Plaque, commemorative plaque

Ernestine Mills, an enamellist and artist associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement, made this plaque to commemorate the contribution of Hilda, Georgina and Marie Brackenbury to the suffragette campaign. At the height of the votes for women campaign the Brackenburys cared for hunger striking Suffragette prisoners, temporarily released under the Prisoner's Temporary Discharge for Ill Health Act. Their home provided a refuge where the women, weakened by hunger-strike could recuperate and receive health care before being sent back to prison. The Act was referred to by Suffragettes as the 'Cat and Mouse Act' and the Brackenbury house at 2 Campden Hill Square in Holland Park became known as Mouse Castle.
The central enamelled plaque depicts a woman in an imagined wilderness breaking free from her chains walking towards the sunlit horizon. This was a popular symbol of the suffragette movement and symbolised women's freedom gained from enfranchisement.