1911 United Kingdom census boycotters

People involved in the 1911 United Kingdom census boycott April 2025 April 2025 April 2025 thumb|Suffragettes boycotting 1911 census in ManchesterRogers Simon 2012-12-11 Census in pictures: from suffragettes to arms protesters https://www.theguardian.com/uk/datablog/gallery/2012/dec/11/census-2011-pictures-suffragettes-arms-protesters 2026-07-21 The Guardian en-GB 0261-3077 This is a list of people who participated in or organised the boycott of the 1911 United Kingdom census as part of the campaign for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom. On census night, 2 April 1911, some campaigners evaded enumeration or refused to supply information; others recorded protests on their census forms. Supporters also organised gatherings, provided accommodation and publicised the boycott.Women's suffrage https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/womens-suffrage/ The National ArchivesDobraszczyk Paul 2009-01-01 ‘Give in your account’: Using and Abusing Victorian Census Forms https://doi.org/10.3366/E1355550209000575 Journal of Victorian Culture 14 1 1–25 10.3366/E1355550209000575 1355-5502 subscriptionLiddington Jill Crawford Elizabeth Elizabeth Crawford (historian) 2011-03-01 ‘Women do not count, neither shall they be counted’: Suffrage, Citizenship and the Battle for the 1911 Census https://doi.org/10.1093/hwj/dbq064 History Workshop Journal 71 1 98–127 10.1093/hwj/dbq064 1363-3554 subscriptionLiddington Jill Vanishing for the Vote: Suffrage, Citizenship and the Battle for the Census Manchester University Press 2014 978-0-7190-8748-6 The number of participants remains uncertain; historians have questioned contemporary estimates of as many as 100,000. Participants and organisers The people identified in accounts of the boycott include: Laura Ainsworth, 38 other women and one man sought to hide in Jezreel's Tower in Gillingham, Kent, but they were betrayed and still counted by census officials.Crawford Elizabeth Laura Ainsworth https://womanandhersphere.com/tag/laura-ainsworth/ 2017-12-04 Woman and her Sphere en2011-03-20 Medway women boycott 1911 census https://news.bbc.co.uk/local/kent/hi/people_and_places/newsid_9424000/9424365.stm 2017-12-03 BBC News en-GB Rhoda Anstey: participated on behalf of the Anstey College of Physical Education, which she had founded in 1897Crawford Elizabeth 2013-04-02 Suffrage Stories: An Entire Birmingham College Boycotts The 1911 Census https://womanandhersphere.com/2013/04/02/suffrage-stories-an-entire-birmingham-college-boycotts-the-1911-census/ 2024-11-19 Woman and her Sphere enElkes Neil 2018-02-06 Suffragette city: How three inspiring Birmingham women helped win the vote 100 years ago https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/fires-force-feeding-fury-birminghams-14238113 2024-11-19 Birmingham Live enGauld Nicola https://books.google.com/books?id=beBqDwAAQBAJ&dq=rhoda+anstey&pg=PT81 Words and Deeds: Birmingham Suffragists and Suffragettes 1832-1918 2018-08-19 History West Midlands 978-1-905036-48-6 enNovember 2024 Helen Archdale: hosted a mass census boycott party with Adela Pankhurst Hertha Ayrton: hosted a boycott party for approximately 40 people at her home in 41 Norfolk Square.Sharp Evelyn http://archive.org/details/hertha-ayrton-1854-1923-a-memoir Hertha Ayrton, 1854-1923: A Memoir 1926 Wrote on census form: "How can I answer all these questions if I have not the intelligence to choose between two candidates or parliament? I will not supply these particulars until I have my rights as a citizen. Votes for Women." Minnie Baldock: did not appear on the census, although her husband and sons were enumerated2021-05-09 Suffragettes in Canning Town https://www.newhamheritagemonth.org/records/suffragettes-in-canning-town/ 2026-07-21 Newham Heritage Month en-GB Inez Bensusan: member of the Actresses' Franchise League who performed during a mass evasion partyInez Bensusan http://orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=bensin https://web.archive.org/web/20171201031339/http://orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=bensin 2017-12-01 2025-06-12 © Orlando Project en Rosa May Billinghurst Mary Blathwayt Dorothy Bowker: wrote: "Dumb Politically, Blind to the