Printed Ephemera — 1913-07-25
The Suffragette
The Suffragette newspaper, 25th July 1913.
The cartoon on the front cover depicts a prison doctor and Prime Minster Asquith standing over a Suffragette prisoner weakened by force feeding. Titled 'The Quality of Mercy' the cartoon mocks the introduction of the Prisoner's Temporary Discharge (for Ill Health) Act passed by the Liberal government in 1913. The act allowed all imprisoned suffragettes weakened by hunger strike to be released temporarily, only to be re-imprisoned once they had recovered. The suffragettes renamed this 'letting them go; then catching them again' policy 'The Cat and Mouse Act'. The cartoon refers to the dangerously weakened condition of the prisoners who endured hunger strike and force-feeding, many of whom suffered long term health problems as a result.
The artist of the cartoon was Ruby Lindsay (1885 - 1919) who signed herself Ruby Lind. Ruby was the wife of the left-wing cartoonist Will Dyson. They arrived in England from Australia c. 1909.
- Category:
- Printed Ephemera
- Object ID:
- 2016.19/1
- Object name:
- The Suffragette
- Object type:
- Artist/Maker:
- Pankhurst, Christabel Harriette
- Related people:
- Related events:
- Related places:
- Production date:
- 1913-07-25
- Material:
paper, ink
- Measurements/duration:
- H 380 mm, W 267 mm
- Part of:
- —
- On display:
- —
- Record quality:
- 100%
- Part of this object:
- —
- Owner Status & Credit:
Permanent collection
- Copyright holder:
digital image © London Museum
- Image credit:
- —
- Creative commons usage:
- —
- License this image:
To license this image for commercial use, please contact the London Museum Picture Library.