2011/02/23 by Jill Liddington, Emily Crawford · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Psychology · #Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes #Historical Economic and Social Studies #Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices #Battle #Census #Suffrage #Citizenship #Gender studies #Law #History #Sociology #Political science #Demography #Ancient history #Politics
paper · doi:10.1093/hwj/dbq064
openalex publication_date 2011/02/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
The 1911 census, released in 2009, is of particular interest to historians. Additional columns recorded for the first time the number of years a woman had been married, her children still living and those who had died. Moreover, the census was taken at a time of heightened political momentum. The Liberal government pushed for ambitious welfare reforms; at the same time, the Votes for Women campaign was growing vigorously. Suffrage organizations decided to boycott the census in protest at women’s exclusion from the franchise.In this article we offer an assessment of the significance of that rebellion, based upon our database of 572 names across England; schedules are analyzed by occupation and family structure, suffrage organization and region. Our reading of suffrage historiography had led us to expect fairly high levels of census evasion and resistance. But our study suggests higher than expected levels of compliance. Why?This article examines the intellectual and political ‘battle for the census’ in spring 1911 – between women’s citizenship demands and reformers’ welfare agenda. One hundred years later, on the census centenary, the ingenuity of evaders and defiant statements of resisters still retain the power to inspire.