The Suffragette Clara Giveen

Photograph of the Suffragette prisoner Clara Giveen. The was one in a series of surveillance photographs of the most 'dangerous' militant suffragettes taken by an undercover photographer working for the Home Office from 1913. The images were used to identify suffragettes attempting to enter public buildings such as museums and art galleries, where they might attempt to damage the objects.
Clara Giveen (1887-1967) became a member of the Women's Social and Political Union in November 1910 motivated by her horror at the sustained police assault carried out on suffragettes that month on 'Black Friday'. Within days of officially becoming a Suffragette Clara, aged 23 years, took part in a demonstration in Downing Street where, along with 160 other women, she was arrested for obstruction but was discharged without trial. On November 21st 1911 Clara was arrested for breaking windows at a the Local Government board office for which offence she received her first sentence of 5 days imprisonment. On 1st March 1912 Clara took part in the WSPU window smashing campaign and was arrested and charged for breaking windows at Jay's store in Regent Street. For this offence she received a sentence of four months part of which she served at Winson Green in Birmingham until she was released on 27th June weakened by hunger-strike. Clara's last term of imprisonment was in 1913 when, she was found guilty alongside Kitty Marion of burning down the grandstand at Hurst Park racecourse within hours of the death of Emily Wilding Davison. As well as undertaking militant acts Giveen was employed as a WSPU organiser in Norwich, Bexhill and Hastings where she would have been involved in organising local election campaigns, promotional events and fund-raising activities.