Timeline: the Welsh Women’s Peace Campaign of 1923-4
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“The future is big with hope if we as the women of this generation do our part. To us has come an opportunity as real as the responsibility is grave.
We appeal to you, women of the United States of America… to aid in the effort to hand down to the generations which come after us, the proud heritage of a warless world.”
The horrors of World War 1 having galvanised a generation against conflict, in 1923 women of Wales organised an unprecedented appeal. 390,296 women signed a Memorial petition appealing to the women of America ‘from home to home’ and ‘hearth to hearth’, to join in a call for ‘LAW NOT WAR’: appealing for the United States to join and lead the new League of Nations.
The campaign mobilised organisers in every community across Wales. Behind every signatory, lay stories of loss, love and a resolve to prevent war befalling future generations.
This timeline offers an overview of this remarkable campaign, from inception to legacy. A second timeline focuses in on the 8 weeks of the “Welsh Women’s Peace Tour of America” over February-March 1924, as recorded in ‘Annie’s Diary’.
1918-21
Aftermath of World War One
Women served in the war, lost loved ones
May 1922
Origins of the Idea for a Women's Peace Petition
Building on movement started by WILPF since 1899
Founding of the Welsh League of Nations Union, 1920-22
Welsh School of Social Service, Llandrindod May 1922
May 1923
Kickstarting the Campaign: the Wales Conference of Women in Aberystwyth
June-December 1923
Gathering 390,296 Signatories Wales-wide: "A Petition 7 miles Long"
Summer 1923
Creating the Memorial
2 Feb 1924
The Mission to America – and Annie's Diary
12 Feb 1924
Presenting the Petition in New York
27 Feb 1924
The White House & Washington
March 1924
Welsh Women's Peace Tour of America
1924-25
Return to UK: WLNU Conference & British Empire Exhibition @ Wembley
1925
America's Response: the Conference on the Cause & Cure of War
Dec 1925
Welsh Churches Peace Petition to Detroit
1926
Women's Peace Pilgrimage calls for 'LAW NOT WAR'
1931
World Disarmament Conference (WDC) Memorial to Geneva
Women of Wales mobilised once more to send a memorial to the opening of the World Disarmament Conference in Geneva, presented to Chair Sir Arthur Henderson
1935
The Peace Ballot: "Wales tops the Polls" with over a Million Signatories
