the country. And a few weeks later, the crucial day approaches. The bill for women’s suffrage is about to be introduced in Parliament, and Millicent allows herself to feel optimistic.

But on March 8th, almost exactly a month after the Mud March, the hopes of Millicent and all the other protesters are dashed. The suffrage bill sparks a heated debate in Parliament, but ultimately, the proposed legislation is “talked out” - filibustered to death without being put to a vote.

It’s a slap in the face for the suffragists. After all the hard work that Millicent and the other NUWSS leaders have done, they expected that Parliament would at least give it a real chance. If it had been defeated in a vote, that would be one thing. But to be talked out entirely is an insult, and shows just how indifferent those in power really are to the women’s cause.

And in the years to come, things only get worse. Six more bills to introduce votes for women are also defeated in Parliament. For the more militant activists of the WSPU, this adds fuel to the fire, proving they’ve been right all along – playing by the rules will get women nowhere. As WSPU leader Emmeline Pankhurst writes to Millicent in 1909: “Deeds speak louder than words.”

But while some suffragists react to the ongoing disappointment by engaging in more violent and disruptive acts of protest, others give up on activism altogether. They feel alienated by this point, disillusioned not just by the establishment, but by the movement itself. It’s hard to believe in the possibility of change when none ever comes.

But Millicent will refuse to lose hope. She will still fervently believe that even though they're losing these battles, they will win the war. Day by day, they’ll change more hearts and minds in Britain. And she won’t stop, until eventually, her determination will pay off.

Act Three: The Vote

It’s October 1916, in London. World War I has been raging for more than two years.

Millicent Fawcett walks through the doors of Parliament with her head held high. Now close to 70, Millicent is as dedicated as ever to her cause - and victory is finally in sight. Voting rights in Britain are about to be transformed.

Two years ago, the outbreak of war changed everything. Both Millicent and Emmeline Pankhurst set aside their campaigns for equal votes and fell in line behind the government during this unprecedented time of national struggle.

But the war has shone a spotlight on the injustice of Britain’s electoral system. Many men serving on the front lines are unable to vote due to arcane rules about property and residential status, and public anger about this unfairness has surged.

Now, an official conference has been called at Parliament to discuss expanding the vote to all soldiers and men in other types of military service. But it’s not just men who are doing their bit for the war effort.

With so many husbands, sons, and fathers away on the front lines, women have picked up the slack. They’ve taken over vacant roles in all kinds of industries, including transportation, infrastructure, even the manufacture of weapons and ammunition. And now that electoral reform is imminent, Millicent is not about to let women be forgotten.

Throughout the conference, Millicent and other suffragists lobby members of parliament relentlessly. The proceedings are heated, but in the end, justice wins out. The conference recommends that women should be given limited rights to vote.

Two years later, in 1918, Parliament holds a formal debate to decide whether the Representation of the People Act should include a clause giving votes to women. As Millicent watches on, her anxiety turns to disbelief: a significant majority of members votes in favor.

Later that year, the act will formally become law, giving the vote to all women over the age of 30 with property rights. It is only a partial victory and still excludes a huge number of women – but it is a start, and Millicent has spent long enough in politics to know that real change is always gradual.

It won’t be until ten years later that all women will finally be given the right to vote. And once again, Millicent will be in Parliament to watch the Equal Franchise Act being passed. Just a year later, in 1929, Millicent will die peacefully at the age of 82, having finally achieved the goal she’d spent more than sixty years fighting for. And of all of Millicent’s many accomplishments and the historic moments she witnessed, there were few more important than when the people of Britain saw the grit and determination of those fighting for equality, during a rainy march through the streets of London, on February 9th, 1907.

Outro

Next on History Daily. February 12th, 1554. England’s shortest-reigning monarch is executed, seven months after her time on the throne came to an end.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Matthew Filler.

Music by Lindsay Graham.

This episode is written and researched by Emma Dibdin.

Edited by William Simpson.

Managing producer Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.