Kensington Society (suffragette group)

The Kensington Society (1865–1868) was a British women's suffrage discussion society in Kensington, London, where rising suffragists met to discuss women's rights and organised their campaign for female suffrage, education and property holding.

The society, formed in March 1865, met at the Kensington home of its president, Charlotte Manning, and enjoyed a close relationship with English institutions of higher education amenable to women. Most members were young, unmarried, educated, middle class women. Nine of the original eleven members were not married, suggesting a broader commitment to female empowerment. The society included: Barbara Bodichon, Emily Davies, Frances Buss, Dorothea Beale, Jessie Boucherett, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Helen Taylor, Charlotte Manning, Anna Swanwick, Anne Clough, and the tireless worker for disadvantaged girls,Rosamond Davenport Hill. Another early member, Emilia Russell Gurney was the wife of Russell Gurney who introduced legislation in parliament on women's rights to property and to practise medicine. Membership expanded to 33 members by the official founding, a total of 58 members in the following year and 67 by its end in 1868.

In the interest of maximum efficiency and discussion quality, each member submitted a discussion question before meetings. Charlotte Manning, Isa Craig, and Emily Davies selected the three questions of “greatest interest” to the group and present them. The members exchanged response papers and discussed them at the following meeting. By giving all of its members the opportunity to participate in constructive debate and discussion, the Society allowed competent and educated women to articulate their thoughts further expansion of the suffrage and more egalitarian political movements. The society charged the substantial sum of two shillings and sixpence annually and the same sum for each meeting. Manning's house was used because it could accommodate the number of women who attended. Some of the women were confident, where as others used the society as a place where they could discuss a wide range of subjects privately. The opinions expressed at the meetings were not recorded but the subjects chosen included the obedience of daughters, whether boys and girls should be taught the same subjects and whether women could aspire to be members of parliament or magistrates should they ever be given the vote.

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