A Remedial Introduction to "Politics" for Newly-Enfranchised Women in the U.K. (1918)

JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post

To Women Voters¹--a short and thin-lipped tearsheet printed by Sir Joseph Causton (viz Midsomer!) of London--was printed in 1918 for the Lloyd George U.K. Coalition Government.  (The coalition government of Lloyd George lasted until 1922 when it was replaced by that of Bonar Law.) It was printed in response to the Representation of the People Act of 1918², which enfranchised a certain set of women to the vote. This pamphlet was a very remedial introduction to the most basic ideas of government,  defining the subjects of “Politics”, “Duties of Citizenship”, and the “Coalition Government”, mostly in the service of having the women who could vote and would do so to vote for the Lloyd George ministry. The writer made a brittle assumption that women knew nothing about government and politics, and proceeded accordingly.

I've reprinted the pamphlet below. 

Notes:

1.  8.5” x 5.5”, 4pp (one sheet folded in half).  Provenance: from the collection of Prof. E.D. Adams to Leland Stanford Jr University, and then the Library of Congress. The LC surplus stamp is on back cover, while the small Stanford stamp is at the bottom of page 2.  

2. “The Representation of the People Act 1918 widened suffrage by abolishing practically all property qualifications for men and by enfranchising women over 30 who met minimum property qualifications. The enfranchisement of this latter group was accepted as recognition of the contribution made by women defence workers. However, women were still not politically equal to men (who could vote from the age of 21); full electoral equality was achieved in Ireland in 1922, but did not occur in Britain until the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928.”--Wikipedia