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27 - Suffragette The Militant Fight for Womens Voting Rights by E. Sylvia Pankhurst · Suffragette The Militant Fight for Womens Voting Rights

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty three of The Suffragette The History of the
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  Speaker 1: Woman's Militant Suffrage Movement by E Sylvia Pankhurst. This LibriVox
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  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Twenty three December nineteen
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  Speaker 1: hundred nine to January nineteen ten. The Appeal of Pankhurst
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  Speaker 1: and Haverfield versus Jarvis the Freedom League Pickets Missus Pankhurst
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  Speaker 1: returns from America. Missus Lee's action against the Home Secretary
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  Speaker 1: and the Governor and Doctor of Winston Green Jail, Birmingham.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Davison's action against the visiting Justices of Strangeway's Jail, Manchester,
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  Speaker 1: ill treatment of Miss Selina Martin and Miss Leslie Hall
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  Speaker 1: at Walton Jail, Liverpool. Lady Constant Sletton imprisoned in Walton
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  Speaker 1: Jail as Jane Morton whilst Missus Pankhurst was still in America.
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  Speaker 1: The case in which she, Missus Haverfield and the ninety
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  Speaker 1: two other women were concerned, which had been hanging over
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  Speaker 1: since the summer, was heard in the Divisional Court on
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  Speaker 1: December first. It will be remembered that the Suffragettes had
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  Speaker 1: sought to put into practice the constitutional right to petition
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  Speaker 1: the Prime Minister as the representative of the government and
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  Speaker 1: of the King. They held that this right was especially
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  Speaker 1: defined by two acts, the Bill of Rights, which declares
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  Speaker 1: that it is the right of the subject to petition
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  Speaker 1: the King, and all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning
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  Speaker 1: are illegal, and the Statute thirteen Charles the Second, which
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  Speaker 1: states that no person or persons whatsoever shall repair to
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  Speaker 1: His Majesty or both, or either houses of Parliament, upon
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  Speaker 1: pretense of presenting or delivering any petition, complaint, remonstrance, or
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  Speaker 1: declaration or other address, accompanied with excessive number of people,
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  Speaker 1: nor at any time with above the number of ten persons,
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  Speaker 1: upon pain of incurring a penalty not exceeding the sum
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  Speaker 1: of one hundred pounds in money, or three months imprisonment
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  Speaker 1: without bail or main prize, for every offense, which offense
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  Speaker 1: to be prosecuted at the Court of Kars, King's Bench,
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  Speaker 1: or at the Assizes or General Quarter Sessions within six
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  Speaker 1: months after the offense committed, and proved by two more
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  Speaker 1: credible witnesses, provided always that this Act, or anything therein contained,
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  Speaker 1: shall not be considered to extend to debar or hinder
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  Speaker 1: any person or persons not exceeding the number of ten
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  Speaker 1: afore said to present any public or private grievance or
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  Speaker 1: complaint to any member or members of Parliament. Though the
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  Speaker 1: women had complied with every provision of the Act, Sir
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  Speaker 1: Albert de Rudson had decided at bow Street that they
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  Speaker 1: had broken the law. In appealing against that decision in
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  Speaker 1: the Divisional Court, Lord Robert Cecil contended that in this
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  Speaker 1: country there was and always has been a right of petition,
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  Speaker 1: and he urged that this right was a necessary condition
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  Speaker 1: of all free and indeed of all civilized government. He
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  Speaker 1: pointed out that the right of petition had three characteristics.
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  Speaker 1: In the first place, it was the right to petition
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  Speaker 1: the actual repositories of power. In the second place, it
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  Speaker 1: was the right to petition in person. And in the
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  Speaker 1: third place, it must be exercised reasonably. In support of
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  Speaker 1: his contention that petitions might be presented in person, he
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  Speaker 1: quoted several historic instances, including a petition of women to Humphrey,
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  Speaker 1: Duke of Gloucester in the reign of Henry the Fourth,
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  Speaker 1: many petitions to various powerful personages from all sorts of
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  Speaker 1: men and women in the time of the Civil Wars
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  Speaker 1: and the disputes immediately preceding them, and petitions to the
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  Speaker 1: Lord High Stewart asking for the conviction of Strafford. In
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  Speaker 1: addition to these, he cited numbers of petitions presented in
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  Speaker 1: sixteen forty, when deputations came to the House of Commons
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  Speaker 1: and the members were instructed to go out and interview
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  Speaker 1: the petitioners and hear what they had to say. A
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  Speaker 1: great petition of sixteen eighty, as well as the petitions
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  Speaker 1: from the gentlemen of Kenton seventeen hundred one, that of
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  Speaker 1: the silk weavers in seventeen sixty five, and that of
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  Speaker 1: the trade Unionists in eighteen thirty four, all of which
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  Speaker 1: were presented in person. Throughout our history it was clear.
