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Auction: 4004 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals & Militaria
Lot: 231

The Highly Important Honour Medal For Imprisonment Awarded To Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst Medal For Imprisonment, silver (Hallmarks for London 1908), 40mm., obverse, 'H.2 4' engraved in block capitals and filled with black enamel, reverse a wreath, the centre engraved 'Mrs Pankhurst', with plain ring for suspension, the lower suspension bar engraved 'Oct. 8th 08', the top riband bar engraved 'Holloway', with original riband, extremely fine, of the highest rarity The inscription on the lower bar, 'Oct 8th 08', records the date of the incident that led to a charge of incitement and the subsequent arrest, trial and imprisonment of Mrs Pankhurst, her daughter Christobel Pankhurst and Flora Drummond. On 8 October 1908 the Police raided the offices of the Women's Social and Political Union which were then in Clement's Inn. It was here, said Inspector Jarvis giving evidence at the trial, that Christobel showed them handbills, 'which in substance formed the foundation of the charge' contained in the subsequent summons for their arrest. The Summons served on the three women read: 'Information has been laid this day that you in the month of October in the year 1908 were guilty of conduct likely to provoke a breach of the peace by initiating and causing to be initiated and publishing and causing to be published a certain handbill calling upon and inciting the public to do a certain wrongful and illegal act - viz to rush the House of Commons at 7.30pm on October 13 inst'. The women were summoned to appear at Bow Street Police Station on Monday 12 October at 3.30pm, but they decided to ignore the summons (which in any case was subsequently adjourned until the 13th) until after the rush on the House of Commons when they would give themselves up for arrest. The three informed the police of this by letter, saying that they would be available at Clement's Inn at 6.00pm on that day, and carried on with their activities, including a large rally in Trafalgar Square, to attract support for the House of Commons demonstration. On Wednesday 14 October the women appeared at Bow Street Court before a Magistrate, Mr Curtis Bennett. Despite their efforts, especially those of Christobel who as a trained lawyer handled the defence, to turn the proceedings into a political trial at which both Lloyd George and Herbert Gladstone, two leading Liberal MPs, were called as witnesses, the Magistrate insisted that he would not be distracted from the essence of the charge. In his summing up he declared that the defendants had admitted publishing the handbills and had gone on to distribute them despite having been warned of the consequences. He said that his job was to carry out the law in order to preserve the peace and well-being of the Metropolis and he thought that there could be no question that the handbill which was circulated was by its contents liable to cause something to occur which might and probably would end in a breach of the peace. Mr Curtis Bennett further commented that the Chief Commissioner of Police was bound to keep Parliament Square and the vicinity free and open, and he felt that it would be impossible to do so if crowds assembled to help and see the women rush Parliament. Hence the three accused were found guilty of incitement. Unwilling to be bound over to keep the peace for twelve months, Mrs Pankhurst and Flora Drummond were sentenced to three months imprisonment and Christobel to ten weeks. The Honour Medal for Imprisonment, the earliest known WSPU medallic award of which only two other examples have been noted, both in The Museum of London, precedes the later more frequently awarded Hunger Strike Medal. Although similar in design to the latter, the Imprisonment Medal is slightly smaller in diameter (20mm), with narrower suspension bar and riband; the top bar is inscribed with the name of the prison and the lower bar with the date of the act that led to imprisonment, in the case of Mrs Pankhurst 'Holloway' and 'Oct. 8th 08' respectively. Her medal is inscribed on the obverse 'H24' - H is apparently for Hospital Wing, 2 for 2nd Floor, and 4 for the Cell Number 4; the two other known examples of the Imprisonment Medal, one awarded to Lady Constance Lytton, the other unnamed, follow a similar pattern. Estimate £ 20,000-30,000 Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1902): born 15 July 1858 in Manchester to middle-class parents Robert ( a calico manufacturer) and Jane Goulden. The eldest daughter of ten surviving children, she was educated first as a boarder in Manchester and then, from her mid-teens until she was 19, at the École Normale in Paris, a pioneer educational establishment for girls in an era when they received little education. The Radical Years Emmeline's family came from a radical tradition; her paternal grandfather was at Peterloo in 1819 in support of an increase in the male franchise; her paternal grandmother was a member