Finding Suffragettes in the Deceased Online Database Today, Tuesday 6th February 2018 , marks 100 years since the Representation of the People Act received royal assent. The passing of this Act of Parliament reformed the British and Irish electoral system, enabling almost all men and some 8.4 million women to vote in national elections. Emmeline Pankhurst c.1913 (1) Although single and widowed female ratepayers had been able t o vote in local municipal elections since 1869 (married ratepayers 1869-1872), the struggle for to extend the franchise to women nationally was hard fought. After John Stuart Mill MP's failed attempt at amending the Reform Act 1866 with the presentation of the first mass women's suffrage petition to the House of Commons on 7 June 1866, women in the capital grouped together to form the London Society for Women's Suffrage . The movement grew across Britain, and in 1872 , women formed the National Society for Women's Suffrag...