More information : Nos. 105-113 Deansgate and Nos. 5-15 John Dalton Street in Manchester were built in 1876 to the designs of Pennington and Bridgen. Built from sandstone ashlar, this block of commercial buildings is four storeys high and has a slate roof. It is of a large trapeziform plan on an island site, with canted corners. Please see listed building description for further details. (1)
In 1887, No. 5 John Dalton Street, Manchester, became the office of the Manchester National Society for Women's Suffrage (MNSWS). It remained so until 1908, however in 1897 they became the North of England Society for Women's Suffrage (NESWS).
The MNSWS was established possibly as early as October 1865 and was initially nameless before becoming the Manchester Committee for the Enfranchisement of Women and, later, the Manchester National Society for Women's Suffrage. The Society was formally refounded at a meeting held at Louis Borchardt's house on 11 January 1867. Their main activity was to canvass women householders in the area to encourage them to sign petitions for women's suffrage.
In November 1867, they joined societies in London and Edinburgh to form a federation of suffrage societies. Relations with the London Society were often strained however, partly due to differences in opinion regarding the effectiveness of petitioning. In January 1868, while the London Society concentrated on petitioning, the Manchester Society instead began to concentrate on building membership to raise funds and encourage women to attempt to register as voters.
The Society took their cause beyond the confines of the city, and in 1877 employed an organiser to travel through the north of England, arranging public meetings. In 1893 they launched a campaign to gather support from women working in the cotton trade in Lancashire and Cheshire. Three years later, the Society attended a conference of all northern suffrage societies where it was agreed to expand the campaign to the midlands and northern counties.
In 1895 they affiliated with the Central National Society and in 1897 they joined the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies along with 500 other societies around the country. In 1911 the Society changed its name back to the Manchester Society for Women's Suffrage as there were by then so many suffrage societies in existence in the north of England.
In 1913, No. 5 John Dalton Street was in use as the office for both the Lancashire and Cheshire Women Textile and Other Workers' Representation Committee (LCWTOWRC) and the National Industrial and Professional Women's Suffrage Society. The LCWTOWRC had formed in 1903 and their work mostly involved sponsoring election candidates who supported the cause for working women's suffrage. Members attended and spoke at demonstrations and public meetings in London and worked alongside the National Industrial and Professional Women's Suffrage Society on certain campaigns.
The National Industrial and Professional Women's Suffrage Society was formed in 1905 by a group of women who had resigned from the North of England Society for Women's Suffrage. This group mainly concerned themselves with the struggle against protective legislation which would have deprived barmaids and pit brow women of their livelihood. (2)
|