of the Anti-Corn Law League; and her parents belonged to Manchester's left-wing intelligentsia and were active in a variety of social reform groups. Her father, six years a Liberal Councillor, was a staunch campaigner for the emancipation of slaves. Her mother came from the Isle of Man where women were enfranchised in 1881 and was a subscriber to the Women's Suffrage Journal. Mrs Goulden took Emmeline to her first suffrage meeting when she was about 15 years of age. Soon after completing her schooling, Emmeline met and then married in 1879 a barrister, Richard Pankhurst, and during the next five years they had four children together. Richard, 25 years older than Emmeline, was a member of various radical groups committed to social reform and women's rights. In 1880 Emmeline joined the Joint Committee of the Manchester National Society for Women's Suffrage and the following year was co-opted to the Married Women's Property Committee. She supported her husband when he stood as an Independent candidate in the 1883 Manchester by-election and then as the Radical-Liberal candidate for Rotherhithe (London) in the 1885 General Election (both times he was defeated). A libel case against her husband arising out of his election activities put pressure on already stretched family finances and in 1885 the family moved to London. Here Richard continued to earn a precarious living as a barrister and Emmeline opened a 'fancy goods' shop, Emerson and Company, at 165 Hampstead Road where the family also lived. After various setbacks they moved to Russell Square and the shop was relocated, first to Berners Street, then to 223 Regent Street (opposite Liberty's). In 1889 Mrs Pankhurst gave birth to a second son Harry, but suffered the loss from diptheria of her first son Frank. The Pankhursts socialised with the artistic and political bohemia of the day and were members of the Fabian Society (Emmeline eventually resigned in opposition to the Society's refusal to oppose the Boer War). Also in 1889 they were involved in the formation of the Women's Franchise League, which was closely identified with the Liberal Party, and Emmeline became a member of its first provisional council. She was also a member of the Central National Society for Women's Suffrage. In accordance with the times, initially these organisations were headed by men but gradually Emmeline became more involved with policy making which provided her with good experience for when she came to lead the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). At this stage in her campaigning activities, Emmeline believed in change by constitutional means. She argued that legislation was weighted against women and that only by obtaining the vote would they achieve any degree of social justice for themselves. She viewed enfranchisement as the gateway to full citizenship Life in London did not prove financially successful for the Pankhursts and by the beginning of 1893 they were back living in Manchester. They were also disillusioned with the Liberal Party and its lack of commitment to women's suffrage so they joined the Independent Labour Party (ILP). Emmeline continued her suffrage activities as a member of the Executive Committee of the Manchester National Society and of the Franchise League. In 1894 she helped organise a 'Great Demonstration' in Manchester Free Trade Hall in support of women textile workers. In the 1895 general election, Richard stood (again unsuccessfully) as the ILP candidate for Gorton, once more Emmeline gave her support, but encountered considerable hostility and on one occasion was even stoned. She also took on other social reform commitments and became a Poor Law Guardian. Two years later Emmeline made her first court appearance having attended meetings in support of free speech and become involved in civil disobedience. She took the opportunity to develope her public-speaking skills and assisted in tearing down fences erected to prevent the ILP holding meetings. However, the case against her was dismissed though other demonstrators were sent to prison. When Richard Pankhurst died in 1898, leaving his family in some financial difficulty, Emmeline took up a paid job as Registrar of Birth Deaths and Marriages. However she did not give up her political and campaigning interests and was elected to the ILP Executive along with the likes of Keir Hardie, Ramsay MacDonald and Philip Snowden and to the Manchester School Board as the ILP representative. Also she campaigned vigorously against the Boer War. Formation of The Women's Social and Political Union From these many involvements she learnt a good deal about grass roots campaigning , but it was not long before she became disillusioned at the slow progress of established women's suffrage organisations and other interested groups. Never one to compromise, Emmeline now became clear that principle must come before political pragmatism hence she formed the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU - later to be christened by others the Suffragettes) in October 1903 at a meeting held in her home - its purpose was to accomplish women's enfranchisement. Even in the beginning it differed from other suffrage organisations in that it had an all-women membership. In the first year or two its members, led by Mrs Pankhurst, worked mainly in the north of England and took the campaign into the streets and on to the factory floor. Mrs Pankhurst committed herself to a wide programme of public speaking; this she continued throughout most of her life. She addressed many organisations such as trades union, churches, branches of the ILP, ethical societies, cooperative groups. Initially there was a close alliance between the ILP and WSPU but this was not to last Several times in these early years Emmeline also took her campaign to London. In February 1904 she joined a suffrage demonstration at the House of Commons on the opening of Parliament to lobby for the inclusion of a bill for women's suffrage in the coming session. In February 1905 she lobbied MPs who had been successful in the ballot for Private Members Bills. Bamford Slack, a Liberal, took up the matter but his Bill was talked out on 12 May 1905 and a protest, said to have been organised by Emmeline, took place outside the House in Broad Sanctuary. During the 1906 general election campaign the differences between the WSPU and other suffrage organisations became more marked. The WSPU engaged in tactical voting by opposing the Liberal Party which was expected to win because, as a matter of Party policy, it did not support votes for women. WSPU members targeted Liberal candidates (whether or not as individuals they supported women's suffrage) and frequently interrupted public meetings. This tactic caused a good deal of confusion as the WSPU opposed candidates who favoured women's enfranchisement and who were therefore supported by other suffrage movements. The fact that Emmeline had already gained a reputation for direct and clever questioning of Government Ministers who travelled north was also of much annoyance to members of other suffrage groups who favoured a more cooperative and persuasive approach. Apparently inexhaustible Mrs Pankhurst also found time to work for Keir Hardie's election in Merthyr Tydfil. Slowly more militant elements in Emmeline's thinking started to surface. She began to give expression to the belief that citizens could break the law if they were not allowed to make it, and drew parallels with the extension of male suffrage which, she argued, had only been achieved by violence. However, even when in later years militancy was at its height, she still pursued more peaceful strategies alongside civil disobedience and violence. She always took care to stress that WSPU violence was directed against property not people. Also, Emmeline's personal magnetism, eloquency and militancy bore dividends as it led to increased publicity and an increase in members and financial support. In by-elections which followed the general election, Emmeline continued her policy of opposing Liberals candidates and visiting working class areas to speak at factory gates, on shop floors and at public meetings. She also found time to visit London more often as the London-based WSPU group began increasingly to grab the headlines. Here her daughter Sylvia and another prominent Suffragette, Annie Kenney, were campaigning amongst working class women in the East End. In October 1906 she led another deputation to the House of Commons which resulted in the arrest and imprisonment of her daughter Adela, also the imprisonment of Sylvia for publicly objecting in court. Now all three daughters had received prison sentences - Emmeline's other daughter Christobel was the first to be sentenced in support of WSPU principles. Move to London Much changed for Emmeline in 1907 when it was made clear to her that her job as Registrar was incompatible with WSPU activities. Hence she gave up her position and most of her personal belongings to move to London, where she established a base though in fact she led a peripatetic existence staying with supporters and in hostels. The same year she resigned from the Independent Labour Party as she found her commitment to the WSPU agenda was at odds with the Party line. It also became clear that Labour and Liberals had much in common. From 1907 she insisted that WSPU members should be independent of political parties. The daily administration of the WSPU passed very largely into the hands of Christobel as Emmeline took an endless round of country-wide speaking engagements. With the move to London there was a tendency for middle-class women to dominate the movement (indeed Emmeline believed that middle-class women had a duty to campaign on behalf of working-class women) however, a good deal of support also came from WSPU branches in working class areas. The WSPU London headquarters was at Clements Inn and by the end of 1907 it had 70 branches. In October the newspaper Votes for Women was launched (edited by Emmeline and Frederick Pethwick Lawrence). Mrs Pankhurst was now much involved in arranging and speaking at WSPU meetings; Sunday Hyde Park