Medal, hunger strike medal

Silver hunger strike medal with purple white and green ribbon. Presented to the suffragette Emily Katherine Willoughby Marshall in 1912 to commemorate her hunger strike whlst serving a sentence in Holloway Prison for taking part in the window smashing campaign of March 1912. Engraved on the silver bar below the ribbon 'March 1st 1912'. On one side of the medal is engraved 'Hunger Strike' and on the reverse 'Emily Katharine Marshall'. (note the different spelling of Katharine the medal may be incorrect)
Emily, known as 'Kitty' served several prison sentences in Holloway for suffragette militancy. In November 1910 she served her first sentence for throwing a potato at the fanlight window over the front door of the Home Secretary, Winston Churchill. The following year she spent 10 days in prison for her part in a deputation to the House of Commons and in 1912 was sent to Holloway with over 200 other suffragettes for taking part in the window-smashing campaign. Kitty was part of Emmeline Pankhurst's bodyguard that were trained in jujitsu and carried Indian Clubs to protect the Suffragette leader. In 1913 Kitty, in her role as bodyguard, was again arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer during the rearrest of Emmeline Pankhurst at the London Pavilion. As a married suffragette, Kitty's involvement in the campaign was dependent on the support of her husband Arthur. As a solicitor Arthur proved very useful to the militant Votes for Women campaign and regularly acted on behalf of arrested suffragettes.