Formation of the Women's National Anti-Suffrage League

The Women's National Anti-Suffrage League was formed in 1908 at the aims to oppose women being granted the right to vote in parliamentary elections in the United Kingdom. The first meeting took place at Westminster Palace Hotel on July 21, 1908. While the League's aims were to oppose women being granted the right to vote in parliamentary elections they did support women having votes in local and municipal elections. The League has their own publication, the Antii- Suffrage Review created December the year founded and ran until it was dissolved in 1910 when it merged with the Men's National League for Opposing Women's Suffrage to form the National League of Opposing Women's Suffrage.  Prominent members of the League include Mary Augusta Ward, a writer who was in charge of creating and editing the league's magazine, as the chair of the Literary Committee.  Gertrude Bell as the secretary who was one of the first women to graduate from Modern History at Oxford with an honors degree. 

The League started with three branches. The first two were formed in Hawkenhurst in Kent and then in South Kensington in London. The third was in Dublin, Ireland. Shortly after, a Scottish branch was formed by the Duchess of Monrose in May of 1910. The League grew vigorously by December of that year 26 branches were formed and raised to 104 in 1910. 

In 1910, the League combined with the Men's National League for Opposing Women's Suffrage to form the National League for Opposing Women's Suffrage. This new league lasted until 1918 when it came to an end as women's suffrage had been granted.  

Supplemental Materials:

The Spectator published a couple of columns about the League. The first article, which starts at the very bottom of the first column, discusses their views on voting and how they hold the fundamental importance that, "the spirit of sex antagonism aroused by the women's suffrage propaganda should be combated by recognition of the fact that the respective spheres of women are neither antagonistic nor identical, but complementary." In the second article, organizing secretary Annie J. Lindsay writes about the formation of the Men's Committee for Opposing Female Suffrage that was formed to support the women's league. 

The article by Emily Coit highlights Mary Augusta Ward and the common misconception between support for women's higher education and their right to vote. Colt's scholarly article is primarily about one of Ward's novels and her opinions on the idea's of different feminism, as well as her views of suffrage and feminism that fit into the League. 

The Spectator June 6, 1908

The Spectator January 9, 1909

The Saturday Review January 23, 1909

Mary August Ward's "Perfect Economist"

"Untitled Item the National Women's Anti-Suffrage Association has..]." The Spectator, vol. 100, no. 4171, Jun 06, 1908, pp. 887. ProQuest, http://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.....

Lindsay, Annie J. "WOMEN'S NATIONAL ANTI-SUFFRAGE LEAGUE." Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, vol. 107, no. 2776, 1909, pp. 43. ProQuest, http://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.....

A MEMBER OF THE MEN'S LEAGUE FOR, WOMAN SUFFRAGE. "WOMEN'S NATIONAL ANTI-SUFFRAGE LEAGUE." Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, vol. 107, no. 2778, 1909, pp. 109-110. ProQuest, http://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.....

Coit, Emily. "Mary Agusta Ward's 'Perfect Economist' and the Logic of Anti- Suffragism." pp. 1213-38. ProQuest.