History: How the Vote was Won - Campaigns for Democracy in Britain

The right to vote was not handed down by the powerful but fought for over centuries. We will use primary sources as we look together at the words of the first people in Britain to call for votes for all men – and the first to insist on votes for all women. We will encounter surprising stories, from radicals in Nottingham who attacked a castle to young women in Lancashire who marched for the vote for working class women. The course will give you the opportunity to read and discuss the words of these campaigners and their opponents. You will be able to look at primary sources including newspaper reports, letters and even cartoons with many different approaches to the issues under debate. The course will help you to form your own conclusions about some vital and controversial questions that historians discuss. Why did change happen what it did? Why did some campaigns succeed while others failed? Did the use of violence help or hinder campaigns for the vote? Were rights won because of campaigners’ choice of methods or does change owe more to wider social and economic factors? And crucially: what relevance does all this have for us today?