Why did Suffragettes go on hunger strike?

During their fight for women’s right to vote, the Suffragettes’ militant protests often landed them in prison. Over 1,300 women went to prison during the movement’s 1906–1914 campaign.

From 1909, some Suffragettes who’d been sent to prison began refusing to eat, piling pressure on the authorities from within their cells. Prison authorities began force-feeding prisoners to prevent them from starving, leaving many traumatised. And from 1913, hunger-striking Suffragettes were released and recaptured under the punishing “Cat and Mouse” Act.

Even more than the window-smashing or the arson attacks, the hunger strikes showed just how far Suffragettes would go for what they believed in.

This ultimate form of prison protest didn’t originate from Suffragette headquarters at the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU).

It started as the lone action of a single Suffragette, Marion Wallace Dunlop. In 1909, Wallace Dunlop was sent to Holloway Prison in north London for stencilling a message on a wall in the House of Commons.

Classed as a "second division" criminal prisoner, she went on hunger strike in protest against not being placed in the "first division" as a political prisoner. Leading Suffragette Christabel Pankhurst said that Wallace Dunlop had begun the strike "taking counsel with no one and acting entirely on her own initiative".

Wallace Dunlop began her hunger strike on 5 July 1909 and refused food for several days. When the prison doctor asked her what she was going to eat, she replied: "My determination". He answered: "Indigestible stuff, but tough no doubt". After 91 hours of fasting, she was released.

Other Suffragette prisoners quickly adopted the hunger strike. At first, they were released as soon as they showed signs that their health was suffering.

The authorities panicked, introducing the extreme policy of force-feeding hunger-striking Suffragettes to stop them starving.

The brutal process involved prison guards and medical staff holding down the prisoner while forcing a rubber tube into their mouth or nose. Mixtures of milk, eggs or other liquid foods were poured through the tube into their stomach. Struggling Suffragettes could suffer broken teeth, bleeding, vomiting and choking. In extreme cases, the tube was incorrectly inserted into the Suffragettes’ lungs.

Emmeline Pankhurst, co-founder of the WSPU, described how "Holloway became a place of horror and torment. Sickening scenes of violence took place almost every hour of the day, as the doctors went from cell to cell performing their hideous office."

The WSPU sent out graphic illustrations and descriptions of the brutal way these vulnerable women were treated, causing significant public alarm.

Hugh Franklin was a member of the Men's Political Union for Women's Enfranchisement, the WSPU's counterpart. He took part in the 1910 Black Friday march, where he saw police violence against Suffragettes. Franklin blamed the violence on Home Secretary Winston Churchill. So, during a train journey to London, Franklin attacked Churchill with a whip. For this, Franklin was sent to Pentonville prison, where he went on hunger strike.

Franklin served two more prison sentences for his pro-suffrage activities. And he continued to go on hunger strike. He was temporarily released from prison under the “Cat and Mouse” Act and was able to escape Britain to Belgium.

In 1913, the British government, fearing the death of a hunger-striking prisoner, passed the Prisoner's (Temporary Discharge for Ill-Health) Act.

The act became known by Suffragettes as the “Cat and Mouse” Act. It allowed hunger-striking Suffragettes to be released from prison when they were ill, but only “on licence”.

The prisoner would be taken back into prison to serve the rest of their sentence when their health improved or if they appeared in public. This was condemned as cruelly “letting prisoners go and catching them again”, just as a cat plays with a mouse.

Many Suffragettes took the opportunity of freedom to remain on the run from the authorities, hiding in safe houses and carrying out more militant “outrages”.

Some Suffragettes brazenly left their “Cat and Mouse” Act licence at the scene of arson attacks, with personal details cut out. The arsonist Kitty Marion used this tactic to taunt the police.

The WSPU leaders rewarded Suffragette prisoners with a range of military-style campaign medals. These medals were often awarded at breakfast receptions after the prisoners’ release.

Silver bars on the medal represented periods of hunger strike, while the enamel bars marked periods of force-feeding. Emmeline Pankhurst’s medal is part of our collection.

There were no cases of a Suffragette dying in prison while on hunger strike. However, hunger-striking was often deeply damaging and always carried the risk of serious injury. It could also lead to long-term illness.

After Suffragette Elsie Howey’s multiple hunger strikes, her mother said she required four months' medical treatment to recover: "Her beautiful voice was ruined."

Mary Clarke, the younger sister of Emmeline Pankhurst, was arrested in the Black Friday protest in 1910. After her hunger strike in Holloway Prison, she was released due to weakness on 23 December 1910.

But three days later, Emmeline found her unconscious. She died soon afterwards: a result of a burst blood vessel on the brain. The violence of force-feeding might have been responsible. Suffragette leader Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence described Mary Clarke as "the first woman martyr who has gone to death for this cause".

Emmeline Pankhurst was never force-fed by the authorities. The brutal treatment was seen as too controversial to inflict on such a high-profile leader who, by this time, was in her 50s. Nonetheless, her health suffered due to repeated hunger strikes.

Suffragette hunger-striking came to an end in Britain in 1914, when the WSPU suspended protests during the First World War. The Representation of the People Act, passed in 1918, gave some women the right to vote for the first time in Britain.

However, women around the world, including the American Alice Paul, continued to use hunger strikes to fight for their right to vote in the early 20th century. And hunger strikes have since played a major role in many other famous campaigns, leading right up to the modern day.

Gandhi staged hunger strikes to protest British rule in India. Members of the Irish Republican Army, most famously Bobby Sands, refused to eat while in British prisons. And more recently Russian activists imprisoned by Vladimir Putin’s regime have used hunger strikes, including Alexei Navalny and members of the band Pussy Riot. To this day, hunger strikes remain the ultimate form of individual prison protest.