In February 1912 the Bristol Liberal MP Charles E H Hobhouse addressed a meeting of the National League for Opposing Woman Suffrage in the city’s Colston Hall. During his speech he remarked, “In the present days of cheap and easy railway traffic they [the suffragettes] could always arrange numerous deputations or demonstrations and they could be as noisy as their funds permitted – (laughter)…” ( Western Daily Press , 17 February 1912). Hobhouse was anti-women’s suffrage and remained so even after the passage of the 1918 Representation of the People Act gave the vote to some British women. Although he had no understanding of or sympathy with the suffrage movement, his statement does show that he understood one thing: the importance of the rail network to the suffrage movement. In this three-part article, I’ll be exploring the connections between the railway system and the suffrage campaign, particularly the militant campaign. Both militant and non-militant women’s franchis...