21 September 1937

Death of Chrystal Macmillan, Liberal candidate and campaigner for female suffrage

Death in Edinburgh of (Jessie) Chrystal Macmillan (1872-1937), barrister, pacifist and campaigner for women’s suffrage who always retained her allegiance to the Liberal Party. She stood for election to Parliament just once, at Edinburgh North in the 1935 general election, but came third losing her deposit. Macmillan’s main achievements were in the cause of feminism, equal rights and women’s suffrage. She served on the executive of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies but resigned when war broke out in 1914. She was called to the bar in 1924, one of the first generation of female barristers. Earlier she had written two influential pamphlets, The Struggle for Political Liberty (1909) and Facts versus Fancies on Woman Suffrage (1914).