0:00:05 > 0:00:07In Victorian Belfast, one person did more than most
0:00:07 > 0:00:11for the advancement of women's rights in modern times.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15As the sleepy town transformed into an industrial city,
0:00:15 > 0:00:19she was intent on transforming the role of women in society.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21Yet today, she is largely forgotten.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25Isabella Tod was born in Scotland,
0:00:25 > 0:00:28but spent her adult life in Belfast and was one of the most
0:00:28 > 0:00:32successful campaigners for social reform in the late 1800s.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37But no statue exists to mark her achievements.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43Now, former Apprentice star and Northern Ireland native
0:00:43 > 0:00:47Margaret Mountford takes a step into the past to discover more about
0:00:47 > 0:00:52Tod's remarkable life and the Victorian times in which she lived.
0:00:52 > 0:00:54She was obviously a formidable character,
0:00:54 > 0:00:57with masses of energy and drive.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00She must have been a tough cookie.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02On the way, she discovers how Isabella was respected
0:01:02 > 0:01:05throughout Ireland and England as a radical thinker.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07Isabella was active,
0:01:07 > 0:01:10campaigning on what were the major issues of the day.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13These were burning news topics.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15But how much will we ever know about this lady,
0:01:15 > 0:01:19who devoted her life to improving the position of women?
0:01:21 > 0:01:23There are plenty of people who did less.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27And I think it's a disgrace that we've been allowed to forget her.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37At her home in London, Margaret is beginning her research on Isabella Tod.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41I've only just heard of Isabella Tod.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43And I'm intrigued.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48In a strange way, I feel some connection with her because she
0:01:48 > 0:01:53was of Ulster Scots background and was a Presbyterian, lived in Belfast.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55And I'm of Ulster Scots background
0:01:55 > 0:01:57and brought up as a Presbyterian in Holywood.
0:01:57 > 0:02:02So there's not much difference there. But there's 100 years separating us.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06I've printed out a list of just some of the organisations
0:02:06 > 0:02:10with which Isabella Tod was involved, some of which she founded -
0:02:10 > 0:02:13the Belfast Ladies' Institute,
0:02:13 > 0:02:16Belfast Women's Temperance Association,
0:02:16 > 0:02:19the London Women's Suffrage Society,
0:02:19 > 0:02:21Prison Gate Mission in Belfast.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24What strikes me from this list is how much of what she did
0:02:24 > 0:02:26is still pertinent today.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29We have the same social issues now as we had then.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32And actually we're trying to tackle them in the same way.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36This is the start of the journey to find out more about her,
0:02:36 > 0:02:40because I think she deserves to be much better known than she is.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48Margaret has arrived in Northern Ireland.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51Her first stop is the vaults of the Ulster Museum,
0:02:51 > 0:02:53to view a portrait of Isabella Tod.
0:02:55 > 0:02:57Very few images of her exist,
0:02:57 > 0:03:01so it's a chance for Margaret to get a better look at the campaigner.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06You've got one painting here that I'm particularly interested in.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09Isn't that right? Yes, this is the portrait of Isabella Tod.
0:03:09 > 0:03:11It is indeed. Yes, I'm a great fan of Tod.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13I would love to have met her in real life, you know.
0:03:13 > 0:03:15So what do you think Isabella was really like?
0:03:15 > 0:03:18I think she would have been a real busybody.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20And whether I would have actually liked her, had I met her,
0:03:20 > 0:03:22I'm not entirely sure.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24Right!
0:03:24 > 0:03:27Well, that's a very different impression from the picture
0:03:27 > 0:03:34on the internet. She's got a pretty strong gaze, hasn't she?
0:03:34 > 0:03:37Well, I see that gaze as very determined. She was a brick wall.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40But certainly, history has forgotten about her.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44There she is, a ghost from the past. She is a ghost from the past, yes.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Little is known about Tod's early life.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54She left Edinburgh in the 1860s and travelled to Belfast,
0:03:54 > 0:03:58a town with a rapidly growing Presbyterian population.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03This area around Queens University in Belfast
0:04:03 > 0:04:06represented the town's limit, and it's here that one of the most
0:04:06 > 0:04:11influential Presbyterian congregations was to be founded in 1862.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15Elmwood Presbyterian Church is now Elmwood Hall,
0:04:15 > 0:04:17and owned by Queen's University.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22Margaret's come to find out how this building and its people
0:04:22 > 0:04:26were so influential in shaping Isabella Tod's political activism.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32The church opened in 1862.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35It was one of the wealthiest congregations in Belfast in its day.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37And when it opened, it was right on that cusp
0:04:37 > 0:04:40of the explosion of Presbyterianism in Belfast.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43The city was growing and the denomination was growing.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46We went from four churches at the start of the century
0:04:46 > 0:04:47to 50 at the end of the century.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50So are there any records that show Isabella Tod was here?
