Hunger Strike - For Valour

This silver hunger strike medal with purple white and green ribbon, in its original presentation box, was awarded to the suffragette Agnes Kelly who endured hunger strike and force feeding whilst serving a four month sentence in Aylesbury jail for smashing windows at the retail premises of the booksellers Henry Sotheran & Company located at 43 Piccadilly in March 1912. The reverse of the enamel bar on the medal is engraved with the date of her force-feeding: 'Fed by Force 4/3/12', the front is engraved 'Hunger Strike'. When arrested Agnes used the alias Oonah Ceallaigh [Caillagh] and was sent to trail and convicted under this name. It was estimated the damage caused by Agnes was over £7,000, hence the lengthy prison sentence.
Suffragettes treated the fight for the vote as a military campaign. From 1909, imprisoned suffragettes were rewarded with medals for their service to the cause. Hunger strike medals were presented to those who endured what was regarded as the ultimate form of prison protest.