IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 106 5BWW
Held at: Women's Library
Title: Women for Westminster Bournemouth Branch
Date(s): 1943-1946
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 0.5 A box
Name of creator(s): Women for Westminster | Bournemouth Branch
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Women for Westminster (1943-1949) was established in 1943. In 1940 Edith Summerskill raised the issue of women in parliament within the Six Point Group. This produced an initiative with the aim of returning 100 women to parliament. However, the war and other concerns meant that it was not until Mrs Rebecca Sieff and Teresa Billington-Greig established a committee within the Women's Publicity Planning Association (WPPA) to deal with the issue in Jan 1942 that attention was paid to this area by a single issue group. The committee eventually became an independent organisation the following year with the name of Women for Westminster. It was a non-party organisation with a number of local branches which aimed to encourage women in individual constituency parties to nominate a woman candidate, thus avoiding the hostility aroused when outside women's organisations attempted to apply pressure. Summerskill, Tate, Cazalet-Keir and Corbett Ashby were all members but the group had limited success: in 1945, out of 87 women candidates, only 12 were returned and they already held seats. Despite having 46 branches, financial problems beset the organisation, which received only £1,000 in 1946. By the end of the decade, they were under pressure to amalgamate with other organisations. They refused an approach from the Six Point Group but accepted a merger with the National Women's Citizenship Association in 1949.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
The archive consists of minutes of the Bournemouth branch meetings and of the Executive Committee.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Conditions governing access:
This collection is available for research. Readers are advised to contact The Women's Library in advance of their first visit.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Physical characteristics:
Finding aids:
Fawcett Library Catalogue
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Deposited in Dec 1975 by Mrs Middleton.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
Related papers held at The Women's Library include: the papers of the national body of the Women for Westminster group, its Hampstead branch and its predecessor the Central Women's Electoral Committee, as well as those of the predecessor organisation the Central Women's Electoral Committee, are contained in the Women's Library amongst the papers of Teresa Billington-Greig (see 7TBG) while the Women's Library also holds the papers of the Women's Publicity and Planning Association (see 5WPP).
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Archivist's note: Finding aid created by export from CALM v7.2.14 Archives Hub EAD2002. Edited for AIM25 by Sarah Drewery.
Date(s) of descriptions: 24/01/2008