TheHunger Strike Medal was a silver medal awarded between August 1909[1] and 1914[2] tosuffragette prisoners by the leadership of theWomen's Social and Political Union (WSPU). During their imprisonment, many went onhunger strike while serving their sentences in the prisons of theUnited Kingdom for acts of militancy in their campaign forwomen's suffrage. Many women wereforce-fed and their individual medals were created to reflect this.[2]
The WSPU awarded a range of military-style campaign medals to raise morale and encourage continued loyalty and commitment to the cause. The Hunger Strike Medals were designed bySylvia Pankhurst and first presented by leadership of the WSPU at a ceremony in early August 1909 to women who had gone on hunger strike while serving a prison sentence. Later the medals would be presented at a breakfast reception on a woman's release from prison.[2]
On 5 July 1909, suffragetteMarion Wallace Dunlop began her hunger strike inHolloway Prison. She had been sentenced to one month forstenciling a message from theBill of Rights on the wall of theHouse of Commons.[3] The prison authorities considered her a criminal prisoner whereas she viewed herself as apolitical prisoner and began her strike in objection to this classification. Her strike lasted 91 hours, ending only because the prison released her to avoid her death.[2]
The hunger strike was Wallace Dunlop's idea and she did it without informing the leadership of the WSPU. Many others quickly imitated her.[2]
Medal in its presentation case with silver bar for a hunger strike and enamel bar forforce-feeding awarded by the WSPU toMabel Capper
The round andhallmarked silver medals hang on a length of ribbon in the purple, white and green colours of theWSPU. This hangs from a silver pin bar engraved withFor Valour, in imitation of the inscription found on theVictoria Cross. The front of the medal is inscribedHunger Strike, while the reverse is engraved the recipient's name surrounded by alaurel wreath.[4] The medals were made byToye & Co. and their manufacture cost the WSPU £1.00 each.[5]
The silver bars on the medal were awarded for periods of hunger strike and are engraved on the reverse with the date that the recipient was arrested leading to a hunger strike. The enamelled purple, white and green bars forforce-feeding are similarly engraved on the reverse.[5]
The sculptorEdith Downing's medal bar is engraved withFed by Force 1/3/12 – the date that she was imprisoned which subsequently lead to herhunger strike and forcible feeding.[2] The medals could be issued with more than one bar representing multiple hunger strikes or force-feeding.[5][4]
Each Hunger Strike Medal was presented in a purple box with a green velvet lining. A piece of white silk was fitted inside the lid which was printed in gold with the dedication: "Presented to [name] by the Women's Social and Political Union in recognition of a gallant action, whereby through endurance to the last extremity of hunger and hardship a great principle of political justice was vindicated."[5]
Helen MacRae's Hunger Strike Medal, auctioned by Lockdales Auctioneers in 2015. Author: Chris Elmy
Helen MacRae's Hunger Strike Medal in its case was auctioned in 2015 to a private collector, for £12,300.[6] Lockdales Auctioneers' auction manager, James Sadler, said "these are among the most historically important items we have ever dealt with."[7]
A medal found in a drawer awarded to suffragetteElsie Wolff Van Sandau who was arrested for smashing a window inCovent Garden on 4 March 1912 and who went on hunger strike in prison was sold at auction in 2019 for £12,500.[8][9] A medal belonging to suffragetteSelina Martin, auctioned inNottingham in 2019 and expected to fetch £15,000–20,000,[10] was bought by theNational Gallery of Victoria for £27,000.[11]
In September 2023,Glasgow Women's Library decided to buyMaud Joachim's medal as it was awarded for the first WSPU hunger strike in Scotland.[17] The money raising campaign was successful and it was brought back to the library in October.[18]
TheBBC television seriesCall the Midwife featured an episode with an elderly suffragette played byAnnette Crosbie who gifted her Hunger Strike Medal to one of the nurses who cared for her.[19]
As of October 2025[update] there are 91 known medal recipients. If known, this list also contains the dates of their arrest(s) as inscribed on their medals.
