Prisoner with a cause
Artist and suffragette Olive Wharry became active in the Women's Social and Political Union in 1910. In March 1913, at the age of 27, she was sent to Holloway Prison for setting fire to the tea pavilion at Kew Gardens. In prison she went on hunger strike for 32 days. This photograph was taken on her release, when she weighed just over five and a half stone (36 kg).
Olive Wharry in prison
Wharry was arrested eight times between 1910 and 1914. Her militant acts were in support of the suffragette movement which fought for women's rights. Her sentences were characterised by a cycle of hunger strikes, force-feeding and release under what became known as the 'Cat and Mouse Act'.
Women at Holloway
Holloway prison opened in 1852 as the City House of Correction for men and women sentenced to short terms of imprisonment. From 1902, the prison was reserved for female prisoners. Between 1906 and 1914 hundreds of militant suffragettes were imprisoned there, many enduring hunger strikes and the torture of being force-fed. In 1970 the original Gothic-style building was demolished and replaced by a new, modern prison.
Museum number 50.82/1300