The Daughters of Gentlemen (13 page)

W
estbourne Hall on the Grove was a building with a charmingly ornate four-storey façade, and was much used in Bayswater for concerts and meetings of all kinds. Frances recalled having once been taken there by her uncle for a musical entertainment, but in recent years the demands of first her brother’s and then her father’s illness had prevented any such amusements. In any case, her father had disapproved of the theatre and regarded attendance at political meetings as pointless for a female.

The carriage hired by Miss Gilbert and Miss John appeared promptly at a quarter to seven. Miss John, with a sweet smile and her eyes sparkling with suppressed excitement, carefully cradled a large parcel which Frances was sure contained her new banner. Miss Gilbert, all noisy enthusiasm with a stream of words bubbling from her lips, was momentarily silenced when introduced to Sarah. After the usual politenesses, she turned her head aside and murmured something that sounded like ‘remarkable.’

Frances was interested to see that the people crowding around the Hall and presenting their tickets to the doorkeepers were respectably dressed and well-behaved, and there were a number of men amongst them. She said as much to Miss Gilbert, who smiled in a very satisfied way.

‘Many gentlemen are enlightened enough to support our cause,’ she said, ‘and with the election about to descend upon us this is an important and most opportune time. I have it on very good authority that Mr Grant, one of the Liberal candidates, is a sympathiser, and I will ask him to state it explicitly the very first chance I have. While gentlemen cannot yet look to us for votes they ought not to ignore the influence of ladies upon the outcome of the election. Many men of sense will, I am sure, listen to their wives and sisters when making their decisions. I shall be addressing the meeting on that point and also urging the drawing up of a petition to be presented to the new parliament on the subject both of female suffrage and the property rights of married women. They cannot refuse us! They will not!’

‘Oh no,’ whispered Miss John, shyly, ‘I am sure they will not.’

Frances, looking about her at the assemblage, noted that Sarah was viewing the great throng with less pleasure than she, and realised that there was almost no one present of the artisan class and certainly no servants. There must, she thought, be many who would have liked to be there and would have benefitted greatly from it, but were prevented from doing so by pressing duties, or were forbidden to attend by husbands or employers outraged by the mere idea of women having minds, opinions and possibly even demands. Was the female vote only to be enjoyed by ladies of property and position? It was a more complex matter than she had supposed and one to which she would have to give a great deal of thought.

Miss Gilbert marched proudly into the hall, as if at the head of an army, and led Frances to where a platform had been made ready with tables and chairs. The body of the hall was filled with rows of closely packed seats, and these were quickly being occupied. Frances could not help wondering, and hoped that she would not seem cynical in this, if the attendees were all prompted by an interest in female suffrage, or whether some were simply there as a way of passing the time, there being little in the way of alternative entertainment until the political parties arranged their public meetings. There were a few newspaper men present, who could easily be distinguished by their busy pencils, and she recognised in particular Mr Gillan of the
Bayswater Chronicle
, whose unduly melodramatic style of reporting had, she felt, contributed in no small way to her current notoriety.

Miss Gilbert ascended the platform with great pride and confidence, Miss John pattering behind her, and together they unfurled the banner which pronounced the society’s name in large letters, draping it across the table so that no one might have any doubt of the reasons they were there. A few people were looking about restively, as if hoping for free refreshments, of which they were disappointed to see none. There was a table which was unhappily bereft of teacups and plates of bread and butter, but was well stocked with piles of pamphlets for sale. Sarah went to examine them, electing to remain in the body of the hall as an extra pair of eyes.

Frances found that apart from her companions and herself, the platform was occupied by two more ladies and two gentlemen, one of middle age and the other a slender young man with long hair and an expression of devoted earnestness.

Miss Gilbert opened the proceedings by welcoming all-comers to the inaugural meeting of the Bayswater Women’s Suffrage Society. She then introduced the individuals on the platform, affording Frances considerable embarrassment as she eulogised on her superior skills as a detective, which, she assured everyone present, were proof, if any were needed, that a woman’s intelligence was more than competent to deal with political questions. The other ladies on the platform were Mrs Bartwell, who sat with some distinction (and, thought Frances immovable
avoirdupois
) on a school board, and Mrs Edith Fiske, whose literary accomplishments, said Miss Gilbert, were well known to everyone present. Frances, having had Mrs Fiske recommended to her by Mrs Venn, albeit in a satirical humour, as a lady of superior qualities, could not help but steal a glance at her, and found that Mrs Fiske was regarding her with more than usual interest. She saw a lady of undoubted plainness of face, but with a firmness and resolution in the set of her form which suggested that she was someone who knew how to make her wishes not only known, but come about.