Census, Deaf to the Enumerator. Being classed with criminals lunatics & paupers I prefer to give no further particulars"1911 UK Census Collection https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/census/1911/ 2026-07-21 The Genealogist Nina Boyle: wrote "No Votes. No Census. Votes for Women" on her census formEtayo Oihane Constance Antonia 'Nina' Boyle https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/items/show/246 2025-07-02 Mapping Women's Suffrage, University of Warwick Georgina Brackenbury: hosted an evasion party for 25 women and one man.Georgina & Marie Brackenbury https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/items/show/336 2025-07-02 Mapping Women's Suffrage, University of Warwick Marie Brackenbury: hosted an evasion party for 25 women and one man. Wrote on the census form: "Miss Marie Brackenbury in charge takes this opportunity of registering her protest against the votelessness of the women of Great Britain by refusing to fill in this form." Constance Bryer Florence Canning Joan CatherSuffragettes on file, Census Boycott https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/suffragettes-on-file/census-boycott/ 2019-11-08 The National Archives en-GB and her husbandhttps://womanandhersphere.com/2014/01/ January 2014 Woman and her Sphere en 2019-11-08 Crawford Elizabeth Joseph Clayton Annie CoultateRainger Christopher Annie Coultate https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/items/show/331 2025-06-12 Mapping Women's Suffrage, University of Warwick Margaret CousinsAtwal Jyoti https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Gender_and_History/b7d_EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Christabel+Pankhurst+census+1911&pg=PT301&printsec=frontcover Gender and History: Ireland, 1852–1922 Breathnach Ciara Buckley Sarah-Anne 2022-08-17 Taylor & Francis 978-1-000-68387-5 enJuly 2026 Ellen Crocker Hilda Dallas Irene Dallas Emily Davison: hid in the House of Commons and was thus registered as an "occupant" of the Palace of Westminster and enumerated in ParliamentNo Vote, No Census - 1911 Census Protests https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/No-Vote-No-Census-1911-Census-Protests/ 2025-06-12 Historic UK en-GBThe Palace of Westminster Official Guide 2012 Houses of Parliament 17 978-0-95620-292-5Emily Wilding Davison and Parliament https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/case-studies-women-parliament/ewd/ 17 November 2024 UK ParliamentHow we uncovered suffragette Emily Davison hiding in Parliament's crypt in the 1911 Census Blog https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/discoveries/astonishing-1911-census-find-emily-davison-in-parliaments-crypt 2026-07-21 Find My Past enSmith Simon https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_British_Census/kugbEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=boycotted+the+1911+census&pg=PA45&printsec=frontcover The British Census 2021-05-27 Bloomsbury Publishing 978-1-78442-455-8 en Charlotte Despard: co-signed the Women's Freedom League manifesto calling for a census boycott.Liddington Jill 2011-02-24 ‘Women do not count, neither shall they be counted’ https://blog.oup.com/2011/02/1911-census/ OUPblog Oxford University PressGraham-Matheson Lynne https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Mrs_Despard_and_the_Suffrage_Movement/FN0mEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=boycotted+the+1911+census&pg=RA1-PA1871&printsec=frontcover Mrs Despard and the Suffrage Movement: Founder of The Women's Freedom League Matheson-Pollock Helen 2020-03-19 Pen and Sword 978-1-5267-3113-5 1871 en Lillian Dove-Willcox: organised the boycott in Trowbridge Flora Drummond Bessie Drysdale: wrote on her form: "as the Government refuses me a vote and as I am not therefore recognised as a citizen, I refuse to perform the duties of one in giving the information required by the Government"Stenlake Frances Bessie Drysdale https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/items/show/347 2025-06-12 Mapping Women's Suffrage, University of WarwickCollection : Suffragists & Suffragettes [SUFCOL1] https://hgsheritage.org.uk/Detail/collections/SUFCOL1 2026-07-21 Hampstead Garden Suburb Virtual Museum Charles