Back to the Victorians calendar
As we said when talking about the various reform acts, women still had no vote. Actually the first woman to vote in a general election was Lily Maxwell in 1867 as she was added to the list of people who could vote by mistake. She paid rent of more than £10 on a crockery shop she ran after her husband died. Her vote was then declared illegal.
Woman also had very few other rights too. A lady called Millicent Fawcett had her purse stolen by a young man in London but when the crime was read out in court the boy was charged with stealing a purse belonging to Henry Fawcett, her husband. She, effectively, had no possessions as a married woman. This started Mrs Fawcett on a road to get things changed.
In 1870 an Act was passed which improved wives’ position to an extent by giving them possession of their own earnings. In 1882 a further act gave married women the same rights over their property as unmarried women. At last, a woman would not see the goods and chattels that she owned prior to marriage pass into the ownership of her husband. A final act in 1893 gave married women control of any kind of property acquired during marriage, such as an inheritance. Now married and unmarried women were treated equally.
If we go back to voting rights, the first women's suffrage bill came before parliament in 1870. It was defeated. Other attempts followed and various groups were set up. In 1897 many of these groups came together under one name. They were called the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. Their aim was to lobby members of Parliament to bring in yet more bills to give women the vote. Lobbying means to try to influence by going on and on about things. You could be accused of lobbying your parents to let you stay up late, if you ask often enough. Anyhow, the leader of this group was none other than Millicent Fawcett. 
A plaque can now be found outside the house she lived in at 2 Gower Street in London. If you remember, my old school, University College School, was founded in Gower Street.
On 24 April 2018 a statue of Dame Millicent Fawcett was unveiled in Parliament Square, the first statue there to feature a female.
Far more serious problems will happen in the next century including proof of my belief of the amount of damage a galloping horse can do (see 1885)
Forward to 1899AD
