‘An articulate and definite cry for political freedom’: the ulster suffrage movement

Abstract

This article analyses the development of the Ulster suffrage movement and assesses the impact of the third Irish home rule crisis of 1912-14 on the much lauded, although always tenuous, unity of Irish suffragism. The tensions caused by the decision of Ulster unionists to grant women's suffrage under their plans for a provisional government are considered. In addition to this, the establishment of a branch of the Women's Social and Political Union in Ulster caused serious apertures within the indigenous suffrage movement and put Belfast in the midst of what contemporaries believed to be a ‘genuine revolution’. Ultimately, an examination of Ulster suffragism highlights not only the value of conducting local studies in order to capture and understand the complexity of the suffrage movement, but also the difficulties and frustrations which women faced whilst campaigning for the enfranchisement of their own sex.