Amberley and Miss Gertrude Jenner of Wenvoe, no real suffrage movements took hold in the 1870s and the country was reliant on speaking tours from members of English societies, predominantly from Bristol, London and Manchester. On 25 February 1881, Gertrude Jenner addressed a meeting held in Cardiff Town Hall to "consider means of promoting interest in Cardiff" towards female voting rights. This was a preliminary to a larger meeting that was held on 9 March which was attended by local dignitaries, Miss Jenner, Helen Blackburn and was chaired by the Mayor of Cardiff. Despite there being a great deal of suffrage activity in the lead up to the Third Reform Act of 1884, there was little campaigning in Wales during the early 1880s. One act of significant importance that did occur during this period was the decision in late 1884 by the delegates of the Aberdare, Merthyr and Dowlais District Mine Association to support a series of talks by Jeanette Wilkinson on the right of women's votes. This is the first recorded instance of interest by Welsh working men supporting female suffrage. Suffragist societies in Wales, 1884–1906 The publication of the Reform Acts of 1867 and 1884, both of which extended suffrage for men in the United Kingdom, led to large-scale political organisation. These combined with the outcome of the Corrupt Practices Act of 1883, which prevented the payment of canvassers, led to both Conservative and Liberal Parties approaching female supporters to aid them in political campaigning. The Conservatives were first to offer a political role for women in Wales with the opening of branches of the Primrose League, but campaigning for women's rights was not its priority and merely aimed to 'interest women in politics'. In response the Liberal Party launched Women's Liberal Associations which allowed women more freedom to allocate a role and voice for themselves and were not a mere subsidiary of the national party. The organisation of women in the Liberal Party in Wales began around 1890 supported by prominent members Gwyneth Vaughan, Nora Phillips and Sybil Thomas. In 1891 an Aberdare branch of the Women's Liberal Foundation was founded and it quickly began advocating votes for women and began leafleting in both English and Welsh. By 1893 there were said to be 7,000 members of the Welsh Union of Women's Liberal Associations which had raised to 9,000 by 1895. At a meeting of the North