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  Speaker 1: He declared, that petitions had been presented sometimes times to
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  Speaker 1: the houses of Parliament, sometimes to powerful individuals, and sometimes
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  Speaker 1: to the King. He referred to a case mentioned in
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  Speaker 1: Sir Walter Scott's Fortune of Nigel, in which on King
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  Speaker 1: James the second complaining of the way in which a
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  Speaker 1: petition was thrust into his hand in the streets a
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  Speaker 1: gentleman named Jingling Geordie had taken the opportunity of presenting
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  Speaker 1: a petition to him. Then and there in his private closet.
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  Speaker 1: Even without these historic examples, the Statute thirteen Charles the
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  Speaker 1: Second already quoted, was enough to establish the right to
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  Speaker 1: present petitions in person. The Bill of Rights had specially
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  Speaker 1: confirmed the right of petition in so far as the
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  Speaker 1: king was concerned, because the right to present a petition
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  Speaker 1: to the King had recently been called into question by
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  Speaker 1: the case of the Seven Bishops, which had taken place
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  Speaker 1: on June twenty ninth and thirtieth sixteen eighty eight, in
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  Speaker 1: the reign of James the Second. The case had arisen
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  Speaker 1: because the King had ordered that his declaration of indulgence
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  Speaker 1: should be read in all the churches in the country,
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  Speaker 1: and the seven Bishops, headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
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  Speaker 1: being of opinion that the declaration of indulgence was beyond
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  Speaker 1: the power of the King, had therefore presented a petition
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  Speaker 1: to him setting forth this view. The King declared the
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  Speaker 1: petition to be a seditious libel, and the bishops had
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  Speaker 1: been brought before the Court of King's Bench. In summing
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  Speaker 1: up the case for the jury, Mister Justice Holloway said,
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  Speaker 1: so that if there was no ill intent, and they
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  Speaker 1: were not as it is not or can be pretended
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  Speaker 1: they were men of evil lives. To deliver a petition
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  Speaker 1: cannot be a fault, it being the right of every
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  Speaker 1: subject to petition. The jury found the seven bishops to
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  Speaker 1: be guiltless, and the right of petition was thus confirmed.
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  Speaker 1: In quoting Mister Justice Holloway's summing up, Lord Robert Cecil
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  Speaker 1: pointed out that the use of the words to deliver
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  Speaker 1: a petition clearly indicated that the right was to present
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  Speaker 1: the petition in person. If that were so, the women
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  Speaker 1: who had gone to Parliament Square on June twenty ninth
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  Speaker 1: had done so in the exercise of a constitutional right.
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  Speaker 1: So long as they were denied votes, this was their
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  Speaker 1: only constitutional method of agitation for the redress of their grievances. If,
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  Speaker 1: as was contented, the right not only to petition, but
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  Speaker 1: to petition in person belonged to each and every subject.
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  Speaker 1: The only point left to consider was to whether the
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  Speaker 1: right had been exercised reasonably. If one wished to interview
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  Speaker 1: the Prime Minister or any member of Parliament, it was
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  Speaker 1: surely reasonable to go to the House of Commons by
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  Speaker 1: means of the stranger's entrance. The evidence clearly showed that
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  Speaker 1: Missus Haverfield and the others had been on the public
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  Speaker 1: highway and had been brought up to the door of
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  Speaker 1: the House of Commons by Superintendent Isaac's of the Police,
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  Speaker 1: so that up to that point they could not possibly
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  Speaker 1: have done anything wrong. Opposite the door of the House
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  Speaker 1: of Commons and open space had been kept clear by
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  Speaker 1: the presence of a police cordon, the crowd not being
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  Speaker 1: allowed to reach this point. Within the cordon, there were
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  Speaker 1: only members of the police force, persons who had business
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  Speaker 1: in the House of Commons, and the eight members of
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  Speaker 1: the women's deputation. Therefore, it was absurd to say that
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  Speaker 1: these eight ladies had caused an obstruction. It was suggested
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  Speaker 1: that the women ought to have gone away because, as
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  Speaker 1: he put it, a casual policeman had said that the
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  Speaker 1: Prime Minister was not in the House of Commons. But
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  Speaker 1: that was really not a sufficient answer. The ordinary procedure
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  Speaker 1: certainly was not to take an answer from a policeman
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  Speaker 1: in the street if one wished to interview a member
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  Speaker 1: of Parliament. The police had no right to stop anyone
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  Speaker 1: from going into the House of Commons. It was also
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  Speaker 1: said that the women had been given a letter from
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  Speaker 1: the Prime Minister saying that he would not or could
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  Speaker 1: not see them. Had he said I cannot see you
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  Speaker 1: here and now, but I will see you on such
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  Speaker 1: and such an occasion, this is not a convenient time, That,
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  Speaker 1: argued Lord Robert, would have been a sufficient answer, because
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  Speaker 1: the right to petition must be exercised reasonably. But his
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  Speaker 1: letter contained an unqualified refusal, and if the right to
