USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The government sought to deal with the problem of hunger striking suffragettes with the 1913 Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill-Health) Act, commonly known as the Cat and Mouse Act. This Act allowed for the early release of prisoners who were so weakened by hunger striking that they were at risk of death.

Detailed explanation-2: -Hunger striking was an important propaganda tool for imprisoned suffragettes. Winson Green prison, Birmingham, was one of the first prisons in the country to practise force feeding. Hunger strikes were carried out by imprisoned suffragettes because they were not given the status of political prisoners.

Detailed explanation-3: -Hunger strikes The first hunger strike was undertaken by Marion Wallace Dunlop in 1909 as a protest when she was not given political prisoner status in prison. She had been arrested for damaging a wall in St. Stephen’s Hall in the Houses of Parliament.

Detailed explanation-4: -Description. Alice Paul, American women’s rights activist and suffragette, describes her hunger strike and subsequent force feeding in Holloway jail in this 1909 newspaper article. Paul sentenced to seven months in jail after being arrested for demonstrating at the Lord Mayor’s banquet in London.

Detailed explanation-5: -Force-feeding of suffragettes In the summer of 1909, many imprisoned suffragettes went on hunger strike to protest against the uncompromising Liberal government. At first the hunger-strikers were released from prison, but the government soon introduced force-feeding.