Brecon and Radnorshire AM Kirsty Williams has helped to launch new stamps issued to mark the centenary of the Representation of the People Act where for the first time women won the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

On February 6, 1918, the UK Parliament passed the Act which reformed voting rights and gave some women the vote for the first time. This was the first major victory in the fight for electoral equality by campaigners which started in the 19th century, and reached a head in the years leading up to the outbreak of the First World War.

Called ‘Votes for Women’, the Royal Mail stamps feature original photographs that document some of the campaign activities and public actions undertaken by the women who campaigned tirelessly to win the vote in the early years of the 20th century.

Featured on the stamps are some of the major set piece activities which involved thousands of women, such as the Coronation Procession of 1911 and the Great Pilgrimage of Suffragists of 1913.

This shows the scope of public actions that were undertaken by the range of organisations that campaigned for the vote, including the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) and the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU).

Other stamps feature women demonstrators and Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, daughter of an Indian maharaja, as well as suffragettes Mary Leigh and Edith New, and a group image of Mabel Tuke, Christabel Pankhurst, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence and Annie Kenney.

Liz Law, Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Our Votes for Women stamps convey the scale of activities that the different organisations undertook in their tireless campaigning for the vote. We are proud to mark the anniversary of the Representation of the People Act – an Act that has given women across the generations the opportunity to have their voices heard.”

The stamps can be pre-ordered now from www.royalmail.com/votesforwomen and available from 7000 Post Offices nationwide from 15 February 2018.