In 1908, the Manchester councillor
Margaret Ashton sold her house in Didsbury to fund the creation of a newspaper, which was eventually founded in an office in Manchester in 1912. The intention was that it would represent the policies of and publish news from the NUWSS, but for legal reasons it could not be an organ of the NUWSS . Instead The Common Cause Publishing Co. Ltd was founded with an initial capital of £2,000 to publish the new paper. Its first editor was
Helena Swanwick, who chose the name "Common Cause" because she believed that humanity was "bi-sexual", in other words that there were not "women's causes" or "men's causes". and regarding them as "the greatest danger we have". "I have much sympathy for feminine rebellion. For their claptrap and dishonesty, for their persecution and terrorism, I have loathing." From 1912 to 1913,
Clementina Black was editor. In April 1913,
Maude Royden, who had been a regular contributor to the paper, took up the post of editor which she held until 1914. Its last editor was
Ray Strachey, who became editor after the end of the
First World War. == See also ==