0:04:50 > 0:04:52Yes, come and let's please have a look. Thank you.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59These are very old books from the Presbyterian Historical Society.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03Here she is, Miss Isabella Tod. Her attendance at Communion.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07And this is May 1863. It's her first Communion.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11She was pretty regular, wasn't she? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14As most people were. And she'd have been a contributor too, I suppose,
0:05:14 > 0:05:15was she? She was indeed.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19That's what this other extremely large ancient book is!
0:05:19 > 0:05:21And there's a little record. There's several records of her here.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25Gosh, couldn't people write well in those days? Now, here she is.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29Pew number 23. Miss Isabella Tod.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31And she paid the princely sum of one guinea - one pound,
0:05:31 > 0:05:35one shilling per year. And she paid it in two instalments each year.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39Gosh, I haven't seen ten and six written for a long time! Ah, well!
0:05:39 > 0:05:42I don't know what it is! Well, I'll tell you!
0:05:43 > 0:05:46So we're talking about a time when the Presbyterians
0:05:46 > 0:05:50were the leading industrialists, the wealthy class in society.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53The Presbyterians are traditionally the second-class citizens.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55The Anglicans, or Protestants, are running the country -
0:05:55 > 0:05:5712% of the population.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59The Presbyterians, or dissenters, are the middle block -
0:05:59 > 0:06:0012% of the population.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03The Roman Catholics are very much third-class citizens.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07But Belfast is growing and there's new wealth for Presbyterians.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09They can't exploit it politically,
0:06:09 > 0:06:12so their energies are diverted into worthy causes,
0:06:12 > 0:06:15and, you know, building the Presbyterian society,
0:06:15 > 0:06:15as they see it.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18It's not just about preaching, it's not just about reading
0:06:18 > 0:06:21the Bible and praying, it's about clean drains for the city,
0:06:21 > 0:06:23it's about begging is banished because it's a sin
0:06:23 > 0:06:25if Christians have beggars.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27It's trying to raise the whole living standard of people
0:06:27 > 0:06:30and the enjoyment of life and the quality of life,
0:06:30 > 0:06:32looking after the dumb, looking after the blind,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35looking after the downtrodden, fallen women, all of that,
0:06:35 > 0:06:37and Isabella Tod played a full part.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40That was fascinating.
0:06:40 > 0:06:45I'd no idea that Presbyterianism was such an industrial powerhouse
0:06:45 > 0:06:48and a force for change in the 19th century.
0:06:48 > 0:06:53And I can see now the type of society that Isabella Tod lived in when she was here,
0:06:53 > 0:06:56and the influences that were on her - very interesting.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08The Custom House was at the heart of Belfast's prospering trade.
0:07:09 > 0:07:14The dredging of Belfast Harbour in the 1840s allowed larger ships
0:07:14 > 0:07:16to access the port for the first time.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19With the creation of Queen's Island
0:07:19 > 0:07:23and a burgeoning trade in shipbuilding, linen and tobacco,
0:07:23 > 0:07:27Belfast quickly became the biggest and wealthiest port in Ireland.
0:07:30 > 0:07:31The population soared
0:07:31 > 0:07:35from 100,000 in the mid-1860s, when Isabella arrived,
0:07:35 > 0:07:38to a third of a million by the turn of the century.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44Belfast was officially recognised as a city in 1888.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10This archive footage, dating from the late Victorian era,
0:08:10 > 0:08:12shows a busy city centre.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18There's people everywhere and lots of tram cars -
0:08:18 > 0:08:20horse-drawn trams going along the lines
0:08:20 > 0:08:23that I remember the trolleybuses going along.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29Nearly all the women in these photos are smartly dressed,
0:08:29 > 0:08:33and one wonders whether working-class women came into the city centre then.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36Maybe the shops were too expensive for them.
0:08:38 > 0:08:40It is a city on the move.
