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Millicent Fawcett Facts & Worksheets

Millicent Fawcett was known for her courageous journey in promoting women’s suffrage

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Millicent Fawcett was known for her courageous journey in promoting women’s suffrage. She led peaceful campaigns and headed Britain’s largest women’s rights association.

See the fact file below for more information on Millicent Fawcett or alternatively, you can download our 27-page Millicent Fawcett worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

Background

  • Millicent Garrett Fawcett was born on June 11, 1847, in Aldeburgh, England, and was the eighth child of Newson Garrett and Louisa Tunnel.
  • She came from a middle-class family; her father, Newson Garrett, was a businessman.
  • Her sister, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, was Britain’s first female doctor.
  • Millicent Fawcett was only 12 years old when she was sent to study at a private boarding school in Blackheath, London with her sister, Elizabeth.
  • She developed an interest in literature and education during her stay in London, which greatly influenced her life.
  • Emily Davies and Millicent Garrett Fawcett had known each other at an early age as they were both introduced by Elizabeth.
  • They supported the Kensington Society, a group of suffragists supporting women’s rights, by organizing a petition through collecting signatures about the franchise acts of Parliament to the female householders.
  • One of her sisters, Louise, brought Millicent Fawcett and attended sermons of an Anglican priest, Frederick Denison Maurice, who influenced her religious beliefs.
  • When she was 19, she attended a lecture by John Stuart Mill and was impressed by his speech on women’s equal rights. 
  • John Stuart Mill was an advocate of women’s suffrage, and through him, Millicent Fawcett became acquainted with other women’s rights activists, including her husband, Henry Fawcett.

Marriage

  • Henry Fawcett was a Liberal Member of Parliament and a Cambridge economics professor who was supposed to marry Millicent Fawcett’s sister, Elizabeth, who chose to rather continue furthering her career in medicine.
  • Like Millicent, Henry was also a women’s rights advocate.
  • Henry Fawcett was  14 years older than Millicent.
  • In 1858, Henry Fawcett was blinded in a shooting accident.
  • However, the pair felt a connection and married in 1867.
  • Besides being a loving wife, Millicent Fawcett became Henry’s secretary and companion, running two households in Cambridge and London while pursuing a career as a writer.
  • In 1868, they had an only child named Philippa Fawcett.
  • Philippa Fawcett was taught the importance of education by her mother, and in 1890, she was the first woman to achieve the highest score in the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos exam.
  • The death of Henry Fawcett on November 6, 1884, caused her to halt her public life briefly.
  • She also sold both of their homes in Cambridge and London and decided to move into her sister Agnes Garrett’s home with Philippa.
  • Millicent Fawcett focused on her political activities when she returned to work in 1885.
  • Upon her return, she joined and became a significant member of the Women’s Local Government Society.

