First female graduate exhibition.

Vote 100 pop-up exhibition of some of the University's first female graduates.

A pop up exhibition has opened in the Main University Library telling the story of how some of the University's first female graduates pushed the agenda forward for equal enfranchisement in the UK.

The exhibition focuses on when Chrystal Macmillan, Frances Simson and Frances Nairn took the fight to the House of Lords in November 1908. Chrystal Macmillan and Frances Simson became the first women to speak in the House of Lords, stating their case that the law allowed graduates of the University of Edinburgh to vote, and therefore they should have the right. They ended up at the appeal at the House of Lords, as the University then the Court of Session in Edinburgh had denied them this right. The exhibition was opened by Diva Mukherji, EUSA Vice President for Education, who spoke about how inspiring the women were for students today, showing that students had fought for their rights and for equality.

The exhibition is on until January.

 

To find out more of their story, and transcriptions of the items visit our online exhibition pages at:

https://edin.ac/vote100

For more on University and Scottish Suffragettes go to our histropedia site at: http://bit.ly/histropedia

A timeline depicting significant individuals with direct connections to the city and the University has been developed as part of a digital exhibition.  The timeline features unique items drawn from the University's Collections along with Wikipedia biographies created across the year at Vote100 editathons facilitated by our Wikimedian in Residence.