Bermuda Woman's Suffrage Society
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Bermuda Woman's Suffrage Society (BWSS) was a women's organization in Bermuda, founded in 1923. The purpose of the BWSS was to campaign for the introduction of women's suffrage rights on Bermuda.[1] The campaign lasted for 22 years before the reform was finally passed in 1944.
The issue was first raised on Bermuda when Anna Maria Outerbridge convinced her father to raise it in the parliament in 1895 and again in 1896: the bill passed the House of Assembly but was voted down in the Upper House.
The organized women's suffrage campaign on Bermuda started in 1918 with a public speech by Gladys Misick Morrell, who had returned to Bermuda after having participated in the women's suffrage campaign in Britain, which had finally succeeded in that year. Women's suffrage was introduced in Britain in 1918, but the reform was not introduced in the British colony of Bermuda since it had a separate Parliament.
In March 1923, Morrell invited the British suffragette Mabel Ramsey to hold a public speech in Mechanics Hall in Hamilton. The meeting finished with the decision to found an organization to conduct an organized suffrage campaign in Bermuda.
Bermuda Woman's Suffrage Society was founded in 1923 with Rose Gosling as president[2] and Gladys Misick Morrell as secretary, and had its first meeting in April that year. Among its members were Henrietta Tucker and Mrs. J.P. Hand, also known as the co-founders of the Bermuda Welfare Society.