These women are WSPU hunger strikers who therefore meet the conditions to have been awarded a medal but the evidence of their medal has yet to be located.
^Mayhall, Laura E. Nym (2003).The militant suffrage movement: citizenship and resistance in Britain, 1860-1930. [Oxford]: Oxford University Press. p. 3.ISBN978-0-19-534783-8.OCLC57144473.
^ab"Who was Frances Parker?".tepapa.govt.nz. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. 2016. Retrieved16 May 2020.
^abAustralian Museum of Democracy (7 September 2011)."Suffragette hunger strike medal".Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House. Retrieved27 October 2019.
^Atkinson, Diane (1992).Suffragettes in the purple white & green: London 1906-14. Museum of London. London: Museum of London. p. 37.ISBN0-904818-53-5.OCLC28710360.
^abcdefLeneman, Leah (1995).A guid cause: the women's suffrage movement in Scotland (New rev. ed.). Edinburgh: Mercat Press.ISBN1-873644-48-5.OCLC34146764.
^abcWatson, Norman (2018).Dundee's suffragettes: their remarkable struggle to win votes for women. [Scotland?]. p. 57.ISBN978-1-9999252-0-8.OCLC1052345952.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Atkinson, Diane (1992).Suffragettes in the purple white & green: London 1906-14. Museum of London. London: Museum of London. p. 105.ISBN0-904818-53-5.OCLC28710360.
^abCrawford, Elizabeth (2001).The women's suffrage movement: a reference guide, 1866-1928. London: Routledge. pp. 306–307.ISBN0-415-23926-5.OCLC44914288.
^Robinson, Jane (2018).Hearts and minds: the untold story of the great pilgrimage and how women won the vote. London. p. 81.ISBN978-0-85752-391-4.OCLC987905510.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Owens, Rosemary C. (1995).Smashing times: a history of the Irish women's suffrage movement ; 1889-1922 (Repr ed.). Dublin: Attic Press. p. 63.ISBN0-946211-08-6.OCLC634172525.
^Crawford, Elizabeth (2001).The women's suffrage movement: a reference guide, 1866-1928. London: Routledge. p. 709.ISBN0-415-23926-5.OCLC44914288.
^Watson, Norman (2018).Dundee's suffragettes: their remarkable struggle to win votes for women. [Scotland?]. p. 129.ISBN978-1-9999252-0-8.OCLC1052345952.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Vallely, Judith (2019).Struggle and suffrage in Glasgow: women's lives and the fight for equality. Barnsley, South Yorkshire.ISBN978-1-5267-1830-3.OCLC1103320835.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Crawford, Elizabeth (2001).The women's suffrage movement: a reference guide, 1866-1928. London: Routledge. p. 323.ISBN0-415-23926-5.OCLC44914288.
^Atkinson, Diane (2018).Rise up, women!: the remarkable lives of the suffragettes. London. pp. 300–301.ISBN978-1-4088-4404-5.OCLC1016848621.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Leneman, Leah (1995).A guid cause: the women's suffrage movement in Scotland (New rev. ed.). Edinburgh: Mercat Press. pp. 263–264.ISBN1-873644-48-5.OCLC34146764.
^Abrams, Fran (2003).Freedom's cause: lives of the suffragettes. London: Profile. p. 117.ISBN1-86197-425-6.OCLC52784753.
^Crawford, Elizabeth (2001).The women's suffrage movement: a reference guide, 1866-1928. London: Routledge. p. 534.ISBN0-415-23926-5.OCLC44914288.
^Crawford, Elizabeth (2001).The women's suffrage movement: a reference guide, 1866-1928. London: Routledge. pp. 614–615.ISBN0-415-23926-5.OCLC44914288.
^Crawford, Elizabeth (2001).The women's suffrage movement: a reference guide, 1866-1928. London: Routledge. pp. 439–440.ISBN0-415-23926-5.OCLC44914288.