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  Speaker 1: petition exists, that is no answer at all. Lord Robert
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  Speaker 1: then submitted that if there is a right to petition
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  Speaker 1: a member of Parliament, there must be a duty on
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  Speaker 1: the part of the member of Parliament to receive that petition,
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  Speaker 1: and that no one is justified in interfering with the
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  Speaker 1: exercise of that right. If the women were legally justified
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  Speaker 1: in insisting upon the right to present their petition, they
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  Speaker 1: were also justified in refusing the order of the police
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  Speaker 1: to go away, for there was no obligation to obey
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  Speaker 1: the police if the police were acting beyond the scope
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  Speaker 1: of their proper duties or contrary to the law of
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  Speaker 1: the land. In the case of Cod versus Cave, a
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  Speaker 1: warrant had been issued against a man, and a policeman
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  Speaker 1: had gone to his house to arrest him without taking
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  Speaker 1: a warrant with him. The man had declined to go
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  Speaker 1: with the policeman and had knocked him down and injured
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  Speaker 1: him severely, but it had been held by the court
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  Speaker 1: that the man was not guilty because the policeman had
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  Speaker 1: no right to arrest him without a warrant. In delivering judgment,
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  Speaker 1: the Lord Chief Justice said that he entirely agreed that
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  Speaker 1: there was a right to present a petition either to
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  Speaker 1: the Prime Minister as Prime Minister or as a member
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  Speaker 1: of Parliament, and that petitions to the King should be
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  Speaker 1: presented to the Prime Minister. But he said the claim
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  Speaker 1: of the women was not only to present a petition,
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  Speaker 1: but to be received deputation. Had it been only to
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  Speaker 1: present the petition, he did not think that mister Asquith
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  Speaker 1: would have refused, and he expressed the opinion that his
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  Speaker 1: refusal to receive the women in deputation was not unnatural
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  Speaker 1: in consequence of what we know did happen on previous occasions.
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  Speaker 1: In making this remark, the Lord Chief Justice showed that
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  Speaker 1: instead of concentrating his mind upon the actual case before him,
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  Speaker 1: he was allowing himself to be biased by inaccurate reports
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  Speaker 1: as to what had taken place on previous occasions. As
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  Speaker 1: a matter of fact, mister Asquith never had received a
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  Speaker 1: deputation of women since he had been Prime Minister, and
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  Speaker 1: never at any time had he received a deputation of
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  Speaker 1: the Women's Social and Political Union in the House of Commons. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: it was absurd to talk about what had taken place
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  Speaker 1: on previous occasions. And Moreover, even if mister Asquith had
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  Speaker 1: received deputations on previous occasions and trouble had resulted, the
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  Speaker 1: Lord Chief Justice would have had no right to take
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  Speaker 1: these occurrences into account unless reliable evidence as to what
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  Speaker 1: actually had occurred had been laid before him. In connection
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  Speaker 1: with the case, relying on the Metropolitan Police Act of
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  Speaker 1: eighteen thirty nine, which provides that it shall be lawful
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  Speaker 1: for the Commissioner of Police to make regulations and to
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  Speaker 1: give directions to the Constables for keeping order and for
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  Speaker 1: preventing any obstruction of the thoroughfares in the immediate neighborhood
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  Speaker 1: of the House of Commons, and the Sessional Order which
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  Speaker 1: empowers the Police to keep clear the approaches to the
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  Speaker 1: House of Commons, the Lord Chief Justice declared that Missus Pankhurst,
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  Speaker 1: Missus Haverfield and the other women had broken the law
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  Speaker 1: when they had insisted that they had a right to
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  Speaker 1: enter the House of Commons, and that for this reason
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  Speaker 1: they had been properly convicted, and that the appeal must
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  Speaker 1: be dismissed with costs. By this decision, the ancient constitutional
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  Speaker 1: right of petitions secured to the people of this country
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  Speaker 1: by the Act of thirteen Charles the Second and the
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  Speaker 1: Bill of Rights, was for all practical purposes rendered null
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  Speaker 1: and void. What is the use of a right that
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  Speaker 1: one may not put into practice? Does any one suppose
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  Speaker 1: for one moment that the right of petition would have
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  Speaker 1: been cherished as it has been, and that people would
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  Speaker 1: have suffered heavy punishment for putting it into practice in
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  Speaker 1: troublous times if it had merely consisted in sending a
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  Speaker 1: written document obscurely through the post or by a messenger
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  Speaker 1: to the person in power whom it was intended to influence. No,
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  Speaker 1: for the right could never have been anything but valueless
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  Speaker 1: had the presentation of the petition not been accompanied by
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  Speaker 1: the pomp and circumstance and the dramatic and spectacular character
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  Speaker 1: of a public deputation, and by the influence that only
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  Speaker 1: personal pleading can lend. Every scrap of evidence tends to
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  Speaker 1: show that the right of petition was to be exercised personally.