Vickery Drysdale Florence Earengey Dorothy Evans: organised parties for census boycotters in BirminghamCrawford Elizabeth Elizabeth Crawford (historian) 2013-11-07 Suffrage Stories: The 1911 Census: More Birmingham Boycotters https://womanandhersphere.com/2013/11/07/suffrage-stories-the-1911-census-more-birmingham-boycotters/ 2024-11-17 Woman and her Sphere en Ada Flatman Florence Gertrude de Fonblanque Kate Gillie: dedicated her boycott of the census "in loving memory of Mrs [Mary Jane] Clarke and Miss Henria [Leech] Williams who lost their lives for the cause"Seven surprising finds in the 1911 Census Blog https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/discoveries/surprising-finds-in-the-1911-census 2026-07-21 Find My Past en Eva Gore-Booth Kate HarveyGodfrey Jennifer Kate Harvey https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/items/show/269 2025-07-02 Mapping Women's Suffrage, University of Warwick Anna HaslamJuly 2026 Alice HawkinsHanlon Sheila Alice Hawkins: Leicester's Working Class Suffragette Cyclist http://www.sheilahanlon.com/?page_id=2231 2025-06-12 Women's cycling en-US Vera Holme Clemence Housman: evaded the census in Dorset.Liddington Jill The 1911 census: Laurence and Clemence Housman https://www.jliddington.org.uk/1911c.html Jill LiddingtonAndrews Maggie https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Hidden_Heroines/lXt6DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=boycotted+the+1911+census&pg=PT88&printsec=frontcover Hidden Heroines: The Forgotten Suffragettes Lomas Janis 2018-10-23 The Crowood Press 978-0-7198-2762-4 enJuly 2025 Laurence Housman: publicised the boycott and accommodated census evaders in his home.Laurence Housman https://www.suffrageresources.org.uk/resource/3220/laurence-housman Women's Suffrage ResourcesHe advertised the movement through a series of articles published in The Vote, in which he argued for the reasoning and tactical benefits of the boycott.Liddington Jill Crawford Elizabeth 2011 'Women do not count, neither shall they be counted': Suffrage, Citizenship and the Battle for the 1911 Census History Workshop Journal 71 1 98–127 10.1093/hwj/dbq064 41306813 154796763 1363-3554 He also wrote fiction supporting the movement, setting this series in a potential future where the boycott went well. Edith How-Martyn: co-signed the Women's Freedom League manifesto calling for a census boycott. Elsie Howey: refused to be enumerated and wrote "Votes for Women" on her formSutton Chris 2021-03-26 Is time we put up a Blue Plaque for Suffragette Elsie? https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/19188447.time-put-blue-plaque-malvern-suffragette-elsie/ 2025-06-12 Worcester News en Mary Howey: listed her occupation as "artist and suffragette" and her infirmity as "not enfranchised"Meikle James 2009-01-13 Past lives: 1911 census goes online https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/jan/13/1911-census-goes-online 2026-07-21 The Guardian en-GB 0261-3077 Maud JoachimCrawford Elizabeth Elizabeth Crawford (historian) 2014-02-14 Suffrage Stories: 1911 Census: Vanishing For The Vote https://womanandhersphere.com/2014/02/14/suffrage-stories-1911-census-vanishing-for-the-vote/ 2025-06-12 Woman and her Sphere en Violet Key Jones: organised the suffragette boycott in YorkVictorian Women https://www.herstoryyork.org.uk/victorian-women/ 2025-06-12 HerStoryYork en-GB Helena JonesCarroll Stevie 2017-07-17 Hidden Suffragette History in Halifax https://womenwords.org/2017/07/17/hidden-suffragette-history-in-halifax/ https://web.archive.org/web/20190212130825/https://womenwords.org/2017/07/17/hidden-suffragette-history-in-halifax/ 2019-02-12 2026-07-21 Women and Words en-US Annie Kenney: organised the census boycott in Bristol Lilian Lenton Marion Mackenzie Susan Manning: recorded her religion as "militant suffragette" and her disability as "legally unfit to vote"2022-04-01 ‘Disability: unfit to vote’: how suffragists used the 1911 census to send a message https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/disability-unfit-to-vote-how-suffragists-used-the-1911-census-to-send-a-message/a/129595008.html subscription 2026-07-21 Irish Independent en-IE Mildred Mansel: hired 12 Lansdowne Crescent in Bath to