Photograph, surveillance image

From 1913 the Home Office commissioned an undercover photographer to take surveillance images of Suffragette prisoners as they took exercise in the yard of Holloway prison. The images were widely distributed for the purpose of identifying suffragettes most likely to undertake militant action, including damage to artworks in museums and galleries.

Louisa Hull (1866-1967) was a member of the Women's Freedom League. In February 1914 she was one of 7 members of the WFL arrested and charged with obstruction during a scuffle with police in Downing Street. The arrests followed an attempt by the women to mount a 'raid' on Number 10 and 11 as well as ringing the bells of all buildings in Downing Street. It is likely this image was taken whilst Louisa was on remand awaiting trial for this offence.

Louisa was born Emma Louisa Alley in Southampton in 1866, the eldest of a family of seven daughters and one son. The family moved to Swindon in the mid-1870s when her Father accepted a job as a boiler maker in the Great Western Railway Works. Emma, who used her middle name Louisa, when a Suffragette, moved to London to train as a ladies’ tailor, and in 1891 was lodging at 48 Davies Street, close to Grosvenor Square.
In 1896 she returned to Swindon for her marriage to Birmingham-born Walter Lloyd Hull and the couple set up home in Bournemouth where Walter was a shopkeeper. Initially members of the Liberal Party Louisa & Walter shifted their allegiance to the Labour party in 1912. It is likely she joined the Women's Freedom League at a similar time.
Following her husband’s death in 1947, Louisa returned to Swindon and became an active member of the Swindon Business and Professional Women’s Club.
She died in Bournemouth on July 24, 1967 aged 80 years.