19th century Acts & Women

Some 19^th century Acts that affected women specifically.

1807 The Slave Act abolished slave trade in the British Empire but not slavery itself.

1832 Women excluded from the new franchise of the Reform Act.

1833 The Slavery Abolition Law received royal assent 28 August 1833 – see Eleanor Marx, Elizabeth Jesser Reid, Harriet Martineau, Mary Prince, Sarah Parker Remond.

1834 Poor Law Amendment Act included a Bastardy Claus which made illegitimate children the responsibility of mothers until they were 16. If mothers were not able to support their children, they were forced to enter the workhouse. (Bastardy clauses were later revised and reversed.) The New Poor Law (workhouses.org.uk)

1835 Municipal Corporations Act women lost the right to vote in local government elections.  This was restored in 1869.

1839 Custody of Infants Act gave women the legal right to see their children after a separation or divorce (but the woman needed finances to establish the right in a court. She had to be legally separated and not found guilty of adultery) Caroline Norton was influential in the passing of this Act.

1839 Vagrancy Act in London was directed at prostitutes and outlawed ‘loitering for the purposes of prostitution or solicitation, to the annoyance of passengers or inhabitants’. Prostitution was regulated in part by the Contagious Diseases Acts (see below), but it was never directly rendered illegal.

1844 Factory Act restricted working day to 12 hours for women and six and a half hours a day for children aged 8 to 13 to allow for three hours of schooling. Children aged 13 to 18 were limited to a maximum of 12 hours work a day.

1847 Factory Act (with effect from 1 July 1847) restricted working day to 10 hours for women and children aged 13 to18 with a maximum of 63 hours a week.

1850 Factories Act amended the act of 1847. Children under the age of 9 were forbidden to work and those aged 9 to 13 to a max of 9 hours a day and under 18 to 12 hours a day with a max of 60 hours a week. Children were also not allowed to work at night.  

1856 Factories Act Children and women allowed to work 6am to 6 pm in the summer and 7am to 7pm in the winter. All work had to end on Saturday at 2pm.

1858 Medical Act regulated the licensing of physicians in the UK and created a medical register which effectively barred women from becoming doctors as they needed to pass examinations for which they were refused permission to take.

1864, 1866, 1869 (repealed 1886) The Contagious Diseases Act made it the law for women suspected of prostitution to register with the police and submit to an invasive medical examination. The aim was to reduce sexually transmitted diseases within the British forces. The police had the power to determine who was a prostitute. If a woman was found to have a venereal disease, she was held in a ‘lock hospital’ until declared ‘clean’. If a woman refused to be examined, she could be imprisoned for 3 months (in 1869 extended to 6 months) or given hard labour. Men were not forced to be examined.

Campaigners included: Agnes Garrett, Alice Vickery, Elizabeth Blackwell, Elizabeth Malleson, Emily Davies, Florence Nightingale, Millicent Fawcett, Rhoda Garrett,  Supporters of the act included Elizabeth Garrett Anderson.

1867 Representation of the People Act enfranchised part of the urban male working class in England and Wales for the first time. Mill’s Amendment to substitute ‘person’ for man was rejected.

1869 Municipal Franchise Act granted women the right to vote in local elections if ratepayers.

9 August 1870 Married Woman’s Property Act (repealed 1 January 1883) allowed women to keep their income from wages or investments and property acquired after their marriage independent of their husbands.  Both parents assumed liability for their children.

1870 The Education Act set the framework for the elementary education of children, but secondary education was largely unavailable to working classes. However, a system of ‘school boards’ to build and manage schools in areas where they were needed was established. The boards were to be locally elected bodies funded from the local rates. All women could be candidates and all ratepayers including women could vote.

1875  Offences Against the Person Act raised the age of consent to 13.  

1875 Women householders became eligible for election to local Boards of Guardians.

1878 Matrimonial Causes Act made legal separation of husband and wife if the wife was repeatedly assaulted

1878 Factory and Workshop Act This applied the Factory Code to all trades. No child under the age of 10 could be employed and compulsory education for children up to 10 years old was established. 10 to 14 year-olds could only be employed for half days. Women were to work no more than 56 hours per week.

1882 Married Women’s Property Act (received royal assent 18 August 1882 but only applied to women who married after 1 January 1883) gave women independence under law regarding their finances and property. It freed women from ‘coverture’. Their property no longer transferred to the control of their husband on marriage.  They could now own property, keep income and any inheritance. Bother parents also became equally responsible for their children.

Influential in the passing of these property acts:  Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon, Bessie Rayner Parkes, Millicent Garrett Fawcett.

1886 Guardianship of Children Acts stipulated that the welfare of a child had to be considered in the awarding of custody. This gave women a means of obtaining custody.

1886 The Maintenance in Case of Desertion Act enabled magistrates to award the wife maintenance up to a maximum limit of 2 pounds a week if she could show that her husband was able to support her and their children but refused or neglected to do so and deserted her.

1888 Local Government Act: County councils set up, elected by ratepayers including (unmarried) women householders.

1889 Local Government Act: London County Council established. Unmarried women householders could vote but not sit on councils.

1899 Local Government Act, London: London vestries converted into borough councils. Only unmarried women householders could vote.

5 December 1893 Married Women’s Property Act granted women the same rights as unmarried women.

1890 Lunacy Act only legal certification signed by a magistrate could be used to commit a patient to a private asylum. (not until 1930 was the term ‘lunatic’ changed to ‘patient’, ‘asylum’ to ‘mental hospital’.)

Influential in this was Georgina Weldon who campaigned for legal safeguards for women from wrongful confinement.

1894 Local Government Act women ratepayers, including married women, allowed to vote in parish and district council elections, London vestries and to sit on Poor Law and school boards. Women still excluded from sitting on county and borough councils.

1918 Representation of the People Act. Common franchise for county councils, boroughs, rural and urban districts on the basis of the parliamentary register. (women over 30 with a property-based qualification.)

1919 The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act became law when it received royal assent of 23 December 1919. However, it contained clauses that did restricted women’s access to some occupations.

1925 Married Women’s Property Act: husband and wife to be treated as separate individuals in any property transaction.

1928 Representation of the People Act: women and men on the same terms on Parliamentary and local registers: universal suffrage for men and women over 21.