be used by the 35 local census evadersNaylor Ellis Mildred Mansel https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/items/show/308 2025-06-12 Mapping Women's Suffrage, University of Warwick Katherine "Kitty" Marshall2020-04-02 ‘No vote, no census’: The 1911 suffrage census protests https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/no-vote-no-census-the-1911-suffrage-census-protests/ 2025-06-12 The National Archives blog en-GB'No Vote, No Census': the Suffragette Boycott of 1911 / Census Blog https://www.ukcensusrecords.com/census-blog/1619737_no-vote-no-census-the-suffragette-boycott-of-1911 2025-06-12 UK Census Records en-GB Muriel Matters Eleonora Maund: attempted to remove her name from the household return; her husband reinstated it.Iglikowski-Broad Vicky 2020-04-21 'A silly subterfuge'? The 1911 census boycott https://www.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/post/a-silly-subterfuge-the-1911-census-boycott Mapping Women's SuffrageWillmott Lauren https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Suffragettes/7E4IEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=boycotted+the+1911+census&pg=PT39&printsec=frontcover Suffragettes 2019-09-30 Pen and Sword 978-1-5267-2946-0 enJuly 2026 Winifred Mayo2016-02-12 The Suffragettes of Oakley Street http://www.house-historian.co.uk/london/the-suffragettes-of-oakley-street/ 2025-06-12 House Historian en-US Decima Moore Ethel Moorhead Clara Neal: stayed overnight in a sea cave on the Gower PeninsulaBlue plaque to Clara Neal https://www.swansea.gov.uk/claranealblueplaque 2025-06-12 Swansea en Henry NevinsonJohn Angela V. Rocking the Boat: Welsh Women who Championed Equality 1840-1990 15 August 2019 Parthian Books 978-1-912109-22-7 94 https://books.google.com/books?id=JnDpDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT94 en Margaret Nevinson and an undetermined number of other women documented their reasons for refusal Frances Olive Outerbridge Adela PankhurstWaters Michael 2018-01-01 The Campaign for Women’s Suffrage in York and the 1911 Census Evasion https://doi.org/10.1080/00844276.2018.1465692 Yorkshire Archaeological Journal 90 1 178–194 10.1080/00844276.2018.1465692 0084-4276 subscription Christabel Pankhurst Emmeline Pankhurst: was enumerated at a London hotel despite the attempted boycott.2011-04-01 When the suffragettes were out for the count https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/apr/01/suffragettes-census-1911-boycott The GuardianWhite Ian 2010-12-01 No vote ‐ no census: an account of some of the events of 1910–1911 https://doi.org/10.1057/pt.2010.30 Population Trends en 142 1 33–51 10.1057/pt.2010.30 2040-1590 Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence: wrote a protest on her census form.Mrs Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence https://www.suffrageresources.org.uk/database/2123/mrs-emmeline-pethick-lawrence 2025-06-12 Women's Suffrage Resources Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, 1st Baron Pethick-Lawrence Dorothy Pethick Mary Phillips (suffragette): wrote on her form "NO VOTE NO CENSUS. Posterity will know how to judge the Government if it persists in bringing about the falsification of national statistics instead of acting on its own principles and making itself truly representational of the people"Crawford Elizabeth Elizabeth Crawford (historian) 2013-11-15 Suffrage Stories: The 1911 Census: The Bradford Boycotters https://womanandhersphere.com/2013/11/15/suffrage-stories-the-1911-census-the-bradford-boycotters/ 2025-06-12 Woman and her Sphere en Emily Phipps: stayed overnight in a sea cave on the Gower PeninsulaWilson, Kim. "Unveiling Emily". Women of Eastbourne. Retrieved 12 June 2025.Oram Alison https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Women_Teachers_and_Feminist_Politics_190/zojoAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=boycotted+the+1911+census&pg=PA122&printsec=frontcover Women Teachers and Feminist Politics, 1900-39 1996 Manchester University Press 978-0-7190-2759-8 122 en Catherine PineCatherine Pine https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/items/show/228 2025-06-12 Mapping Women's Suffrage, University of Warwick Ellen PitfieldEllen Pitfield