0:08:49 > 0:08:54The rapid development brought wealth, but also many problems.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57Slum housing, squalor, disease and poverty
0:08:57 > 0:09:00were prevalent throughout the city.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04Difficult working and living conditions led many to seek solace
0:09:04 > 0:09:06in the public houses of Belfast.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09In an attempt to counter this trend,
0:09:09 > 0:09:12the temperance movement was gaining momentum.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17It was a cause dear to Isabella Tod's heart
0:09:17 > 0:09:18and her Presbyterian beliefs.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21In 1874, she helped to set up
0:09:21 > 0:09:24the Belfast Women's Temperance Association.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29To be poor in Belfast when Isabella Tod was active
0:09:29 > 0:09:31was to be absolutely at the bottom of the heap...
0:09:31 > 0:09:36Margaret's come to Townsend Street Presbyterian Church in Belfast,
0:09:36 > 0:09:38where the Irish Temperance League still meets.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42Hello, Margaret. Welcome to our meeting. We're just in the middle...
0:09:42 > 0:09:46The organisation is in the middle of a project tracing its own history.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48It's part of Victorian beliefs
0:09:48 > 0:09:52about women being much more frail and not able to manage and so forth,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55so there's a number of ideas, and one of them is that
0:09:55 > 0:09:57women physiologically are much more susceptible to alcohol
0:09:57 > 0:10:00and become addicted very, very quickly.
0:10:00 > 0:10:05For working-class women, it's that drink is part of a cycle,
0:10:05 > 0:10:08and the cycle works on drink,
0:10:08 > 0:10:12and getting yourself into situations possibly leading to immorality...
0:10:12 > 0:10:14As an alternative to the pub,
0:10:14 > 0:10:17the Irish Temperance League set up coffee stands,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20and Isabella Tod was invited to open one of them.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24This is from the Belfast Newsletter, I think, and the date was...
0:10:24 > 0:10:27This was in 1881. 1881.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31It records her opening speech. "For it is really frightful,
0:10:31 > 0:10:35"a condition of life of many." This was a first temptation to drinking.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38"Temperance people ought to rouse themselves
0:10:38 > 0:10:40"and bring the matter to an immediate and practical issue,
0:10:40 > 0:10:42"to clear away those abodes
0:10:42 > 0:10:45"in which it is hardly possible for people to live human lives."
0:10:45 > 0:10:47She speaks so terribly well
0:10:47 > 0:10:49and it's very rare for women
0:10:49 > 0:10:53to have spoken in big public meetings at that period.
0:10:53 > 0:10:54They are still speaking out today.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56LAUGHTER
0:10:56 > 0:10:58But of course!
0:11:03 > 0:11:07Shocked and distressed at the social conditions she was witnessing,
0:11:07 > 0:11:11Tod began writing anonymously to newspapers, expressing her views.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16She was passionate about improving access to education for women,
0:11:16 > 0:11:19seeing it as a way to further their place in society.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25Margaret's come to the Presbyterian Historical Society,
0:11:25 > 0:11:27where archivist Valerie Adams
0:11:27 > 0:11:30has unearthed Tod's first published pamphlet on education.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35The pamphlet was presented at a social science congress
0:11:35 > 0:11:40held in Belfast in 1867, but in a sign of the times,
0:11:40 > 0:11:43it was presented by a male colleague rather than Isabella herself.
0:11:46 > 0:11:48"Some have feared that college teaching
0:11:48 > 0:11:52"and examinations would cause an excitement injurious to girls,
0:11:52 > 0:11:56"but women have a heavy share in the infinitely more exciting cares
0:11:56 > 0:11:59"and sorrows of life and are not incapacitated for duty by them.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03"Besides, the sound judgment and quiet strength produced
0:12:03 > 0:12:07by good training are the best preparation for all vicissitudes."
0:12:08 > 0:12:14And this wasn't the sort of education that you'd get at a finishing school.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17The girls were to study what one would call "proper subjects".
0:12:17 > 0:12:20You had the junior level of study.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22They were to go on to do Latin, mathematics
0:12:22 > 0:12:26and the physical sciences. Very advanced to think of teaching girls
0:12:26 > 0:12:30physical sciences when even now we have problems with
0:12:30 > 0:12:33a lot of girls' schools not teaching science to the higher level.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37Reading this paper, you would never think that Isabella
0:12:37 > 0:12:39had had no formal education herself.