gatherings became well established and attracted weekly audiences of several thousand. Many Suffragettes, supporters and observers of the time attested to Emmeline's powerful presence and to her persuasive and passionate speaking ability which was, apparently, enhanced by a lovely voice. She paid great attention to her appearance, which was always elegant, and lived up to the contemporary physical ideal of a woman, even though she was intent on changing Edwardian notions of womanhood. Mrs Pankhurst had a charisma which made her hugely popular amongst WSPU members and she had a good instinct for publicity which enabled the organisation to raise considerable amounts of money. Emmeline put her campaign above all and this often tested her loyalty to individuals, even her own family, others were not always prepared to go along with her authoritarian manner. She did not wish to be hindered in her mission by democracy or bureaucracy. In 1907 this led to splits in the WSPU. With her increasingly militant attitude and determination, it was only a matter of time before Emmeline was arrested and imprisoned. Hence, on 14 February 1908 she was sentenced to six weeks imprisonment for obstructing a policeman when leading a deputation from Caxton Hall to the House of Commons. Following this in June 1908 she led the first large-scale demonstration to Hyde Park, a rally that attracted several thousand supporters Further incarceration was inevitable for many women, including Mrs Pankhurst, especially because of the need to step up the campaign when Asquith, a violent opponent of women's suffrage, became Prime Minister. '8th October 1908' Events leading up to Emmeline's second prison sentence began on 8 October 1908 when the Police raided the offices of the WSPU. It was here, said Inspector Jarvis giving evidence at the trial, that Christobel showed them handbills, 'which in substance formed the foundation of the charge' contained in the subsequent summons for their arrest. The Summons served on the three women (Mrs Pankhurst, Christobel and Flora Drummond) read: 'Information has been laid this day that you in the month of October in the year 1908 were guilty of conduct likely to provoke a breach of the peace by initiating and causing to be initiated and publishing and causing to be published a certain handbill calling upon and inciting the public to do a certain wrongful and illegal act - viz to rush the House of Commons at 7.30pm on October 13 inst'. The women were summoned to appear at Bow Street Police Station on Monday, 12 October at 3.30pm, but they decided to ignore the summons (which in any case was subsequently adjourned until the 13th) until after the rush on the House of Commons when they would give themselves up for arrest. The three informed the police of this by letter, saying that they would be available at Clement's Inn at 6.00pm on that day (which they were), and carried on with their activities, including a large rally in Trafalgar Square, to attract support for the House of Commons demonstration. On Wednesday 14 October the women appeared at Bow Street Court before a Magistrate, Mr Curtis Bennett. Despite their efforts, especially those of Christobel who as a trained lawyer handled the defence, to turn the proceedings into a political trial at which both Lloyd George and Herbert Gladstone, two leading Liberal MPs, were called as witnesses, the Magistrate insisted that he would not be distracted from the essence of the charge. In his summing up he declared that the defendants had admitted publishing the handbills and had gone on to distribute them despite being warned of the consequences. He said that his job was to carry out the law in order to preserve the peace and well-being of the Metropolis and he thought that there could be no question that the handbill which was circulated was by its contents liable to cause something to occur which might and probably would end in a breach of the peace. Hence the three accused were found guilty of incitement. Unwilling to be bound over to keep the peace for 12 months, Mrs Pankhurst and Flora Drummond were sentenced to three months imprisonment and Christobel to ten weeks. During her imprisonment Emmeline was put into solitary confinement for breaches of prison regulations, but released in December before her sentence expired. Subsequently she was awarded a WSPU Medal for Imprisonment with clasp. The Militant Years From 1910-13 Emmeline's life was dominated by summonses, arrests, trials, imprisonment and hunger (and sometimes thirst) strikes. In June 1909 she was arrested for assaulting a police officer but escaped prison because a well-wisher paid the fine. Mrs Pankhurst continued her speaking tours to raise funds not just in the UK but in the United States in October 1909 and October 1911, and Ireland in September 1910. During this punishing schedule she also had to deal with tragedy when her second son, Harry died of poliomyelitis. She also lost her mother and sister the same year - the latter a WSPU member was considered to have died as a result of her treatment in