the following newspapers: Voting Common Cause Suffragette Votes for Women Women's Suffrage News Women's Suffrage Journal Women's Suffrage Women's Franchise Women's Dreadnought The Independent Suffragette They also tried to take part in a public debate with the editorials of a conservative newspaper that went against the suffrage. Elizabeth Robins, the League's first president, became famous for her defense of the cause against the anti suffragist Mrs. Humphry Ward in the Times. Plays The WWSL gave the following plays together with the Actresses' Franchise League: How the Vote was Won Votes for Women A Pageant of Great Women A chat with Mrs Chicky Press Cutting Along with Actresses' Franchise League they composed works, pageants and shows, some to pay tribute to Shakespeare for integrating in his works the qualities of women. One play written by Beatrice Harraden and Bessie Hatton, Shakespeare's Dreams, featured several of Shakespeare's characters (including Portia, Viola, Perdita, Lady Macbeth, Rosalind, Kate, Beatrice, Puck, Ariel, and Cleopatra) coming to the sleeping poet, giving him flowers, and reciting some of their famous lines. Ending The Representation of the People Act passed in 1918, granting women over the age of 30 the right to vote. Although this did not meet the stated goal of the WWSL, which was to earn women the right to vote that was equal to the men's right to vote (men over the age of 21 were enfranchised by the Act), the league nevertheless disbanded on 24 January 1918. Notable members The WWSL had over 100 members, including several notable female suffrage authors: Elizabeth Robins - First President Marie Belloc Lowndes - Vice President Margaret Nevinson - Treasurer Cicely Hamilton Bessie Hatton Beatrice Harraden May Sinclair Alice Meynell Olive Schreiner Sarah Grand Violet Hunt Edith Ayrton Edith Ellis Evelyn Sharp Gertrude Warden George Paston Madeline Lucette Ryley The active participation of men, as honorary associates of the league, also differentiated the WWSL from late-twentieth-century feminist literary groups. See also Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom Suffrage drama References Further reading Stowell, Sheila. 1994. A stage of their own: feminist playwrights of the suffrage era. Ann Arbor, Mich: Univ. of Michigan Press. External links Spartacus article on the WWSL 1908 establishments in the United Kingdom British literature Feminist organisations in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1908 Organizations for women writers Suffrage organisations in the United Kingdom British suffragists