0:12:39 > 0:12:44It's very well argued, it's clear, it's a chunky piece of work
0:12:44 > 0:12:48and she makes her argument very succinctly and very well.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52It's very impressive. I'm sure she was difficult to resist.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03Tod now came to the attention of like-minded reformers in London.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06Following in her footsteps,
0:13:06 > 0:13:09Margaret's on her way to Parliament where Isabella was invited
0:13:09 > 0:13:12to give evidence on a ground-breaking piece of legislation -
0:13:12 > 0:13:14the Married Women's Property Bill.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20At that time, married women couldn't own property
0:13:20 > 0:13:24and their husbands had complete control over any wages they earned.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28As changes to the law were being considered, Isabella Tod was
0:13:28 > 0:13:32the only woman called to provide evidence to the committee of MPs.
0:13:32 > 0:13:33Hello, Mari.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36Hi. Very pleased to meet you. Nice to meet you.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39You can see her name among the list of witnesses,
0:13:39 > 0:13:43so we find her just there. The only woman?
0:13:43 > 0:13:46She's the only woman out of a dozen or so people,
0:13:46 > 0:13:50despite the fact that the subject was all about women.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54She would have been quite unusual as a woman
0:13:54 > 0:13:56giving evidence to a Select Committee in this period.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00She says, "I know a number of cases in which the women are hardly
0:14:00 > 0:14:02"able to maintain themselves and their families at all,
0:14:02 > 0:14:05"because their husbands take their wages from them,
0:14:05 > 0:14:08"or a very considerable proportion of them, when they receive them.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11"More frequently, they run up debts at the public houses
0:14:11 > 0:14:13"which the women must discharge,
0:14:13 > 0:14:15"at least under the threat of having their furniture
0:14:15 > 0:14:17"and other property taken to pay it.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19"The consequences are very bad for all the family."
0:14:19 > 0:14:23I think one of the things that strikes me here is that Isabella
0:14:23 > 0:14:24is speaking from a lot of personal experience.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26She's gone into the city,
0:14:26 > 0:14:30she's talked to people who are working in the mills,
0:14:30 > 0:14:32she's seen the conditions the families are living under,
0:14:32 > 0:14:35and she's seen the problems that arise
0:14:35 > 0:14:38because the women have to hand over their wages.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42But nowadays it's hard to imagine that a woman would go out to work
0:14:42 > 0:14:47and would have no right to retain ownership of what she'd earned.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50When asked whether she's formed a strong opinion
0:14:50 > 0:14:53as to the desirability of altering the law generally,
0:14:53 > 0:14:56Isabella replies, "Yes, a very decided opinion."
0:14:56 > 0:14:58One gets the impression that she was someone
0:14:58 > 0:14:59who certainly knew her own mind.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04Tod now found herself involved in other high-profile causes,
0:15:04 > 0:15:08including a campaign for the repeal of the new Contagious Diseases Acts.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13Under the Contagious Diseases Acts, the police had power
0:15:13 > 0:15:16to arrest any woman suspected of being a prostitute.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18Just somebody suspected of? Yeah, not convicted,
0:15:18 > 0:15:20just suspected of being a prostitute,
0:15:20 > 0:15:23in certain towns near military bases,
0:15:23 > 0:15:26and the police could bring that woman before a justice of the peace
0:15:26 > 0:15:29who could order her to undergo regular medical examinations
0:15:29 > 0:15:32to see if she had a sexually transmitted disease.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35I don't suppose people were picking soldiers off the street and testing them?
0:15:35 > 0:15:39No. There's a fundamental sexual inequality at the heart of the act.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42If a woman is diseased, she runs the risk of being locked up in hospital,
0:15:42 > 0:15:45but diseased men were left completely untouched.
0:15:45 > 0:15:47To spread it as they choose. Absolutely.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50It's a massive infringement of women's civil liberties.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57The Ladies National Association was formed to oppose the legislation.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00Isabella Tod was one of the founding members
0:16:00 > 0:16:02and signed a petition against the acts in 1870.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09Was that quite a brave thing for a respectable Victorian lady to do?
