Letter from Constance Lytton to Annie Kenney, 1909
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Constance Lytton to Annie Kenney, 1909
Subject
Riots
Political activists
Direct action
Description
1909 Letter from Lady Constance Lytton to Annie Kenney. She writes about the ‘harrowing’ ‘Birmingham episode’, referring to the first instance of force-feeding suffragette prisoners on hunger strike. The Birmingham prisoners commenced their hunger strike on 18 September 1909 and the government ordered the medical officer of the prison to feed them forcibly by inserting a rubber tube through their mouth or nose into the stomach. This became public knowledge through the Press on 24 September 1909. The matter was raised in Parliament by Keir Hardie, Labour MP, and the rest of the House reacted with laughter, as Constance Lytton mentions. She ends her letter with an impassioned statement about the pioneering women who are having to endure this new form of ‘God’s new violence’.
Constance Lytton was a prominent suffragette, women's rights activist, and campaigner for prison reform. She was imprisoned on a number of occasions, but felt she was not given the same treatment as other suffragette inmates due to her aristocratic background. To test her theory, she gave a fake name - Jane Warton - after being taken to Walton Gaol, Liverpool. As Jane Warton, she adopted the hunger strike and was force-fed - an experience which disturbed her health for the rest of her life. She documented the experience in her 1914 memoir Prisons and Prisoners.
Constance Lytton was a prominent suffragette, women's rights activist, and campaigner for prison reform. She was imprisoned on a number of occasions, but felt she was not given the same treatment as other suffragette inmates due to her aristocratic background. To test her theory, she gave a fake name - Jane Warton - after being taken to Walton Gaol, Liverpool. As Jane Warton, she adopted the hunger strike and was force-fed - an experience which disturbed her health for the rest of her life. She documented the experience in her 1914 memoir Prisons and Prisoners.
Creator
Lytton, Lady Constance
Source
Kenney Papers, University of East (UEA) Anglia Archives
Publisher
Unknown
Date
1909
Rights
Copyright: Owned by Knebworth Estates – www.knebworthhouse.com. All rights are reserved.
Source: UEA Archives. Transcript: Zoe Kelly
Source: UEA Archives. Transcript: Hazel Brain
Format
jpeg image file
Language
English (United Kingdom)
Identifier
KP/AK/2/Lytton/2
Text Item Type Metadata
Original Format
Letter
Transcription
Transcript – KP/AK/2/Lytton/2
RAIL.KNEBWORTH.G.N.R. HOMEWOOD,
TELEGRAM. KNEBWORTH KNEBWORTH,
HERTS.
Dearest Annie
Yes I’ll book.
9am----11 to 22 for [Y]our at Homes.
It’s just simply harrowing the Birmingham Episode. Mrs Pankhurst and Mrs Lawrence are both ill with it, I think
[Page 2]
But as soon as the public realise it and the ‘laughter’ it has caused in the [House] ! it will, as usual, move on the tide immensely. These heroic women will be only too glad,- one knows they are only proud
[Page 3]
to have been pioneers in this receiving of the Govt’s [Government’s] new violence.
Yr [Your] loving,
Con [Constance]
RAIL.KNEBWORTH.G.N.R. HOMEWOOD,
TELEGRAM. KNEBWORTH KNEBWORTH,
HERTS.
Dearest Annie
Yes I’ll book.
9am----11 to 22 for [Y]our at Homes.
It’s just simply harrowing the Birmingham Episode. Mrs Pankhurst and Mrs Lawrence are both ill with it, I think
[Page 2]
But as soon as the public realise it and the ‘laughter’ it has caused in the [House] ! it will, as usual, move on the tide immensely. These heroic women will be only too glad,- one knows they are only proud
[Page 3]
to have been pioneers in this receiving of the Govt’s [Government’s] new violence.
Yr [Your] loving,
Con [Constance]
Collection
Tags
Citation
Lytton, Lady Constance, “Letter from Constance Lytton to Annie Kenney, 1909,” Suffragette Stories, accessed April 25, 2024, https://suffragettestories.omeka.net/items/show/21.