Editing H. H. Asquith (section)

==== Votes for women ====
{{See also|Suffragette bombing and arson campaign}}
[[File:Votes for Women lapel pin (Nancy).jpg|thumb|right|Early 20th century suffragist lapel pin]]
Asquith had opposed votes for women as early as 1882, and he remained well known as an adversary throughout his time as prime minister.{{sfn|Koss|p=131}} He took a detached view of the women's suffrage question, believing it should be judged on whether extending the franchise would improve the system of government, rather than as a question of rights. He did not understand—Jenkins ascribed it to a failure of imagination—why passions were raised on both sides over the issue. He told the House of Commons in 1913, while complaining of the "exaggerated language" on both sides, "I am sometimes tempted to think, as one listens to the arguments of supporters of women's suffrage, that there is nothing to be said for it, and I am sometimes tempted to think, as I listen to the arguments of the opponents of women's suffrage, that there is nothing to be said against it."{{sfn|Jenkins|p=247}}

In 1906 suffragettes [[Annie Kenney]], [[Adelaide Knight]], and [[Jane Sbarborough]] were arrested when they tried to obtain an audience with Asquith.<ref name="eastendwomensmuseum"/><ref name="Taylor2014">{{cite book|author=Rosemary Taylor|title=East London Suffragettes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MlwTDQAAQBAJ&pg=PP32|date=2014|publisher=History Press|isbn=978-0-7509-6216-2|pages=32–}}</ref> Offered either six weeks in prison or giving up campaigning for one year, the women all chose prison.<ref name="eastendwomensmuseum">{{Cite web|url=https://eastendwomensmuseum.org/blog/adelaide-knight-leader-of-the-first-east-london-suffragettes|title=Adelaide Knight, leader of the first east London suffragettes|website=East End Women's Museum|date=12 October 2016 |access-date=1 March 2018|archive-date=2 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200402124519/https://eastendwomensmuseum.org/blog/adelaide-knight-leader-of-the-first-east-london-suffragettes|url-status=live}}</ref> Asquith was a target for militant suffragettes as they abandoned hope of achieving the vote through peaceful means. He was several times the subject of their tactics: approached (to his annoyance) arriving at 10 Downing Street (by [[Olive Fargus]] and [[Catherine Corbett]] whom he called 'silly women',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Atkinson | first = Diane| author-link = Diane Atkinson| date =  2018 |title=Rise up, women!: the remarkable lives of the suffragettes |location=London |publisher=Bloomsbury | isbn=9781408844045 | oclc=1016848621}}</ref> confronted at evening parties, accosted on the golf course, and ambushed while driving to [[Stirling]] to dedicate a memorial to Campbell-Bannerman. On the last occasion, his top hat proved adequate protection against the dog whips wielded by the women. These incidents left him unmoved, as he did not believe them a true manifestation of public opinion.{{sfn|Jenkins|pp=247–248}}

With a growing majority of the Cabinet, including Lloyd George and Churchill, in favour of [[women's suffrage]], Asquith was pressed to allow consideration of a [[private member's bill]] to give women the vote. The majority of Liberal MPs were also in favour.<ref name="plot">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/sep/29/gender.women|title=Government feared suffragette plot to kill Asquith|work=The Guardian|access-date=15 April 2011|location=London|first=Maev|last=Kennedy|author-link=Maev Kennedy|date=29 September 2006|archive-date=6 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180206100335/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/sep/29/gender.women|url-status=live}}</ref> Jenkins deemed him one of the two main prewar obstacles to women gaining the vote, the other being the suffragists's own militancy. In 1912, Asquith reluctantly agreed to permit a free vote on an amendment to a pending reform bill, allowing women the vote on the same terms as men. This would have satisfied Liberal suffrage supporters, and many suffragists, but the Speaker in January 1913 ruled that the amendment changed the nature of the bill, which would have to be withdrawn. Asquith was loud in his complaints against the Speaker, but was privately relieved.{{sfn|Jenkins|pp=248–250}}

Asquith belatedly came around to support women's suffrage in 1917,{{sfn|Jenkins|p=467}} by which time he was out of office. Women over the age of thirty were eventually given the vote by Lloyd George's government under the [[Representation of the People Act 1918]]. Asquith's reforms to the House of Lords eased the way for the passage of the bill.<ref>{{cite book|title=Stepping Stones to Women's Liberty: Feminist Ideas in the Women's Suffrage Movement, 1900–1918|first=Les|last=Garner|publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press|location=[[Rutherford, New Jersey]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/steppingstonesto00garn/page/96 96]|isbn=978-0-8386-3223-9|year=1984|url=https://archive.org/details/steppingstonesto00garn/page/96}}</ref>