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  Speaker 1: If it were otherwise, why should the Act of Charles
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  Speaker 1: the Second have insisted that the signatories to the petition
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  Speaker 1: should be represented by a limited deputation. Moreover, there is
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  Speaker 1: no suggestion that a written document was required, and that
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  Speaker 1: the petition might not have been made, as it frequently was,
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  Speaker 1: by word of mouth. Shortly after this case of Pankhurst
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  Speaker 1: and Haverfield versus Jarvis had been decided, the Divisional Court
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  Speaker 1: was again occupied with an appeal case bearing upon the
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  Speaker 1: right of petition, this time at the instance of the
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  Speaker 1: Woman's Freedom League. In July. The League had followed the
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  Speaker 1: example of the w S p U in claiming the
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  Speaker 1: constitutional right of personal petition to the Prime Minister. After
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  Speaker 1: much preliminary negotiation, a deputation of their number had appeared
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  Speaker 1: at the Stranger's entrance to the House of Commons on
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  Speaker 1: July fifth, and, on being told that mister Asquith would
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  Speaker 1: not receive them, they had announced their intention of waiting
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  Speaker 1: there until he should change his mind. They were allowed
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  Speaker 1: to wait, and, reinforced by relays of others, continued to
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  Speaker 1: do so right on into the new year, and were
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  Speaker 1: constantly to be seen standing outside on the pavement both
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  Speaker 1: day and night whenever the house was sitting. Many members
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  Speaker 1: of Parliament appeal to mister Asquith to receive them and
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  Speaker 1: so bring their weary vigil to an end, but he
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  Speaker 1: obstinately refused and always evaded the suffragette pickets, as they
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  Speaker 1: were called. Usually he left the house by one of
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  Speaker 1: the underground passages, but it was said that one night
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  Speaker 1: he hurried unrecognized through their lines. Punch then published a
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  Speaker 1: cartoon by E t Read entitled Mister Asquith's Disguises, showing
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  Speaker 1: the Prime Minister as a cab driver, a postman, a policeman,
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  Speaker 1: an elderly maiden lady, and in other characters. On July ninth,
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  Speaker 1: the pickets were also put on at number ten Downing Street,
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  Speaker 1: where they succeeded in wailaying the Prime Minister at about
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  Speaker 1: two o'clock in the afternoon, and ran towards him crying
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  Speaker 1: a petition, a petition, Will you give us a hearing?
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  Speaker 1: Mister Asquith. As he rushed past, he snatched the document
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  Speaker 1: from one of them, saying well, I will take the petition,
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  Speaker 1: and then fled on up the steps and banged the door.
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  Speaker 1: The pickets were still waiting for the interview when the
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  Speaker 1: police arrived to arrest them. They were afterwards sentenced to
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  Speaker 1: three weeks imprisonment and default of paying fines of three pounds.
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  Speaker 1: On July fifteenth, four women again picketed Downing Street, but
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  Speaker 1: were arrested and sent to prison without even so much
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  Speaker 1: as sketching a glimpse of the premiere. On August sixteenth,
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  Speaker 1: a line of women was drawn up between the House
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  Speaker 1: of Commons and the door of ten Downing Street, where
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  Speaker 1: stood Missus Cobden Sanderson and Missus Despart. This time they
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  Speaker 1: saw mister Asquith, but though some of the women spoke
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  Speaker 1: to him, he hurried on without making any reply. Three
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  Speaker 1: days later, on the nineteenth, the line of women was
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  Speaker 1: again formed, but Missus Despart, Missus Cobden Sanderson, and six
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  Speaker 1: others were placed under arrest. Mister Tim Healy, the well
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  Speaker 1: known Irish member of Parliament, was briefed for their defense,
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  Speaker 1: but on August twenty seventh, mister Curtis Bennett decided to
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  Speaker 1: find the women forty shillings or to send them to
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  Speaker 1: prison for seven days. He stated a case for the
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  Speaker 1: High Court, and this was heard on January fourteenth, nineteen ten,
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  Speaker 1: when the Lord Chief Justice decided against the women, saying
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  Speaker 1: that there were other means of presenting petitions than going
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  Speaker 1: in numbers to do so. Meanwhile, it was announced that
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  Speaker 1: the case is a against the ninety four women who
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  Speaker 1: were concerned with Missus Pankhurst and Missus Haverfield would be withdrawn.
