to be infected, she would be confined in what was known as a lock hospital until she recovered or her sentence finished. The original act only applied to a few selected naval ports and army towns, but by 1869 the acts had been extended to cover eighteen "subjected districts". In 1886, the acts were repealed. 1865: John Stuart Mill elected as an MP showing direct support for women's suffrage. 1866: On 7 June 1866 a petition from 1,499 women asking for women's suffrage was presented to Parliament, but it did not succeed. 1867: Second Reform Act – Male franchise extended to 2.5 million; no mention of women. 1869: In June 1869, Lydia Becker and fellow campaigners were successful in securing the vote for women in municipal elections. 1870: Married Women's Property Act enacted; it allowed married women to be the legal owners of the money they earned and to inherit property. 1873: In Custody of Infants Act 1873 due to additional pressure from women, the Parliament of the United Kingdom extended the presumption of maternal custody until a child reached sixteen. 1877: Annie Besant was tried in 1877 for publishing Charles Knowlton's Fruits of Philosophy, a work on family planning, under the Obscene Publications Act 1857. Knowlton had previously been convicted in the United States. She and her colleague Charles Bradlaugh were convicted but acquitted on appeal, the subsequent publicity resulting in a decline in the birth rate. 1878: Magistrates courts were given the authority to grant separation and maintenance orders to wives of abusive husbands; much cheaper than divorce. 1880–1900 1882: The Married Women's Property Act 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c.75) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that significantly altered English law regarding the property rights of married women, which besides other matters allowed married women to own and control property in their own right. The Act applied in England (and Wales) and Ireland (after Irish independence in 1922, only Northern Ireland), but did not extend to Scotland. 1883: Conservative Primrose League formed. "The Primrose League was the first political organisation to give women the same status and responsibilities as men" according to Alistair Cooke. 1884: Third Reform Act – Male electorate doubled to 5 million. 1884: The Married Women's Property Act 1884 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that significantly altered English law regarding the property rights granted to married