Politics

  • During her twenties, Millicent Fawcett was already involved in several political activities.
  • In 1867, she joined the London National Society for Women’s Suffrage and shared her first speech on women’s suffrage in 1868.
  • Her action gained criticism from members of parliament as they saw it inappropriate for a wife of an MP.
  • Millicent Fawcett was a supporter of the Married Women’s Property Act and became interested in the issues of child marriage because of the interest of Henry Fawcett in Indian reform.
  • She published a book entitled “Political Economy for Beginners” in 1870 that had over 10 editions, an inspiration for two novels, and translated into various languages.
  • Two years later, Millicent, together with Henry, also published “Essays and Lectures on Social and Political Subjects.”
  • Millicent Fawcett served as a counselor at Newnham College in Cambridge, an institution she also co-founded in 1875.
  • When Lydia Becker died, Millicent Fawcett took over the responsibility as a leader of Britain’s largest women’s rights organization, the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).
  • The organization had a total of 50,000 members by 1905.
  • Her advocacies focused on women’s equal rights and suffrage and avoided militancy.
  • She firmly believed that revolutionary movements would only cause a disadvantage to women’s chances of gaining the support of the public.
  • Another organization for the suffragettes was the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), led by Emmeline Pankhurst.
  • Although Millicent Fawcett believed in peaceful methods, Emmeline Pankhurst was more aggressive and revolutionary.
  • The South African War allowed Millicent Fawcett to impart their principles to British culture.
  • In 1901, she was entrusted to lead women in South Africa by taking on the case of Emily Hobhouse’s indictment, and she also fought for the Uitlanders’ rights.
  • Millicent Fawcett joined and supported various campaigns.
  • Among these were campaigns against child abuse, criminalizing incest and physical and sexual abuse of children in the family, putting a stop to the white slave trade, preventing child marriages and regulating prostitution in India, exercising the inclusion of women in courtrooms for cases on sexual offenses, and revoking the Contagious Disease Acts.
  • She also gave speeches at schools and colleges for women.
  • During the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the WSPU supported the war efforts while the NUWSS supported the health services in the training camps and in countries such as Scotland, Russia, and Serbia.
  • Although not a pacifist, Millicent Fawcett risked dividing the organization if she give their funds to the government.
  • Their campaign for women’s suffrage continued, and the NUWSS took the situation as an opportunity to specify the contributions that women made during the war.
  • In 1918, the Representation of the People Act 1918 was passed and allowed British women aged 30 and over to vote.
  • A year later, Millicent Fawcett resigned from her post after NUWSS had changed to the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship.
  • She focused on writing books and several articles. 
  • Some of her works include a biography of Josephine Butler; “The Women’s Victory and After: Personal reminiscences;” “Life of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria,” and “What I Remember (Pioneers of the Woman’s Movement).”
  • Although Millicent Fawcett retired, she remained the vice president of the League of Nations Unions.
  • In 1929, she died in London and was cremated at the Golden Green Crematorium.
  • In 1932, a memorial to her was added alongside her husband in Westminster Abbey.

Achievements and Legacy

  • She received an honorary doctorate in 1919 from the University of Birmingham.
  • Apart from this, she was also appointed a Dame of the British Empire in 1925.
  • In 1929, the Millicent Fawcett Hall was built in her honor.
  • It was a place in Westminster where women could freely have debates and discussions.
  • One of St. Felix School boarding houses near Millicent Fawcett’s birthplace was named after her.
  • In 1954, the London County Council installed a blue plaque at Bloomsbury, where she spent 45 years of her life.
  • The Women’s Library in the London School of Economics had kept her archives and later renamed one of their campuses Fawcett House.
  • She also won the BBC Radio 4 poll in February 2018 as the most influential woman of the past 100 years.
  • A statue in Parliament Square was built for Millicent Fawcett, making her the first woman to be granted this privilege.

Millicent Fawcett Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about Millicent Fawcett across 27 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Millicent Fawcett who was known for her courageous journey in promoting women’s suffrage.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Millicent Fawcett Facts
  • Knowing Millicent
  • Yes or No?
  • Connect The Words
  • Campaigns and Advocacies
  • What Do You Think?
  • Quoting Millicent
  • Legacy
  • Women, Take Note
  • Fight For It!
  • Pen and Paper

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Millicent Fawcett best known for?

Millicent Fawcett is known for leading the suffrage movement to grant women in Britain the right to vote. 

What organization is Millicent Fawcett known for leading?

The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), the largest women’s rights organization in Britain, was led by Millicent Fawcett following the death of her predecessor, Lydia Becker. The organization is known for having pushed for the suffrage movement through peaceful and non-confrontational means. 

What other organizations pushed for the women’s suffrage movement during Millicent Fawcett’s time?

The Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), composed of militant suffragists led by Emmeline Pankhurst, also pushed for women’s right to vote. While supporting them at first, Millicent Fawcett, believed that militancy and revolutionary movements would be counterproductive to the cause. 

What other campaigns did Millicent Fawcett support?

Apart from the campaign for women’s suffrage, Millicent Fawcett also supported campaigns against child abuse, slave trade, and child marriages, among many others. 

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Use With Any Curriculum

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