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  Speaker 1: But at the same time application was made by the
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  Speaker 1: authorities for the fines recorded against Missus Pankhurst and Missus Haverfield,
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  Speaker 1: and it was intimated that unless these were forthcoming, steps
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  Speaker 1: would be taken to arrest and imprison them. But immediately
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  Speaker 1: after this, on Monday, December sixth, an official receipt for
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  Speaker 1: the amount of Missus Pankhurst's fine was sent to clements
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  Speaker 1: in and it was stated that the money had been
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  Speaker 1: paid by some unknown person Note forty three. Two days later,
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  Speaker 1: Missus Pankhurst returned from her lecturing tour in the United
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: States and Canada, which had been a most triumphant success.
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  Speaker 1: On December ninth, the action by Missus Lee against mister
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  Speaker 1: Gladstone as Home Secretary and the Governor and Doctor of
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  Speaker 1: Winston Green Jail, which as to decide. The question of
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  Speaker 1: the legality of forcible feeding by the prison authorities was
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  Speaker 1: tried before the Lord Chief Justice. It was pointed out
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  Speaker 1: on missus Lee's behalf that there was no rule or
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  Speaker 1: regulation to justify for feeding. Doctor Ernest Dormer Kirby, who
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  Speaker 1: had attended her on her release, testified that her condition
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  Speaker 1: was distinctly grave and that she had then weighed no
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  Speaker 1: more than six stone six pounds. Sir Victor Horsley, Mister
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  Speaker 1: William Hugh Fenton, senior surgeon at the Chelsea Hospital for Women,
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  Speaker 1: and mister Mansell Moullin all declared forcible feeding by means
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  Speaker 1: of the nasal tube to be painful, dangerous, injurious to health,
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  Speaker 1: and incapable of providing adequate nourishment. Doctor Maurice Craig, consulting
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  Speaker 1: physician of Willbach Street and a late senior assistant physician
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  Speaker 1: at Bethlehem Hospital, who was called as a witness for
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  Speaker 1: the defense of mister Gladstone and of the officials, said
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  Speaker 1: that the operation of nasal feeding was a simple one.
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  Speaker 1: On the average, he considered it more dangerous to leave
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  Speaker 1: a patient starving than to overcome resistance. Sir Richard Douglas
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  Speaker 1: Powell also called for the defense, admitted that he would
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  Speaker 1: not willingly resort to artificial feeding unless it was quite necessary.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord Chief Justice said that he should rule that
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  Speaker 1: it was the duty of the medical officer of the
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  Speaker 1: prison to take all reasonable steps to preserve missus Lee's
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  Speaker 1: life and to prevent her committing suicide. The only question
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  Speaker 1: he should leave to the jury would be whether the
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  Speaker 1: governor and doctor had taken the right steps. In his
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  Speaker 1: summing up, he assumed throughout that the jury must decide
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  Speaker 1: against Missus Lee. They did as he directed, and she
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  Speaker 1: thereupon lost her case. On January nineteenth, an action was
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  Speaker 1: begun by Miss Emily Wilding Davison against the Visiting Justices
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  Speaker 1: of Strangeways Jail, Manchester, for having ordered that a host
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  Speaker 1: pipe should be played upon her. Judge Perry said that
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  Speaker 1: the use of the hose pipe was both ineffective and unnecessary,
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  Speaker 1: that the duty of the visiting justices was to prevent
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  Speaker 1: any abuse of authority by the officials of the jail
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  Speaker 1: and to report and make suggestions. Therefore, he held that
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  Speaker 1: they were not justified in ordering the assault, and decided
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: the case in Miss Davison's favor. In assessing the damages, however,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: he said that he should take into account the fact
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: that the host pipe incident had resulted in the prisoner's
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: release before the expiration of her sentence, had provided her
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: with copy for a vivacious and entertaining account of the
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: affair in the press, and had advertised her cause. Under
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: these circumstances, the damages should be no more than forty
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: shillings a nominal sum. The costs which were charged against
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: the visiting magistrates were however, placed on the highest scale,
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: because the case was held to be one of great importance. Meanwhile,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: there was no lack of turbulent scenes. All over the country.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: Cabinet minister's meetings were daily being interrupted, both by women
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: who had succeeded in concealing themselves and by men who
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: urged the question of votes for women on their behalf.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: When mister Lloyd George spoke at reading, two women started
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: up from under the platform. During his speech in the
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: Queen's Hall, London. A few days afterwards, a forcible feeding
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: tube was suddenly flung at him, and he caught it
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: in his hands. As these tewards fell upon the man
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: who had thrown it, Mister Lloyd George cried, I do
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: not envy him his paid job. When speaking in the
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: Louth Town Hall, mister Lloyd George was referring to the
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: House of Lords as an unrepresentative chamber, when a voice
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: from the roof remarked, so is the House of Commons.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: As far as women are concerned. I see some rats
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: have got in. Let them squeal. It does not matter,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: said the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and amidst a terrible uproar,
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: Miss Hudson and Miss Bertha Brewster were dragged down from