0:16:09 > 0:16:12Enormously brave. It was very, very shocking
0:16:12 > 0:16:15that respectable ladies would speak out at public meetings
0:16:15 > 0:16:19and lobby Parliament on subjects as unrespectable and distasteful
0:16:19 > 0:16:22as sexually transmitted diseases and prostitution. Respectable wives
0:16:22 > 0:16:25and daughters weren't supposed to know about these things,
0:16:25 > 0:16:30which meant that people involved in the campaign were subjected to
0:16:30 > 0:16:33a great deal of hostile commentary.
0:16:34 > 0:16:38In 1886, the Contagious Diseases Acts were repealed.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42Four years earlier the Married Women's Property Act
0:16:42 > 0:16:43had been finally amended,
0:16:43 > 0:16:47granting women the right to their own property and wages.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50Isabella Tod had played a vital role in achieving both.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58Thinking of her, a single woman, home educated,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01coming across from Belfast, addressing Parliament,
0:17:01 > 0:17:05prominent in all sort of reform movements -
0:17:05 > 0:17:07it's breathtaking, actually.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13Before Margaret leaves London, there's one final stop -
0:17:13 > 0:17:16The Women's Library in the city's East End.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19She's heard they hold a rare image of Isabella Tod
0:17:19 > 0:17:20and is keen to take a look.
0:17:23 > 0:17:29This is part of the archive of the Association of Moral and Social Hygiene,
0:17:29 > 0:17:32and here we have a photograph of Miss Isabella Tod.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37This photograph and all the photographs in this album
0:17:37 > 0:17:40were, in fact, known as cartes de visite,
0:17:40 > 0:17:43little visiting cards that the individuals would have taken
0:17:43 > 0:17:48as they visited their friends and associates. And there she is.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53She looks much more glamorous than I'd been expecting.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57Looking very elegant, and it was taken in Belfast,
0:17:57 > 0:18:01so I suppose she had her full wardrobe at hand.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03Yes, I imagine so.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07Well, she's a lovely face and she doesn't... You wouldn't
0:18:07 > 0:18:11look at that face and think, "Ah, yes, here's a hardline protester."
0:18:11 > 0:18:14No, she looks very ladylike, doesn't she? Hmm.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24Isabella's experiences in London and success at Parliament convinced her
0:18:24 > 0:18:28that in order to improve society, women needed the right to vote.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35Inspired by this, she set up the first Women's Suffrage Society in Ireland.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37In some parts of England, women had managed to secure the right
0:18:37 > 0:18:40to vote on local acts specific to their borough.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46Isabella was determined to implement a similar franchise in Belfast.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57To find out more, Margaret's at the old town hall,
0:18:57 > 0:18:59now part of the Court Service,
0:18:59 > 0:19:01but where the local council was based at the time.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07In the 1880s, one of the things the Belfast Corporation wanted to do
0:19:07 > 0:19:10was to improve the drainage of the city,
0:19:10 > 0:19:13and this was going to be extraordinary costly.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17It was literally going to cost the equivalent of millions of pounds,
0:19:17 > 0:19:22and a number of MPs decided that if the Belfast ratepayers,
0:19:22 > 0:19:25as they existed at the time, were going to have to pay for this,
0:19:25 > 0:19:29then it would be a good idea to actually extend the franchise
0:19:29 > 0:19:34to ratepayers who were living in the city.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38So this was local property legislation? Exactly.
0:19:38 > 0:19:43So Isabella Tod spoke to her colleagues, her MP, friends,
0:19:43 > 0:19:45and one of the things they did was,
0:19:45 > 0:19:48they actually changed some of the wording in this franchise bill
0:19:48 > 0:19:52and they changed the word "man" to "person",
0:19:52 > 0:19:55and then to state explicitly that "person" included women,
0:19:55 > 0:19:58just in case there was going to be any further argument about it,
0:19:58 > 0:20:01which there might very well have been. Indeed.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04And this meant that Belfast was ahead of the rest of Ireland?
0:20:04 > 0:20:10It was. Belfast was the first city where women actually won the municipal vote.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13Winning in England had had this from the 1860s,
0:20:13 > 0:20:17but not women in Ireland. She writes to the Northern Whig
0:20:17 > 0:20:20a couple of days after this act is actually passed,
0:20:20 > 0:20:23and says how wonderful this piece of legislation is.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26And we actually have an extract from the paper there.
0:20:26 > 0:20:31"Miss Tod expresses the hope that the newly enfranchised women voters will
0:20:31 > 0:20:34"care less for merely party politics than less enlightened men do
0:20:34 > 0:20:38"and that they will care more for the great social and moral questions of the day."
