Following the extension of the franchise to women over 30 years of age in 1918, Annie Burnett Smith and Helen Fraser stood as candidates in the 1922 general election, the former as the Independent Liberal candidate in Maryhill and the latter as Coalition Liberal candidate in Govan. Both seats were won by Labour.
Annie S Swan was born in Edinburgh in 1859. Her early attempts at writing were financially unrewarding, but her first published novel Aldersyde (1883) was a great success. She went on to write 197 novels, in which she returned frequently to the themes of virtue and romance in Scottish settings. She also contributed regularly to the People's Friend and other magazines.
Helen Fraser gave up a promising career as an artist to work as treasurer of the Glasgow branch of the Women's Social and Political Union in 1906. Falling out with the WSPU over the militant tactics of the suffragettes, she joined the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies and spoke for them at meetings across Britain. During the First World War she helped organise women for the war effort and her book Women and War Work documented their contribution. She emigrated to Australia in 1939.
Reference: Mitchell Library, GC 052 BAI
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning
Keywords:
artists, authors, candidates, elections, First World War, Liberal Party, National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, novelists, suffragettes, votes for women, women, Women's Social and Political Union, women's suffrage, WSPU
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