A GUID CAUSE... THE WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT IN SCOTLAND
Project 1 / Learning Activity 4 / Activity 1 Reactions from the authorities, press and public
ACTIVITY 1 – REACTIONS TO THE CAMPAIGN
Police brutality, harsh prison sentences and force feeding were common methods of dealing with the suffragettes. This is how many protesters were treated at the time, but it was shocking for women to be treated in this way. suffragettes faced a mixed response in the newspapers, and the force feeding of hunger strikers aroused outrage and sympathy among many members of the public.
Work in groups.
1. Read Source 28, Source 29, Source 30 and Source 31.
For each source, state what the suffragettes did and what their punishment was.
Action Punishment Source 28
Source 29
Source 30
Source 31
Do you think the punishments were fair? Explain your answer.
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2. Study Source 32, Source 33, Source 34 pg 1 and Source 34 pg 2 and Source 35.
Make up a newspaper headline for each of these sources.
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•
•
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Do you think that the treatment the suffragettes received in prison was fair? Explain your answer.
Choose your best headline. Present it along with the source. Your group will explain to the class:
• what your source is about • why you chose this headline • how you feel about the way these women were treated
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The Temporary Discharge of Prisoners Act was passed in 1913 to deal with the issue of hunger striking and forcible feeding. The public outcry at the treatment of the women had been such that forcible feeding was no longer possible. The ‘Cat and Mouse Act’ –as it became known – allowed the government to release prisoners who were hunger striking until they became well again. They could then be brought back into prison to serve the rest of their sentence
3. Read Source 36 and Source 37.
How do the suffragettes feel about the ‘Cat and Mouse’ Bill? Give examples from Source 36.
Study Source 37. Do you think the ‘Cat and Mouse’ Bill managed to solve the issue of hunger striking? Give reasons for your answer. Think about the numbers of women who had to be re‐arrested.
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Appendix
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SOURCE 28: THREE PHOTOGRAPHS – THE GRAFFIC, 30 MAY 1914
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SOURCE 28: THREE PHOTOGRAPHS – THE GRAFFIC, 30 MAY 1914
Emmeline Pankhurst and a group of 200 suffragettes attempted to lead a deputation to King George V at the gates of Buckingham Palace on 21 May 1914. Their aim was to protest against the treatment of suffragette prisoners and to demand the vote for women. More than 2,000 police were deployed to restrain demonstrators and nearly 60 arrests were made. These photographs published in ‘The Graphic’ show some violent scenes witnessed at the gates of the Royal Palace on the day.
‘The Graphic’ 30 May 1914.
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SOURCE 29: SUFFRAGETTES BEFORE LEITH COURT (ACC 498)
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SOURCE 29: SUFFRAGETTES BEFORE LEITH COURT (ACC 498)
In 1909, Edith Hudson, an Edinburgh nurse and active member of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), also known as Mary Brown, was arrested alongside Elsie Roe‐Brown for breaching the peace during Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey’s meeting in Leith. Hudson was sentenced to thirty days in prison. She was eventually released on payment of a fine by her family.
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SOURCE 30: THE OUTRAGE AT BURNS’ COTTAGE (ACC 4498)
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SOURCE 30: THE OUTRAGE AT BURNS’ COTTAGE (ACC 4498)
In July 1914, two women attempted to blow up the cottage where Robert Burns was born. The plot failed when the women were discovered by a night watchman.
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SOURCE 31: WHY WOMEN TEACHERS BREAK WINDOWS (ACC 4498/5)
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SOURCE 31: WHY WOMEN TEACHERS BREAK WINDOWS (ACC 4498/5)
Pleasance Pendred was an active member of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). She was arrested on 28 January 1913 for taking part in a window‐breaking campaign mainly targeting government offices around Westminster. She was sentenced to six months in prison in Holloway gaol on 21 February. In this pamphlet Pleasance made a defence of the militant actions carried out by the suffragettes, including window‐breaking.
‘Why Women Teachers Break Windows’ was first published circa 1912 by the Woman’s Press.
