2nd Division Cell Allotted to Suffragettes

Postcard with photograph of two suffragettes in replica clothing, one as a warder, the other as a prisoner, in front of a mock cell. Above them is painted '2nd Division Cell Allotted To Suffragettes'. Prisoners of the era were kept in one of three divisions. As some suffragettes became increasingly militant, they were no longer allocated to the first division, where they had comparatively more freedom and privileges. The suffragettes argued that being political prisoners entitled them to belong to the first division. Government refusal to consistently grant them first division status was the main reason for many of them undertaking hunger strikes while serving their sentences.