A Bermuda Cedar Tree stands on the west side of the Sessions House grounds, as a memorial to the enfranchisement of Bermudian women in 1944.
A plaque beneath the tree reads as follows:
"To commemorate the Political Enfranchisement of Bermuda Women May 25, 1944."
From the Bermuda College Library, this PDF of thetimeline for women's suffrage in Bermuda: (
visit link)
"Gladys Morrell &
Women’s Suffrage in Bermuda.
Some Key Points on Women’s Suffrage
1848. First American Women's Convention in Seneca Falls issues declaration for women's suffrage and equal education and employment opportunity.
1867. Bermudian women barred from vestry. The Church Vestries Act, 1867 specifically restricts the franchise to males.
1869. Three million women's signatures on suffrage petitions to British Parliament over the next decade.
1871. Women denied freeholder rights. The Married Women's Property Acts 1871, 1875, and 1901 preserve the exclusive rights of husbands to qualify for the Parliamentary franchise on their wives' real estate.
1895. First Bermudian women's petition. One hundred and twenty-two Bermudian women sign a petition to the House of Assembly, praying the franchise may be excluded to them'. Anna Maria Outerbridge, a human rights activist, is said to have persuaded her father Dr. T.A. Outerbridge, M.P., to propose the bill franchising women.
1895. First franchise Act sabotaged. Dr. Outerbridge sponsors "An Act to Enable Married Women to Vote at Certain Elections". It passed the House but was defeated in the Legislative Council.
1900. Bermuda's women denied the vote again. The Parliamentary Election Act was restricted for males only.
1919. Sir Stanley Spurling, leading champion of women's rights in the Assembly, urges the House to set up a Committee to draw up a bill on women's suffrage. After three years nothing was done.
1920. American women get the vote.
1923. Bermuda Women's Suffrage Society is organized and Miss Gladys Misick, a Bermudian was instrumental in founding this society.
1925. Bill granting women full parliamentary, municipal and parochial franchises was defeated in Committee by a vote of 24 to 9.
1928. Morrell vs. Patterson. Mrs Gladys Misick Morrell brought a test action against the chairman of the Sandys Parish Vestry, J.H.P. Patterson for refusing her the right to vote. She claimed the use of the term “person” in the Emancipation Act meant both men and women.
1929. The Women's Parochial Franchise Act defeated by vote. Attorney General Dill wrote, “No person, not male, shall be registered to vote”.
1929. The Suffrage Society appealed to the British Secretary of State for Colonies, to examine the question of women's suffrage in Bermuda.
1930. Lord Passing replied to the societies' petition saying that he did not wish to intervene on local matters.
1930. Suffragists attend parish meetings and when disallowed the right to vote in vestry meetings, refuse to pay their parish taxes.
1931. Sir Stanley Spurling's legislation for women's suffrage was thrown out again.
1932. British Parliamentarians visited Bermuda to approach the head of the delegation, Lord Asquith, where the issue was once again avoided.
1935. The matter of disenfranchised women was briefly discussed in the British House of Commons.
1936. Lady Astor, the first female British Member of the House of Parliament, addresses the local society, advocating the inclusion of women in its “enlightened country”.
1941. After the start of WWII, the Society petitions the House on the demoralizing effect that the U.S. Navy and enfranchised American women would have on Bermuda's disenfranchised women.
1944. Young M.P. Henry Tucker (Sir Henry) successfully pilots suffrage bill through the House.
1944. Mrs. Henrietta Tucker honoured as first woman to vote. Edna Williams was the first black woman to vote in the by-election.
1946. Society changes its name to Bermuda Women's Civic and Political Association aiming to promote active participation of women in government, among other issues.
1948. The first women elected to the House were Hilda Aiken for Devonshire and Edna Watson for Paget.
Cedar tree planted on the grounds of the Sessions House where Mrs. Morrell said these words, “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick, but when the desire cometh, it is the tree of life”."