Women’s Printing Society

Women’s Printing Society
Name	Women’s Printing Society
Formation	1870s
Founder	Helen Taylor; Emily Faithfull; Mary Ward; Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon
Type	Printing cooperative; publishing house; women’s employment initiative
Headquarters	London
Region served	United Kingdom
Products	Books; periodicals; pamphlets; posters

Women’s Printing Society The Women’s Printing Society was a London-based cooperative that provided employment, training, and publishing opportunities for women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Closely connected to the Women’s Suffrage Movement, the society interacted with activists, reformers, and writers across networks including the Langham Place Group, the National Society for Women’s Suffrage, and allies such as the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies and the Women's Social and Political Union. Its press produced works for figures linked to the first-wave feminist movement, the Labour Party, and reform organizations such as the National Union of Women's Workers.

History

The origins of the press sit within Victorian reform circles tied to personalities from the Langham Place Group and salons frequented by members of the Primrose League, advocates associated with Millicent Fawcett, Emmeline Pankhurst, and earlier campaigners like Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. The society emerged amid debates involving industrial advocates like John Stuart Mill and social researchers including Charles Booth and reform publications such as the Pall Mall Gazette and The Morning Post. It operated alongside cooperative experiments exemplified by the Co-operative Wholesale Society and women’s employment campaigns linked to organizations such as the Women’s Protective and Provident League and the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women.

The press’s history intersects with legal and political episodes including the passage of laws debated in the Parliament of the United Kingdom and campaigns championed by MPs such as Jacob Bright and activists tied to the Clarion movement. It navigated economic shifts during periods marked by events including the Second Industrial Revolution and later the First World War, when connections with the Ministry of Munitions and wartime production altered printing demand.

Founding and Mission

Founded by a circle that included Emily Faithfull, Helen Taylor, Mary Ward, and Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon, the society articulated aims resonant with organizations like the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women and the Central Committee for Women's Employment. Its mission emphasized vocational training analogous to that provided by the Working Women's College and principles promoted by pioneers such as Octavia Hill and Josephine Butler. The society framed its work within contemporary debates featuring journals such as The Englishwoman's Review and The Queen (magazine), seeking to provide an alternative to male-dominated workshops exemplified by firms like Spottiswoode & Co. and printers serving the Times of London.

The society’s program included apprenticeships reflecting models seen at the Gospel Oak Employment Exchange and collaborations with philanthropic institutions like the Shaftesbury Society and education initiatives linked to Frances Buss and Dorothy L. Sayers’s predecessors. Its ethos appealed to campaigners associated with the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science and temperance advocates including Florence Nightingale’s circle.

Key People and Staff

Key figures connected with operations included proprietors and activists such as Emily Faithfull, whose links extended to the Victoria Printing Office, and trustees like Helen Taylor and Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon. Staff and trainees worked alongside typographers influenced by continental practitioners and corresponded with reform journalists from newspapers like the Manchester Guardian and periodicals such as Once a Week. Collaborators and clients included authors connected to George Eliot, Christina Rossetti, and journalists linked to Harold Blackham’s intellectual descendants; activists in staff roles had ties to labor organizations such as the Trades Union Congress and the Social Democratic Federation.

The society engaged with public figures seeking printed material: suffrage leaders such as Millicent Fawcett, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, and Annie Kenney; social reformers like Beatrice Webb, Sidney Webb, and Henrietta Barnett; and literary patrons including Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s heirs and collectors associated with the British Library. Printers and compositors trained at the workshop later worked for printers linked to the Oxford University Press and the Cambridge University Press.

Publications and Works

The press produced pamphlets, broadsides, and books for suffrage groups including materials distributed at events like the Women’s Suffrage Procession and meetings at venues such as the Albert Hall. It printed editions for periodicals such as The Englishwoman's Review, Votes for Women, and for societies including the National Union of Women Workers and the International Alliance of Women. It produced educational tracts similar to those circulated by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and public information leaflets akin to campaigns by the National Health Society.

Notable titles included biographies, essays, and manuals by writers connected to Harriet Martineau, Josephine Butler, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and translations of continental feminists like Alexandra Kollontai. The society printed campaign literature for organizations involved in the Fabian Society and for meetings held by groups such as the Guildhall and Town Hall (London) gatherings.

Role in Women's Rights and Labor Movements

The society was integral to networks driving campaigns led by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies and the militant activism of the Women’s Social and Political Union, providing printed materials, diaries, and posters used at demonstrations in locations like Trafalgar Square and Hyde Park. It contributed to literature influencing parliamentary advocates such as John Bright and social reformers like Samuel Smiles and amplified voices from organizations including the Ten Hours Movement and the Suffrage Atelier.

Through apprenticeships and employment it intersected with trade union efforts organized by the Amalgamated Society of Lithographic Printers and supported labor campaigns echoed in the Matchgirls Strike and later women's labor struggles within the Aldwych printing districts. Its role echoed broader campaigns for occupational rights pursued by figures such as Helen Blackburn and institutions like the Women’s Industrial Council.

Legacy and Influence on Printing Industry

The society influenced later women-led presses and cooperatives including successors in the Women’s Co-operative Guild milieu and small presses associated with the Bloomsbury Group and progressive publishing around the Interwar period. Alumni moved into positions at major houses like the Oxford University Press, the Cambridge University Press, and municipal printing offices in cities including Manchester, Birmingham, and Edinburgh.

Its model informed 20th-century organizations such as the London Society for Women’s Service and inspired publishing ventures connected to cultural movements involving figures like Virginia Woolf and the River Press tradition. The society’s archives, dispersed among institutions such as the British Library, the Women's Library at the London School of Economics, and local record offices in Somerset House and Guildhall document its contribution to printing, suffrage, and women’s paid work.

Category:History of printing Category:Women in the United Kingdom