Book Category: Women's Suffrage

In 1914, Frank Moxon wrote a 32-page pamphlet that is widely considered to be the most effective attack on forcible feeding in English prisons.  While there had been earlier texts denouncing the practice against the imprisoned suffragettes, Moxon’s account, written while he was doctor in Moorfields, made the case most effectively. He begins his article by stating that he is going to avoid any “sentimental” approach to the problem and that his intention is to present a “frank and complete report on the medical aspects of this treatment.” The publisher, the Women’s Press, while an independent entity, played a strategic role in bringing suffrage into public discourse.

Our Women’s Suffrage Collection is now the home to a fun and inviting set of suffragette-themed porcelain figurines made around 1910 during the “Deeds, Not Words” era of the Women’s Social and Political Union. While the suffragettes on both sides of the Atlantic were known for being capitalist queens in terms of the material their organizations produced—everything from playing cards to elegant watches—a lot of commercial manufacturers were makings tons of money off the suffragette brand. These figurines bear witness to the consumer demand for décor pertaining to the “votes for women” movement.

This book contains highlights from the 1912 conspiracy trial of Emmeline Pankhurst, Fred Pethick Lawrence, and Emmeline Pethick Lawrence. In these speeches, Pankhurst and the other leading militant suffragists defend themselves against the charges of damaging city property in their attempt to publicize the issue of women’s suffrage. They illustrate the complexity of the issue and the ambivalence of the court, which found them guilty of damaging city property yet acknowledged the virtues of the cause for which they were fighting. The publisher, the Women’s Press, while an independent entity, played a strategic role in bringing suffrage into public discourse.

52 cards, plus 2 Jokers. All court cards are women; the jokers are men. Cards are mint and sealed.

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