This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/17/2022
[WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE]. Hunger Strike Medal with original case. London: Toye & Co., 1914. Original circular silver medal with silver suspension bars and ribbon in green, white, and purple in original purple roan presentation case with green velvet and white padded silk lining with gilt dedication to suffragette Emma Power, who is believed to be one of ten women, along with Emmeline Pankhurst, who refused to give their names during their trial on 22 May 1914 for demonstrating outside of Buckingham Palace the day before. Case, 2 ½ x 4 x ¾”; medal length 3 ½”, diam. 1”. Rubbing to case, some fraying and toning to ribbon. The Hunger Strike Medal was designed by Sylvia Pankhurst, daughter of the organizer of the United Kingdom’s suffragette movement Emmeline Pankhurst, and was presented to women who had engaged in hunger strikes during imprisonment by the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) at breakfast ceremonies held in their honor following their release. A highly controversial tactic used by members of the WSPU from 1909-1914, hunger strikes often resulted in prisoners being force-fed by prison guards; as public outrage against the practice grew authorities opted to release women engaged in hunger strikes and then arrest them again almost immediately after. WSPU leadership ordered that all militant actions by members be suspended upon outbreak of the First World War, making this medal one of the last to be issued. Women would ultimately be granted the right to vote in the UK in 1918.