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: amongst the rafters where they had lain concealed for many hours.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: They were taken to the police station, charged with infringing
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: the Public Meeting Act, and detained in custody from Saturday
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: until Monday, both in the same small cell, which contained
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: only one narrow prison mattress and some rugs. On Monday,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: the magistrate discharged them with the caution, complimenting them on
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: their pluck. The government was averse to allowing them to
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: be let off so lately, and on Wednesday, Miss Brewster
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: was re arrested for having broken her cell windows in
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Elton Jail, Liverpool. In the previous August. She was sentenced
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: to six weeks imprisonment, but gave notice to appeal against
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: a sentence on the ground that she had already been
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: specially punished for this offense whilst in prison. On January
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: thirty first, she was released in order that she might
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: prosecute the appeal, and, evidently thinking that the case hardly
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: did him credit, mister Gladstone announced that she would not
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: be asked to complete her term of imprisonment. The appeal
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: was therefore dropped. On December twentieth, mister Asquith had arranged
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: to speak both at Liverpool and Birkenhead, and, owing to
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: his desire to avoid the Suffragettes, detectives smuggled him across
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: the river amongst the luggage. Nevertheless, outside the Liberal Club,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: miss Selina Martin and Miss Leslie Hall, who stood in
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: the gutter, the one disguised as a match girl and
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: the other as an orange seller, spoke to him as
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: he stepped from his motor car and urged him the
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: necessity for granting the franchise to women. He dashed away
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: without answering, and in protest and by way of warning,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: miss Selina Martin tossed a ginger beer bottle into the
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: empty car which he had left. Both women were at
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: once arrested and were afterwards remanded in custody for six days.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: Bail was refused, though miss Selina Martin promised that she
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: and her comrade would refrain from militant action until the
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: case should come on Note forty four. The women were
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: removed to walt and jail, and were there treated as
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: though they had been ordinary convicted criminals. They protested by
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: refusing to eat, just as so many of their comrades
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: had done before them. Miss Martin also barricaded her cell,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: but the officials forced their way in, pulled her off
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: the bed, and flung her on the floor, shaking and
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: striking her unmercifully. Shortly afterwards, her cell was visited by
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: the deputy medical officer, who ordered that she should get
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: up and dress. She explained that she had been wet
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: through by the snowstorm on the previous day, and that
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: her clothes were still saturated, for no attempt had been
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: made to get them dry. But she was forcibly dressed, and,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: with her hands handcuffed behind her, was dragged to a cold,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: dark punishment cell and flung on the stone floor. She
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: lay there in an exhausted state for some hours, being
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: unable to rise without the aid of her hands and arms,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: which were still fastened behind her back, until at last
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: a wardress came in and lifted her on to the
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: bed board. The irons were kept on all night. On Friday,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: the third day of her imprisonment, Miss Martin was brought
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: up before the visiting magistrates. She protested against the way
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: in which she was being treated, pointing out that she
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: was still an unconvicted prisoner, but she was told that
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: the officials were quite justified in all they might do
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: the same evening, several wardresses entered her cell and ordered
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: her to go to the doctor's room to be forcibly fed.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: I refused, she says, and was dragged to the foot
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: of the stairs with my hands handcuffed behind. Then I
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: was frog marched, that is to say, carried face downwards
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: by the arms and legs to the doctor's room. After
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: a violent struggle, I was forced into a chair, the
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: handcuffs removed, my arms being held by the wardresses, whilst
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: the doctor forcibly fed me by that obnoxious instrument, the
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: stomach tube. Most unnecessary force was used by the assistant
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: medical officer when applying the gag. The operation finished, I
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: walked handcuffed to the top of the stairs, but refused
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: to return to the punishment cell. Then two wardresses caught
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: me by the shoulders and dragged me down the steps,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: another kicking me from behind. As I reached the bottom step,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: they relaxed their hold and I fell on my head.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: I was picked up and carried to the cell. Next
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: day she was forcibly fed and afterwards again refused to
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: return to the dark cell. But she says, I was
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: seized by a number of wardresses and carried down the steps,
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: my head being allowed to bump several times. Meanwhile, Miss
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Leslie Hall had also broken her windows and had been
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: placed in a punishment cell and kept in handcuffs continuously
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: for three days. After two and a half days fasting,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: she was fed by the stomach tube. The doctor had
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: taunted her meanwhile and jokingly told the wardress that she
