Restricting the Juror Franchise in 1920s England and Wales

In 1919, the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act ended the ban on women serving on trial juries, and this fact significantly widened the jury franchise. 1 The legislation was, in part, an attempt by the Conservative-led government to win back some political momentum from the Labour opposition, which had styled itself "the women's party" at the 1918 general election, and had successfully got its own Women's Emancipation Bill through the House of Commons. It was also an attempt at watering down the proposals contained within the Labour Bill. 2 The Lord Chancellor, Lord Birkenhead, introducing the government Bill in the Lords, argued that if women were to enjoy "emoluments as solicitors or barristers, it is reasonable that they should discharge the obligations which are imposed upon men in respect to jury service". 3 While he did not use this language, this appears to be a claim that jury service is a duty of citizenship, a duty flowing from the extended voting rights secured by the Representation of the People Act 1918. Two years later, objecting to the idea that there were certain types of trial which were too "revolting" for women jurors, Millicent Garrett Fawcett argued on behalf of the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship that such arguments missed the 1919 Act's "simple and … great principle-namely, that men and women have equal responsibilities and equal 1 The major exception to the earlier ban had been juries of matrons, as discussed in Thomas R.