https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/items/show/229 2025-06-12 Mapping Women's Suffrage, University of Warwick Aileen Preston Katherine RaleighCartwright Colin https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Burning_to_Get_the_Vote/pGOhDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=boycotted+1911+census+suffrage&pg=PT7&printsec=frontcover Burning to Get the Vote: The Women's Suffrage Movement in Central Buckinghamshire 1904-1914 2013-06-11 Legend Press Ltd 978-1-78955-150-1 en Edith RigbyAdams Beverley https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Rebel_Suffragette/Uds_EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=boycotted+the+1911+census&pg=PT101&printsec=frontcover The Rebel Suffragette: The Life of Edith Rigby 2021-11-01 Pen and Sword History 978-1-5267-7391-3 en Elizabeth Robins Dorothea Rock: wrote on her return "I, Dorothea Rock, in the absence of the male occupier, refuse to fill up this Census paper as, in the eyes of the Law, women do not count, neither shall they be counted"2011-02-24 ‘Women do not count, neither shall they be counted’ https://blog.oup.com/2011/02/1911-census/ 2026-07-21 OUPblog en Bertha Ryland Lavena SaltonstallLiddington Jill https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Rebel_Girls/e6wICgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Lavena+Saltonstall+rebel&pg=PT64&printsec=frontcover Rebel Girls: How votes for women changed Edwardian lives 2015-09-03 Little, Brown Book Group 978-0-349-00781-6 enLavena Saltonstall https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/items/show/145 2025-06-12 Mapping Women's Suffrage, University of Warwick Alice Schofield Evelyn Sharp (suffragist) and other census resisters Hanna Sheehy-SkeffingtonJuly 2026 Isabel Giberne Sieveking: the enumerator wrote on her return: "Husband had left the town when I called and the wife, who is a suffragette, refused to sign as correct"Jackson Linda 2014 Sieveking, Isabel Giberne https://eehe.org.uk/25542/gibernesieveking/ 2025-06-12 Epsom & Ewell History Explorer en-GB Sophia Duleep Singh: refused to complete her return, writing a protest against women's exclusion from the vote.Sophia Duleep Singh https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/stories/sophia-duleep-singh/ 2025-06-12 The National Archives en Ethel Smyth Jessie Stephenson: organised the census boycott in Manchester Frances Swiney Violet Tillard: wrote on the household census return: “No Vote No Census. Should women become persons in the eye of the law this session - full information will be forwarded”Godfrey Jennifer Violet Tillard https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/items/show/282 2025-06-12 Mapping Women's Suffrage, University of Warwick Constance Tite: refused to supply census particulars, attaching a suffrage protest notice to her return.Women's suffrage https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/explore-by-topic/democracy-and-protest/womens-suffrage/ The National Archives Aethel Tollemache Alice VickeryHall Lesley A. Vickery [Drysdale], Alice (1844–1929) https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/39448 2025-06-12 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 10.1093/ref:odnb/39448 23 September 2004 Jessey WadeJessey Wade [SUF34] https://hgsheritage.org.uk/Detail/entities/SUF34 2025-06-12 Hampstead Garden Suburb Virtual Museum Ethel Williams (physician) Lilian Wolfe Celia Wray and Alice Embleton: defaced their census paper by writing the slogan "Getting votes for those who pay the piper. Getting votes for women" across it.Celia Wray and The Barnsley Suffragettes https://www.experience-barnsley.com/digital/celia-wray-and-the-barnsley-suffragettes 2026-07-21 Experience Barnsley en1911 England Census for Celia Wray - Yorkshire-West Riding, Barnsley - Ancestry.com Rose Lamartine YatesGodfrey Jennifer Rose Lamartine Yates https://map.mappingwomenssuffrage.org.uk/items/show/290 2025-06-12 Mapping Women's Suffrage, University of Warwick Edith Zangwill: wrote on the household census form: "The rest of the household is not entered as we feel that until women have the political rights of citizens, they should not perform the duties of citizens. Mr Zangwill is not at home" Notes References