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: was mentally sick and that it was like stuffing a
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: turkey for Christmas. On Monday, December twenty seventh, the women
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: were again brought into court, when Miss Leslie Hall was
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: ordered one month's imprisonment with hard labor and Miss Selina Martin.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: Two months. On returning to prison, both the women refused
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: to wear prison dress and recommenced the hunger strike. Each
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: one was then clothed in a strait jacket and placed
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: in a punishment cell. Forcible feeding was continued, and they
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: both grew rapidly weaker until February third, when they were released. Meanwhile,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: the facts as to their treatment wast imprisoned on remand
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: had been widely circulated, for they had dictated statements for
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: their friend's use whilst their trial was being conducted. Mister
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: Gladstone wrote to the Times denying the truth of the statements,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: declaring that the reason for refusing bail to the women
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: was that they had refused to promise to be of
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: good behavior until their trial came on, that no unnecessary
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: violence had been used, and that the women themselves had
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: made no complaint. But indeed, the inaccuracy of mister Gladstone's
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: statements had become proverbial, for he was constantly denying the
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: truth of charges which were clearly substantiated by the most
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: reliable evidence. Now, Lady Constance Lytton, in spite of her
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: fragile constitution and the disease from which she suffered again,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: determined to place herself beside the women in the fighting
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: ranks who were enduring the greatest hardship. Believing that she
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: had been released from Newcastle Prison on account of her
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: rank and family influence, she determined that this time she
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: would go disguised. She knew that not only her family,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: but the leaders of the militant movement would try to
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: dissuade her on account of her health. She therefore decided
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: to speak of her intention to no one except Missus
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: bains and a few local workers, whom she pledged to secrecy.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: On January fourteenth, she and Missus Baines organized a procession
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: to Walton Jail. A halt was called opposite the prison, and,
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: having told the story of what was happening inside, Lady
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: Constance called the people to follow her to its gates
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: and demand the release of the tortured women. Then she
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: moved forward, and as she had foreseen, she was immediately
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: placed under arrest. At the same time, Elsie Howie dashed
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: into the prison yard and broke one of the windows
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: of the Governor's house by striking it with a purple,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: white and green flag. She too was taken into custody
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: and bail being refused, the two comrades passed the night
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: in the cells. Lady Constance had disguised herself by cutting
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: her hair, wearing spectacles, and dressing herself in poor and
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: plain garments, and now she gave Jane Morton, seamstress, as
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: her name and occupation. Next morning she was sentenced to
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: fourteen days hard labor without the option of a fine,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: whilst Elsie Howie was sent to prison for six weeks
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: hard labor. Then they were dragged ruthlessly away to the
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: torture which they well knew was to come. On arriving
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: at the prison on Saturday, January fifteenth, they made the
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: usual claim to be treated as political prisoners, and on
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: this being refused, signified their intention of refusing to conform
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: to any of the prison rules. Thereupon they were forcibly
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: stripped by the wardresses and dressed in the prison clothes.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: At five o'clock on Tuesday, the doctor entered Lady Constant
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Lytton's cell with four wardresses and the forcible feeding apparatus.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: Then without testing her heart or feeling her pulse, though
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: she had not been medically examined since entering the prison,
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: he ordered that she should be placed in position. She
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: did not resist, but lay down on the bed board voluntarily,
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: well knowing that she would need all her strength for
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: the ordeal that was to come. Her poor heart was
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: palpating wildly, but she set her teeth and tried to
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: calm herself. The doctor then produced a wooden and a
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: steel gag and told her that he would not use
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: the latter, which would hurt unless she resisted him. But
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: as she would not unlock her teeth, he threw the
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: milder wooden instrument aside and pried her mouth open with
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: the steel one. Then the stomach tube was forced down,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: and the whole hateful feeding business was gone through. The
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: reality surpassed all that I had anticipated, she said. It
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: was a living nightmare of pain, horror, and revolting degradation.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: The sense is of being strangled, suffocated by the thrust
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: down of the large rubber tube, which arouses great irritation
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: in the throat and nausea in the stomach, the anguish
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: and effort of wretching whilst the tube is forcibly pressed
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: back into the stomach, and the natural writhing of the
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: body restrained. To defy description, I forgot what I was
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: in there for, I forgot women, I forgot everything except
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: my own sufferings, and I was completely overcome by them.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: The doctor, annoyed by her one effort to resist, affected
