Kensington Society (women's discussion group)

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.

[2] 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 Rosamond Davenport Hill.

[5] 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 for further expansion of the suffrage and more egalitarian political movements.

[6] On 28 April 1866, society members Barbara Bodichon, Emily Davies and Jessie Boucherett drafted a petition for the enfranchisement of, "all householders, without distinction of sex, who possess such property or rental qualifications as your Honorable House may determine.

Mill added an amendment giving women equal political rights to the Reform Bill in 1866 and, with Fawcett, presented it to Parliament.