prison. She was again arrested on 10 November 1910 on 'Black Friday' when demonstrating in Downing Street against the failure of the Conciliation Bill (drafted to enfranchise women), but was let off without charge. Then in March 1912 she received two months for attempted window breaking when on the failure of the Second Conciliation Bill in November 1911 she had taken a taxi to Downing Street and thrown stones at windows. She was charged with window breaking and conspiracy, then initially tried and imprisoned on the former. A little later in May, the conspiracy charge came before the courts and Emmeline received nine months, but she was released after five weeks, because of her hunger-strike. Mrs Pankhurst was not one of the first WSPU members to go on hunger-strike, nor was it her idea originally, but she supported its continuation and believed in standing by the women she represented. She was not force-fed, something which she dreaded ( for political reasons, the authorities thought it wise not to force-feed a few of the more highly profile or well-connected women) and she was released on 24 June. The failure of the Conciliation Bills and the deaths of family members appear to have been catalysts in strengthening her militant views. Her commitment to more militant action became very marked in her speeches; at the Albert Hall in October 1911 she said: 'We are a fighting Army' and she called for 'a new and stronger policy of aggression¹. In 1912 Emmeline took time out to visit Christobel who had fled to Paris, establish new head quarters in Lincoln's Inn House, Kingsway and took over as Treasurer of the WSPU when a split with the Pethwick Lawrences occurred. The Police regularly attended WSPU meetings and forwarded reports to the Home Office to identify instances of incitements to break the law. It was not long before they identified such an occasion. Militant action by WSPU members had spread and became a guerrilla war - during 1913 the contents of pillar boxes were damaged, acid was thrown on golf courses, windows were regularly smashed, trains damaged, telegraph wire cut, a number of public buildings and country homes were damaged by arson, and the case containing the Crown Jewels was smashed. On 20 February 1913 during a speech at Cory Hall, Cardiff, Emmeline accepted responsibility for an arson attack the day before on a house being built for Lloyd George at Walton Heath. She was charged and taken to Holloway to await trial - bail was refused as she would not agree to forgo agitation. Initially she went on hunger-strike, but then accepted the bail condition. Charged with inciting certain persons unknown to place explosives in a building, she conducted her own defence and took every opportunity to turn it into a political trial often speaking eloquently on the inequalities which existed between men and women. Mrs Pankhurst was sentenced on 3 April to three years penal servitude. Immediately she went on hunger-strike and by 9 April a prison report described her as emotional and depressed hence she was released on license under the Prisoners' Temporary Discharge for Ill Health Act, 25 April 1913 (known as the Cat and Mouse Act) which allowed the temporary release of prisoners on license to give them time to recover. Nursed by Nurse Pine, who regularly cared for WSPU hunger-strikers, Emmeline began a series of hunger-strikes, releases, evasions (which often involved decoys to throw the police off the scent) and rearrests when she did not return to prison as required by her license (she was released on ten occasions and rearrested nine times during the course of this sentence). On one occasion she was rearrested at Emily Davidson's funeral. Further prison reports described her has non-cooperative - refusing to undress and be examined, smashing her cell utensils. After one of her releases on license (which was auctioned for WSPU funds and sold at £100) in June she managed to visit Christobel in Paris and also visit New York to raise funds. Mrs Pankhurst was initially detained at Ellis Island but allowed to proceed with the visit by authority of the President, a beneficial turn of events as it ensured maximum publicity. On her return to England she was rearrested at Plymouth, which resulted in WSPU spreading to Devon. In Exeter prison she once more went on hunger-strike, was released, rearrested and sent to Holloway only to repeat the cycle. On the occasion of this last release she escaped to Paris and eventually returned to England in January 1914. Mrs Pankhurst again defied arrest by speaking at meetings but finally was rearrested on 9 March in Glasgow. This meeting was attended by about 200 uniformed and plain clothed police. She was surrounded by her bodyguards (formed to try to prevent her rearrest) with police batons, Indian clubs, life preservers and hammers. During the commotion that attended the police attempts at arrest, they threw flower pots, water bottles, glasses, chairs and buckets of water which had been prepared for this purpose, even a blank cartridge was fired. The train that took an injured