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: to consider her distress, assumed and struck her contemptuously on
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: the cheek as he rose to leave. But the wardersser
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: showed pity for her weakness, and they helped to wipe
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: her clothes over which she had been sick. They promised
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: to bring her others in the morning, but she was
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: obliged to pass the night as she was for owing
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: both to the low temperature of the cell and her
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: own lack of vitality, she was always so cold that
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: she wore her night dress and all her clothes both
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: day and night. Even then, her limbs remained stiff with cold,
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: and though at last, as a special favor, she was
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: allowed first one and then another extra blanket and the
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: cape which the prisoners wear at exercise, she remained cold,
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: for she says it was like clothing a stone to
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: warm it. When she was fed the second time, the
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: vomiting was more excessive, and the doctor's clothes suffered. He
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: was angry and left her cell hastily saying, you did
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: that on purpose. If you do it again tomorrow, I
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: shall feed you twice. How very much easier would it
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: have been to have given in, or never to have
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: started this resistance? How very much more natural to this
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: gentle creature, whose whole life had been one of affectionate
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: deference to the wish of others, who, because of her
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: kindly sweetness, had been named by her family Angel Khan,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: would have been to save others trouble and quietly to
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: submit to the discomforts of prison life. But where principles
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: were in question, none could be stronger or firmer than
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Constance Lytton, and she was determined to go on with
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: the bitter thing until the end. Yet through it all
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: her gentle nature was apparent. She could not bear that
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: any of the ordinary prisoner should be brought in to
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: clean up the mess on her cell floor, and except
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: upon one or two occasions, she always managed to do
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: it for herself in spite of her weakness and distress.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Notwithstanding his brutal rudeness to her, she even tried to
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: wipe the doctor's clothes if anything was speilt upon them,
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: for the sake of the other prisoner. She tried too,
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: to help him with his hateful task by making suggestions
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: to him as to how it might be rendered more efficacious,
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: and some of his horrors mitigated, but her suggestions were
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: contemptuously disregarded. The third time she was fed, she vomited continuously,
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: but the doctor kept pouring in more food until she
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: was seized with a violent fit of shivering. Then he
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: became alarmed. He hastily told the wardresses to lay her
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: on the floor and called in his assistant to test
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: her heart, But after a brief and superficial investigation, it
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: was pronounced quite sound and the pulse steady. Next time
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: he appeared, he pleaded with her, saying, I do beg
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: of you. I appeal to you, not as a prison doctor,
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: but as a man to give over. You are a
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: delicate woman. You are not fit for this sort of thing.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: Is anybody fit for it? She answered, I beg of you.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: I appealed to you, not as a prisoner, but as
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: a woman, to refuse to continue this inhuman treatment. From Wednesday,
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: January nineteenth and onwards, she began to find that not
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: only did she receive greater consideration from the doctor, but
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: that there was a marked change in her treatment generally.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: This led her to conclude that her identity had been discovered,
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: or at least suspected, and she therefore tried to take
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: advantage of whatever privileges might be made to her in
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: order to secure concessions for her comrades and to induce
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: the officials to act with more humanity. But though she
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: considered that she had been treated with more kindness than
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: was usual, we learned that obvious simple necessities were denied her.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: The processes of digestion were entirely stagnant, and she was
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: losing weight daily, And though she made several suggestions as
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: to remedies, and at last an apparient drug was promised
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: to her, it was never supplied. She was right, however,
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: in thinking that her identity had been discovered. On Friday,
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: the authorities made up their minds that she was not
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: Jane Wharton, and on Sunday morning, both the Governor and
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: doctor appeared and told her that she was to be released,
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: and that her sister had come to fetch her. Lady
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: Constance Lytton now sent a careful statement to mister Gladstone,
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: asserting that the forcible feeding was performed with unnecess sary
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: cruelty and without proper care. He declared that all her
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: charges were unfounded, and the visiting magistrates, having held a
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: one sided enquiry into the matter, announced that the regulations
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: had been carried out with the greatest care and consideration
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: footnotes forty three. A few days later, the same thing
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: happened in the case of missus Haerfield, and later still
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: in regard to the members of the Women's Freedom League
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: forty four. Miss Martin's promise was reported in the Liverpool
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: Daily Posts and other papers, end of Chapter twenty three.