0:20:40 > 0:20:45Do you think she'd be disappointed if she saw what we've made of the vote?
0:20:45 > 0:20:49She probably would be very disappointed that people don't vote,
0:20:49 > 0:20:52because it was such an important thing to her
0:20:52 > 0:20:55in terms of people's duty. I think it should be obligatory.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57I think a lot of things should be obligatory.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59Voting is one of them!
0:21:04 > 0:21:07Despite her successful campaigns for voting
0:21:07 > 0:21:09and property rights, Tod's passion
0:21:09 > 0:21:13for the advancement of women's education never waned.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15What an amazing room! Yes, it is, Margaret.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18The old Museum Arts Centre here in Belfast
0:21:18 > 0:21:21was home to the Belfast Ladies' Institute.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24Isabella Tod was the secretary.
0:21:24 > 0:21:29They held classes for young women who wanted a university education.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32They taught girls in Latin, astronomy
0:21:32 > 0:21:33and chemistry.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37Those are pretty hard subjects, aren't they? They are.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40It's quite hard to get girls to study these today. Yeah,
0:21:40 > 0:21:42and they were not typical of middle-class girls'
0:21:42 > 0:21:43education at the time -
0:21:43 > 0:21:46that was in what the Ladies' Institute said were "showy,
0:21:46 > 0:21:48"artificial accomplishments - music,
0:21:48 > 0:21:52"and drawing" - there was real public objection
0:21:52 > 0:21:53to academic education for girls.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56When the Ladies' Institute was formed,
0:21:56 > 0:22:00people thought that it would cause them to ignore their moral
0:22:00 > 0:22:01and religious duties.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04Presumably they didn't do practical work,
0:22:04 > 0:22:06they'd have learnt from books here.
0:22:06 > 0:22:08That was typical of education at the time.
0:22:08 > 0:22:09But what was not typical was that
0:22:09 > 0:22:12the Queen's College professors were teaching them here.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15Queen's College is now Queen's University. Exactly.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18Why did they have to come here to teach the girls?
0:22:18 > 0:22:21Because unfortunately the Senate of Queen's University
0:22:21 > 0:22:24decided that the lecture halls
0:22:24 > 0:22:27were not open to girls.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29She really motivated the other members
0:22:29 > 0:22:33to start lobbying for equal admission of women
0:22:33 > 0:22:35into Irish universities. She was a force
0:22:35 > 0:22:39to be reckoned with as the petitions and the pamphlets show.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48Margaret's come to the university's Special Collections archive
0:22:48 > 0:22:50to view some of those petitions.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55This is a meeting of the Senate...
0:22:56 > 0:22:59..from...
0:22:59 > 0:23:02the 4th November, 1873.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05From the Belfast Ladies' Institute. Yes.
0:23:05 > 0:23:10That would have been signed by Isabella Tod, among others.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12Yes.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16They're asking them to consider "the wisdom and desirableness
0:23:16 > 0:23:20"of opening the Queen's University to women".
0:23:20 > 0:23:23And they're flattering them.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25"The Queen's University is less hampered by old rules
0:23:25 > 0:23:27and traditions than others
0:23:27 > 0:23:32"and is more in harmony with the ideas and the wants of our time."
0:23:32 > 0:23:35It's funny... "We hope that someone of the Queen's Collegers
0:23:35 > 0:23:39"will be found ready to make the necessary arrangements for ladies to be admitted as students.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42"If medical classes should be formed, we wish to state
0:23:42 > 0:23:45"our conviction that separate instruction in these subjects
0:23:45 > 0:23:47"is absolutely necessary." So there was no
0:23:47 > 0:23:51mingling over the cadavers, was there? Exactly.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54Under mounting pressure, Queen's University
0:23:54 > 0:23:56finally allowed women into classes in 1882.
0:23:56 > 0:24:01"..by Professor Synge and resolved that the Council is disposed to sanction
0:24:01 > 0:24:04"the admission of women to certain classes in the college
0:24:04 > 0:24:06"if arrangements of a satisfactory character can be made
0:24:06 > 0:24:09"and if it's found that a sufficient number of women
0:24:09 > 0:24:12"be desirous of availing themselves of the privilege."