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SOURCE 32: BY-ELECTION POSTER – TORTURING WOMEN IN PRISON – IN VOTES FOR WOMEN, 29 OCTOBER 1909 P 68
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SOURCE 32: BY-ELECTION POSTER – TORTURING WOMEN IN PRISON – IN VOTES FOR WOMEN, 29 OCTOBER 1909 P 68 This illustration appeared in the ‘Votes for Women’ newspaper on 29 October 1909. During the summer of 1909, imprisoned suffragettes began to use hunger strikes as a form of protest. At first, the prison authorities released women who refused to eat but, by the autumn of 1909, forcible feeding was introduced. The procedure was brutal and sometimes life-threatening. The woman would be forcibly restrained whilst a rubber tube was inserted up the nose or down the throat. The first instance of forcible feeding in Scotland took place in February 1914 when Ethel Moorhead was imprisoned in Calton Jail, Edinburgh. The forcible feeding of suffragettes stopped later in 1914 when Emmeline Pankhurst called an end to militancy at the beginning of World War I.
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SOURCE 33: ‘FORCIBLE FEEDING RENEWED’ IN SUFFRAGETTE, OCTOBER 1913 (ACC 498)
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SOURCE 33: ‘FORCIBLE FEEDING RENEWED’ IN SUFFRAGETTE, OCTOBER 1913 (ACC 498)
Many suffragette prisoners began hunger strikes as a means of protest and to have their status as political prisoners acknowledged. In 1909 a new policy of forcible feeding was introduced by prison authorities to break the suffragettes’ resistance. The practice attracted public outcry because of its harmful effects on prisoners’ health. Nevertheless, it remained in use until the outbreak of World War I in 1914 and the end of militant campaigning by the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU).
‘The suffragette’, October 1913.
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SOURCE 34: LETTER 14 JULY 1912 (ACC 4498/2, 73) PAGE 3
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SOURCE 34: LETTER 14 JULY 1912 (ACC 4498/2, 73) PAGE 4
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SOURCE 34: LETTER 14 JULY 1912 (ACC 4498/2, 73)
This fragment of a letter written by Janie Allan around 1913‐1914 explains the long‐lasting effects of forcible‐feeding on her health. Janie Allan was the daughter of Alexander Allan, the owner of the Allan Shipping Line. Her family was known for its socialist principles. She was an active member of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in Glasgow. In 1912 she was arrested and sentenced to four month’s imprisonment in Holloway after taking part in the London window‐breaking campaign. While in prison, she went on hunger strike and was forcibly fed for a week. Her papers are in the National Library of Scotland.
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Source: The Women’s suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, 1866‐1928 by Elizabeth Crawford.
PAGE 3 Holloway in 1912 for one week. I did not resist at all, but sat quite still as if it were a dentist’s chair, & yet the effect on my health was most disastrous. I am a very strong woman & absolutely sound in heart & lungs, but it was not till 5 months after, that I was able to take any exercise
PAGE 4 or begin to feel in my usual health again – the nerves of my heart were affected & I was fit for nothing In the way of exertion – Well, Sir, I put it to you, if that is the effect of one week, what must the undermining effects be, of several weeks on a resisting patient? There can be no doubt that it simply ruins the health
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SOURCE 35: ARTICLE – SUFFRAGISTS AND DRUGGING (ACC 4498/2,90)
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SOURCE 35: ARTICLE – SUFFRAGISTS AND DRUGGING (ACC 4498/2,90)
This partially dated letter published in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ explains the harmful effects of forcible feeding on women prisoners and the presence of toxic substances, probably administered without their consent or knowledge, in their excrements.
‘The Glasgow Herald’, 20 June [year unknown]
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SOURCE 36: ARTICLE ABOUT ‘CAT AND MOUSE’ BILL IN THE SUFFRAGETTE, 2 MAY 1913
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SOURCE 36: ARTICLE ABOUT ‘CAT AND MOUSE’ BILL IN THE SUFFRAGETTE, 2 MAY 1913
In April 1913 the ‘Cat and Mouse Act’ was introduced. It allowed the release of seriously ill prisoners as a result of hunger‐striking and their re‐arrest once they had recovered. The implementation of the Act led to further militant action.
‘The suffragette’, 2 May 1913.
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SOURCE 37: LIST OF SUFFRAGISTS UNDER THE ‘CAT AND MOUSE’ ACT AOG, 8, 1913 P 659
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SOURCE 37: LIST OF SUFFRAGISTS UNDER THE ‘CAT AND MOUSE’ ACT AOG, 8, 1913 P 659 In April 1913 the ‘Cat and Mouse Act’ was introduced. It allowed the release of seriously ill prisoners as a result of hunger‐striking and their re‐arrest once they had recovered. The implementation of the Act led to further militant action.
‘The suffragette’, 2 May 1913.
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