Force feeding cartoon

As a result of their activism, suffragettes were often imprisoned.  In 1909, Marion Wallace-Dunlop was the first suffragette to go on hunger strike.  Suffragettes went on hunger strike because they were not given the status of political prisoners when imprisoned.  The authorities responded to hunger striking suffragettes with force feeding, a dangerous and humiliating ordeal, which provided the suffragettes with powerful propaganda.  This leaflet comes from the Police and Suffragettes file at the Parliamentary Archives.