Mrs Pankhurst back to London was occupied by Suffragettes, hence it had to be stopped outside London to allow her to be carried off first. More time in Holloway followed with a further hunger-strike, release and rearrest in May whilst she was attempting to petition the King. The treatment of Mrs Pankhurst led to increased militancy with the slashing of pictures in the Royal Academy and National Gallery, and a number of arson attacks. Out once more on licence she was rearrested in a tussle outside Lincoln's Inn House At this point she was recorded as having served just 16 days of a three year sentence. In Holloway she was tried before the Visiting Committee on a charge of insubordination involving violence, unseemly language and hitting an officer during a forcible strip search. For this she received seven days close confinement. Her behaviour was described as 'sullen and abusive'. Repeated hunger striking was seriously damaging her health and when she was rearrested at Nurse Pine's nursing home on 16 July as she left on a stretcher to attend a WSPU rally. Released on 18 July after her tenth hunger-strike she went to France and was in St Malo when war was declared. In all she went to prison 14 times and endured hunger-strikes on 12 occasions. Conditions in prison were very poor and Mrs Pankhurst was never a docile prisoner, she constantly petitioned for WSPU women to be given the status of political prisoners. In this she had some success. On the many occasions she was released, she was very close to death with yellow, tightly drawn skin, sunken eyes and a 'sweet odour', typical of a patient in such a serious condition. These experiences left her with long-term heart and digestive problems. The War Years and Aftermath On 13 August a letter went out from the WSPU over Mrs Pankhurst's name informing the women that the campaign had ended. They were to put their support behind the Allies. She believed that loyalty to one's country was paramount and was very patriotic to both Britain and France. She viewed the Germans as undemocratic and uncivilised, and felt the Germans personified the worst of male vices. Doubtless, at this stage, she did not expect to abandon her suffrage activities for long on the basis that 'the war would be over by Christmas'. She also thought that through war work women would demonstrate that they were fit for the vote. Some WSPU members protested at Mrs Pankhurst's decision accusing her of lack of consultation and decision. Emmeline threw herself into work training schemes for women, backed by Lloyd George (Minister of Munition, later Prime Minister). She set up a National Register of Women Workers and also toured the country speaking on behalf of the war effort. With the onset of war, Emmeline decided to set up a home for illegitimate war babies to whom she wished to gave better chances in life and raised money on a US lecture tour. In 1916 Nurse Pine and other helpers began to look after the first babies and Mrs Pankhurst bought a house in London to home them,. However, the venture could not be sustained and was transferred to trustees in 1919. In support of the war effort and urged on by Lloyd George, she went to Russia in 1917 to encourage Russian women to support the war. She arrived after the Tsar had abdicated and the country was in the hands of a Provisional Government, which, during her five month stay, carefully controlled her itinerary. She twice visited the USA and Canada to collect funds for Serbia On 6 February 1918 woman over 30 were enfranchised and allowed to stand for Parliament. Christobel and Mrs Pankhurst formed the Women's Party, and the former stood unsuccessfully as a Parliamentary Candidate. In post-war society Emmeline seems not to have been able to find an obvious roll and, in the summer of 1920, she left for Canada, for which she had a great affection, taking three of the war babies and Nurse Pine with her. She lived first in Victoria, then in Toronto and became a Canadian citizen. She worked to support the household even though she did not enjoy good health. She was employed by the Canadian National Council for Combating Venereal Disease and, on its behalf, she took on many public speaking engagements concerning women's issues that had always been important to her. In 1925 she resigned the post and moved to France where for a short time she ran a teashop with two other Suffragettes. Back in England Mrs Pankhurst lived with her sister, then moved to a room in Wapping. During this time she stood as a Conservative candidate for Whitechapel. She died on 14 June 1928 in a Wimpole Street nursing home and was buried in Brompton Cemetery. By coincidence that for which Emmeline had sacrificed her health and security - the Equal Franchise Bill, which reduced the voting age for women to 21 putting them on a par with men,was given the Royal Assent on the day of her funeral. A statue to her was unveiled by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin in 1930 close to the entrance to the House of Commons.

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