Founding of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), 1897

These documents mark a major step along the journey to women's suffrage. They are the notice of formation and the inaugural minutes of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies of November 1897, under the presidency of Millicent Fawcett.  From the 1860s,  local, regional and factional societies grew in number and in 1897 a federation of seventeen societies came together to represent every active suffrage society in Britain. By 1913 nearly five hundred regional suffrage societies had joined, making the NUWSS a most influential alliance.

Reproduced with permission from The Women's Library.