Votes for Women in Plymouth: Lesson Two

Votes for Women in Plymouth: Lesson Two - Frances Latimer

Frances Latimer was a prominent writer for the Western Herald, the newspaper her husband owned. Although we don’t know much about her, we do know that she thought the suffragists were doing a good thing and wanted to support them. Mrs Latimer also realised the importance of convincing not just the upper class (the richest people in society) but also the working class (the poorest people in society) that women deserved the vote.

This was one of the interesting things about this movement; it affected everybody in the country. Mrs Latimer’s articles show that when we learn about history, we often learn about individual heroes but don’t think about the groups of people that helped pave the way for change. The reason women eventually got the vote wasn’t just because of the upper classes, even though it was only women who were over 30 and who owned property who initially benefitted.

Newspaper cuttings from the archives related to Frances Latimer

Look closely at the images and read the stories collected by Francis Latimer. Then do a Kahoot quiz to see how much you remember. You can do the quiz by yourself, or join it at the same time as other people. See who remembers the most or who can answer the questions the fastest.

After reading the articles, what do you think are the positive points of peaceful activism, like those used by the suffragists? What are the limits of this approach?