WOLVERHAMPTON 403 WOMAN SUFFRAGE the papacy, and his power in England, as also his revenues, were only equalled by those of the crown. Part of his im- mense revenues he expended in display, and part more laudably for the advance- ment of learning. He projected on a magnificent scale the College of Christ Church at Oxford; founded several lec- tures, and built the palace of Hampton Court, which he presented to the king. This rapid preferment by the king was largely the result of a remarkable series of diplomatic victories, in which Wolsey had been the means of enabling Henry to hold the balance between Francis I. and the Emperor Charles V. His success in the region of politics terminated in the splendors of the Field of the Cloth of Gold (1520). In his ambitious career the cardinal had made many enemies, who were held in check so long as he re- tained the favor of his royal master. This favor Wolsey lost when he failed to obtain from Pope Clement a decision granting the king's divorce from Catha- rine of Aragon. Thenceforth the enemies of the fallen prelate harried him un- mercifully. He was banished from court, stripped of his dignities, found guilty of a praemunire, and sentenced to imprison- ment. Finally, after a brief respite, during which he was restored to some of his offices, and had returned to his see of York, he was arrested at Cawood Castle on a charge of high treason, and on his way to London as a prisoner died in Leicester Abbey, Nov. 29, 1530. WOLVERHAMPTON, a town of S. Staffordshire, England; 12% miles N. W. of Birmingham; on rising ground amid a network of railways and canals. Of its numerous churches the finest and most ancient is the cruciform St. Peter's, which, dating from the 14th centui-y, was enlarged and elaborately restored (1859-1865). The public buildings in- clude a town hall, corn exchange, market hall, agricultural hall, theater, free library, an Athenaeum, concert hall, etc.; and there are also an orphanage, the Southern Staffordshire Hospital, and a free grammar school (founded 1515; re- built 1874). Lock making has for more than two centuries been Wolverhampton's staple industry, next to it rank tinplate working, japanning, and galvanizing, and there are besides large iron and brass works, smelting furnaces, chemical, coal, grease, color, and varnish works, etc., and in the neighborhood collieries, ironstone mines and quarries. Pop. about 100,000. WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPER- ANCE UNION, The National Woman's Christian Temperance Union was organ- ized in Cleveland, O., in 1874, and is the sober second thought of the great woman's crusade. It is now regularly organized in the 48 States of the Union, and in every Territory. There are about 10,000 local unions, with a membership and following, including the children's societies, of about 500,000. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union has 40 dis- tinct departments of work, presided over by as many women experts, in the Na- tional society, and in nearly every State. All the States in the Republic except one have laws requiring the study of scientific temperance in the public schools, and all these laws were secured by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union; also the laws forbidding the sale of tobacco to minors. The first police matrons and most industrial homes for girls were secured through the efforts of this society, as were the refuges for erring women. Laws raising the age of consent and providing for better pro- tection for women and girls have been enacted by many Legislatures through the influence of the department for the promotion of social purity. The V/orld's Woman's Christian Temperance Union was founded through the influence of Frances E. Willard in 1883, and already has auxiliaries in more than 40 countries and province^. The white ribbon is the badge of all the Woman's Christian Temperance Union members, and is now a familiar emblem in every civilized country. The headquarters of the Na- tional organization is Rest Cottage, Evanston, 111. The organization was active in bringing about the passage of the Woman Suffrage Amendment. WOMAN'S RELIEF CORPS, an or- ganization created by the mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters of Union soldiers of the Civil War of 1861-1865, for the purpose of aiding and assisting the Grand Army of the Republic, and to "perpetuate the memory of their heroic dead," to "extend needful aid ^ to the widows and orphans," to "cherish and emulate the deeds of our army nurses," and to "inculcate lessons of patriotism and love of country among our children and in the communities in which we live." The organization is composed of departments, which are subdivided into corps, as well as detached corps in sev- eral States where no departments exist. WOMAN SUFFRAGE, the right of women to cast their votes in political elections on the same plane with men. The exclusion of women from this right, or pi'ivilege, is probably a survival from barbaric ages, when men only were qualified to gather around the council fires and discuss plans for warfare. In
