For the most part, this research has sought to examine the influence of institutional and social networks on the success of the suffrage campaign in Napier. Largely, emphasis along these lines views the result as one of community connection, personal relationships, and societal support. There is, however, another element which deserves some attention: community solidarity. Faced with a resolutely anti-suffrage incumbent MP in the form of Napier mayor George Swan, the women of Napier were presented with a prominent antagonist. What impact, if any, did this have on the suffrage campaign in the region? It is difficult to know for certain. The result of the 1893 election, with Swan ousted by Liberal opponent Samuel Carnell, coupled with an assessment of letters written to the press during this period suggest, however, that the female population was not indifferent to Swan and his vocal opposition to the extension of the franchise. Napier's Anti-Suffragists Swan had been actively opposed to the women's vote ever since it had begun to receive genuine consideration from members of the house in the early 1890s. Identified by Patricia Grimshaw as one of the so-called 'Licenced Victuallers' who, led by Dunedin's Henry Fish, opposed the suffrage amendment based on its perceived threat to the drink trade, Swan's anti-suffrage agenda had been recognised at the national level. Shortly after the WCTU petition was presented to parliament, he had presented Governor Glasgow with a 'most representative' petition against the suffrage. Such a move sparked disapproval from a number of quarters, not least of which being the soon to be enfranchised female population. Credit: Daily Telegraph, 30 October 1893, p.3, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DTN18931030.2.21 'A Woman Voter' outlined such opposition in a heated letter to the editor of the Daily Telegraph in October 1893. Addressing Swan's candidature for the upcoming election, the correspondent appeared perplexed by the opening remarks in his announcement. In addressing both ladies and gentlemen, the author was left to ponder why Swan had seen fit to 'trouble himself to address the ladies at all', questioning whether he had forgotten his part in both supporting and providing a platform for anti-suffrage sentiment. For the author, the result of Swan's antagonism was clear. 'Does he really imagine', she queried, 'that the women of Napier intend to make themselves ridiculous on their very first appearance, so to speak, by returning a man who has been fighting tooth and nail to deprive them of their privileges?' A critique imbued, perhaps, with a notion of gendered solidarity, the author suggested that Swan's stance could be explained one of two ways. 'Either he honestly thinks women too ignorant and uneducated to be allowed to meddle in politics, or else he fears (and with good reason) that their vote will be detrimental to his particular trade.' The question of the impact of the women's vote on the drink trade has not been addressed in any great depth by this research as of yet, it is important to recognise it for its part, however, in instilling a fear among established politicians about the potentially detrimental influence of the suffrage amendment. The suffrage activism of the women of Napier takes on another dimension when the presence of a nationally recognised suffrage opponent as an incumbent MP is considered.
The 1893 ElectionThe women's 'first appearance', as the Daily Telegraph correspondent termed it, in the national electoral arena saw Swan opposed by Liberal candidate Samuel Carnell, a political newcomer and former employee to whom Swan had sold his photography studio in 1870. Described by John Sullivan as an, 'idealistic and public-spirited man', Carnell came into the election on the back of the growth of liberalism and organised labour in the Napier electorate. Previously monopolised by landed interest, Carnell's victory in 1893, with a majority of 14.02%, provided the urban inhabitants, particularly, with a voice they had not previously enjoyed. Somewhat ungenerous in its assessment of the outcome, the more conservative Hawke's Bay Herald declared that the women of Napier had gone to the polls 'not so much upon any political question as upon that of the liquor traffic.' The liberally-aligned Daily Telegraph took a national approach, declaring that while the result could not be entirely attributed to the female participants they had 'no hesitation in saying that but for the women's vote to Government majority would not have been nearly so large.' Carnell's political career was not extensive, defeated as he was in the next election, but his entry into national politics at this pivotal point deserves some attention. Listing women's suffrage and prohibition among his chief political concerns, his liberal outlook stood in stark opposition to the conservative anti-suffrage sentiment espoused by Swan. The influence of the women's vote, while not explicitly quantifiable, can be observed in this turn of events. Whether such sentiment generated a sense of community solidarity among the female population is up for debate. Faced, however, with a chance to make a clear statement against the gentleman who had so vehemently opposed them, the women of Napier may well have risen to meet Swan's antagonism. Sources and Further Reading
Patricia Grimshaw, 'Politicians and Suffragettes: Women's Suffrage in New Zealand, 1891-1893', NZJH, Vol.4, no.2, 1970, pp.160-177. John Sullivan, 'The Portraits of Samuel Carnell', History of Photography, Vol.26, no.4, Winter 2002, pp.351-357.
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