After the huge success of the Poppy Wave exhibition at The Royal Armouries Fort Nelson up on Portsdown Hill their next exhibition is ‘Parliament and the First World War’, on loan from the Parliamentary Archives. This fascinating new exhibition allows you to explore documents, paintings and objects which demonstrate the profound changes in Parliament and parliamentary democracy that occurred during the war years, as well as the relationship between Parliament and the war effort.

At the beginning of the war the House of Commons was made up exclusively of male MPs elected by a limited franchise, which excluded all women and roughly 40% of men from the electorate.  At the end of the war there was a massive extension of the franchise. Five million men and eight million women exercised their right to the vote for the first time in the December 1918 general election, and the first woman was elected to the House of Commons.

The exhibition is open at Fort Nelson daily 10 am – 5 pm and admission is free.