0:24:14 > 0:24:16Her success in gaining local suffrage
0:24:16 > 0:24:18and getting girls into Queen's
0:24:18 > 0:24:22were the high points of Isabella's campaigns.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26By the late 1880s, she was to be consumed by the big political debate
0:24:26 > 0:24:29of the time - home rule.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32When Gladstone introduced his first Home Rule bill
0:24:32 > 0:24:34in 1886,
0:24:34 > 0:24:36Isabella Tod, a staunch Ulster Presbyterian,
0:24:36 > 0:24:38objected on all counts.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46She began a vigorous campaign against the bill,
0:24:46 > 0:24:49establishing the Belfast Women's Liberal Unionist Association.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52She travelled throughout Ireland and England,
0:24:52 > 0:24:55organising meetings and petitions against home rule.
0:24:55 > 0:25:00Her commitment to the cause is evident in letters held here
0:25:00 > 0:25:02at the Public Record Office in Belfast.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08"I am anxious to have the meeting soon,
0:25:08 > 0:25:12"for the weather is becoming cold and I shall soon have to shut myself up
0:25:12 > 0:25:15"by the fireside for the winter.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18"It's very kind of you to think of a meeting at Fivemiletown.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21"Every meeting does good, in one way or another.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24"I know very well the sort of sour Presbyterian farmers
0:25:24 > 0:25:29"you allude to and I do think that wise Presbyterian ladies
0:25:29 > 0:25:32"might help their ministers to rouse them out of their narrowness
0:25:32 > 0:25:34"and make them comprehend how penny-wise
0:25:34 > 0:25:38"and pound-foolish they are in politics."
0:25:38 > 0:25:41This letter was written in October, 1892.
0:25:41 > 0:25:43That's just four years before Isabella died
0:25:43 > 0:25:46and despite the fact that possibly
0:25:46 > 0:25:48she's referring to the fireside for the winter
0:25:48 > 0:25:50because of failing health,
0:25:50 > 0:25:53nothing's going to stop her sorting out these committees and meetings.
0:25:53 > 0:25:55She's still very active.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01Tod's campaigning against home rule took its toll
0:26:01 > 0:26:04and she suffered from ill health for the last ten years of her life.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09This building in Belfast's Botanic area,
0:26:09 > 0:26:11now a cafe,
0:26:11 > 0:26:13was her last address. It's here that she died
0:26:13 > 0:26:16on December 8th, 1896.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24Margaret's on her way to Balmoral Cemetery on the outskirts
0:26:24 > 0:26:26of South Belfast
0:26:26 > 0:26:28where Isabella Tod is buried.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33Her funeral was a huge affair
0:26:33 > 0:26:37with many of Belfast's most influential citizens in attendance.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41I'd really like to know more about her private life
0:26:41 > 0:26:44because apart from knowing that she looked after her mother,
0:26:44 > 0:26:46and then lived with a companion for about 20 years,
0:26:46 > 0:26:48we don't know anything else.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50We don't really know what made her tick.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56"Isabella MS Tod.
0:26:56 > 0:27:01"May 1836 to December 1896.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04"Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
0:27:04 > 0:27:10"Many daughters have done virtuously, but though excellest them all."
0:27:10 > 0:27:12I have here the text of a memorial speech
0:27:12 > 0:27:15by her great friend Margaret Byers.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18"Miss Tod's untiring interest in every cause
0:27:18 > 0:27:21"for the promotion of the wellbeing of mankind
0:27:21 > 0:27:24"and the immense trouble and pain she took by frequent journeys,
0:27:24 > 0:27:27"by voice and pen, often in great bodily weakness,
0:27:27 > 0:27:30"to advocate any measure for the good of mankind in general,
0:27:30 > 0:27:33"has made all who know her, both men and women,
0:27:33 > 0:27:35"feel themselves her debtors."
0:27:39 > 0:27:43She was instrumental in changing the law in relation to women's
0:27:43 > 0:27:46voting rights, Married Women's Property Acts,
0:27:46 > 0:27:51she was one of the major movers behind getting the Contagious Diseases Act repealed,
0:27:51 > 0:27:53and she was principally responsible, I feel,
0:27:53 > 0:27:56for getting women admitted to take degrees in what is now
0:27:56 > 0:27:57Queen's University, Belfast.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00That's a huge range of achievements
0:28:00 > 0:28:03and there are plenty of people who did less
0:28:03 > 0:28:07and I'm very surprised that we've been allowed to forget her.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd