In 1908
members of Women's Political & Social Union
(WSPU) began breaking windows of government buildings. This resulted
in the arrest and imprisonment of hundreds of women including three
local suffragettes, Helen MacRae, Lilla Durham and Kitty Marion. In
July, 1909, an imprisoned suffragette, Marion Dunlop, refused to eat.
Afraid she might die and become a martyr, it was decided to release
her. Soon afterwards other imprisoned suffragettes adopted the same
strategy. Unwilling to release all the imprisoned suffragettes, the
prison authorities decided to force-feed these women.
Mary Clarke, a member of the WSPU in Brighton,
was forced-fed at Holloway Prison in December, 1910. After being released
she was taken ill at her home in Brighton and died soon afterwards
of a broken blood vessel. Mary Clarke, like several suffragettes,
probably died as a result of being forced-fed in prison.
Helen MacRae, Lilla Durham and Kitty Marion all endured force-feeding
during their spells in prison. Kitty Marion, probably the most militant
of all the suffragettes, was force-fed many times. Elizabeth
Robins, a member of the WSPU in Brighton,
used her 15th century farmhouse at Backsettown, near Henfield, as
a hospital for suffragettes recovering from hunger strike.
(1)
Sylvia Pankhurst, diary entry (April,
1914)
Kitty Marion
has been forcibly fed from early January till April 16th and lost
three stones in weight. Miss Lilla Durham who had just been released
from Holloway Prison.
(2)
Constance Lytton was force-fed in October
1909. An account of her experiences was included in her book Prison
and Prisoners.
Two of the wardresses took
hold of my arms, one held my head and one my feet. The doctor leant
on my knees as he stooped over my chest to get at my mouth. I shut
my mouth and clenched my teeth… The doctor seemed annoyed at
my resistance and he broke into a temper as he pried my teeth with
the steel implement. The pain was intense and at last I must have
given way, for he got the gap between my teeth, when he proceeded
to turn it until my jaws were fastened wide apart. Then he put down
my throat a tube, which seemed to me much too wide and something like
four feet in length. I choked the moment it touched my throat. Then
the food was poured in quickly; it made me sick a few seconds after
it was down. I was sick all over the doctor and wardresses. As the
doctor left he gave me a slap on the cheek. Presently the wardresses
left me. Before long I heard the sounds of the forced feeding in the
next cell to mine. It was almost more than I could bear, it was Elsie
Howley. When the ghastly process was over and all quiet. I tapped
on the wall and called out at the top of my voice. ‘No Surrender’,
and then came the answer in Elsie’s voice, ‘No Surrender’.
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