The middle-aged man on the platform was a Mr Hawkins, who had tried but failed to be selected by the Liberals as their parliamentary candidate, and was, suspected Frances, attempting to make a name for himself by supporting the New Thing, on the grounds that if women were to be enfranchised, he would thereby double his support. The youthful looking gentleman was introduced as Jonathan Quayle, a poet who had recently dedicated a small volume to the cause.

Miss Gilbert then made her opening address, starting by assuring her listeners that the new Bayswater Society was officially affiliated to The National Society for Women’s Suffrage and enjoyed the full approval of that organisation. Letters of support, she announced, had been received from many notables, including that enlightened and worthy gentleman Mr Jacob Bright MP, as well as Mrs Fawcett, the wife of Mr Fawcett MP, Mrs Garrett Anderson MD, and Miss Isabella Skinner Clarke, of the Pharmaceutical Society. There was polite applause.

Miss Gilbert then talked at some length of the various Bills that had already been before Parliament on the question of women’s suffrage, all of which had, to date, been defeated, but which nevertheless gave her great cause for hope, since by the numbers of the votes and intensity of debate it could be shown that support for the measure was increasing, and must increase still further with time until eventually they would win success. She spoke with great energy, punctuating her talk by bouncing on her heels at moments of high emotion, and spreading her arms wide as if about to embrace the audience.

They owed, she said, a great debt of gratitude to the tireless work of the National Society, and she therefore proposed the first motion of the evening, namely the Bayswater Society’s approval of and support for the objects of the National Society. This motion being unobjectionable, it was carried unanimously. Her second motion concerned a new petition to be sent to parliament the instant the forthcoming election had been decided. Since Miss Gilbert was content to take upon herself the entire work of framing the petition the meeting was happy to agree with her proposals.

Mr Hawkins rose to speak in support of the notion that all property holders ought to have the vote, regardless of sex. The opponents of previous Bills which had sought to extend the suffrage had said that if women got the vote then the next thing they would ask for would be seats in Parliament, something for which they were unsuited. He personally did not think the House of Commons would be any the worse for women members and in fact a great deal better. There were shouts of ‘Hear! Hear!’ from the floor, and a number of voices proposed Miss Gilbert for Prime Minister, that lady declining to admit of any unworthiness for the honour.

Mrs Fiske was next to speak and showed great composure and dignity of address. She expounded on the hardships that women suffered, which could only be rectified by their being given proper representation. Every aspect of a woman’s life was ruled by the legislature yet they had no say in its selection and could take no part in framing the law. She was convinced that there were as many women as there were men fully equal to the task, and the foundation of women’s future was a proper education. It was the duty of every mother of girls to prepare them to take part in government. A few men were opposed to the measure of women’s suffrage, but their views could easily be shown to be fallacious, and it was not they who were the enemy. Far more dangerous were those who by their indolence and apathy and want of intelligence failed to see how vital the enfranchisement of women was for the good of society as a whole.

Mr Quayle addressed the meeting with an air of nervous diffidence. He began by reading a little poem of his own authorship, with a modesty about its merits that Frances thought to be entirely justified, nevertheless, its theme, the moral superiority of women, was appropriate and his words were well received. Frances had never had any great pleasure in poetry as she could not see how a sentiment well expressed and truthful could be made any better by trying to fit it into a rhyme. Fortunately Mr Quayle gave the remainder of his address in prose. It was the view of some, said Mr Quayle, that only single women or widows should have the vote, since to give it to married women might threaten domestic harmony. Mr Quayle professed himself to be a great admirer of the female sex and believed that all women of full age whether married or not should be entitled to vote, and who could say that a married woman might not have a better understanding of the issues affecting families, more sense and compassion and a cooler head than the man to whom she was united? There was a murmur of sympathy about the hall. How unfair it was, he went on, that a woman should have her own property taken from her control by the simple fact of being married, and possibly given to someone less able and intelligent than herself? A person of great wit had once said, he added with a smile, that before a woman married she should discover all of the man’s character, but many women having done so would choose not to marry at all. There was a small ripple of amusement around the hall, and several people, all female, shouted ‘Hear! Hear!’ with a feeling that spoke of personal experience.

But Frances heard nothing. If someone had spoken to her directly at that moment she would not have been able to respond. Jonathan Quayle had used almost the very words that Charlotte had remembered from the missing pamphlet. For all Frances knew other words in Quayle’s speech had also been derived from it. Was Quayle the author of the pamphlet? Did he know the author? He had most certainly read it, and it was possible that he still had a copy. Frances was determined that nothing must now deflect her from obtaining the pamphlet.