Name/TitlePrisons and Prisoners
EditionFirst
MakerLytton, Constance
Maker RoleAuthor
About this objectHardback book with deep blue covers and a tan spine, titled 'Prisons and Prisoners: Some Personal Experiences' by Lady Constance Lytton and Jane Warton, Spinster. The contents are:
I. Introduction
II. My Conversion
III. A Deputation to the Prime Minister
IV. Police Court Trial
V. Holloway Prison: My First Imprisonment
VI. The Hospital
VII. Some Types of Prisoners
VIII. "A Track to the Water's Edge"
IX. From the Cells
X. Newcastle: Police Station Cell
XI. Newcastle Prison: My Second Imprisonment
XII. Jane Warton
XIII. Walton Gaol, Liverpool: My Third Imprisonment
XIV. The Home Office
XV. The Conciliation Bill
XVI. Holloway Prison Revisited: My Fourth Imprisonment
Medium and MaterialsOrganic, board and paper
MeasurementsH: 187 x W: 132 x D: 28 mm
Date Made1914
PeriodEarly 20th century
Place MadeEngland, London
PublisherWilliam Heinemann Ltd
Publication Date1914
Publication PlaceEngland, London
Subject and Association Descriptionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Constance_Bulwer-Lytton:
Lady Constance Georgina Bulwer-Lytton (12 February 1869 – 22 May 1923), usually known as Constance Lytton, was an influential British suffragette activist, writer, speaker and campaigner for prison reform, votes for women, and birth control. She used the name Jane Warton to avoid receiving special treatment when imprisoned for suffragist protests. Although born and raised in the privileged ruling class of British society, Lytton rejected this background to join the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), the most militant group of suffragette activists campaigning for "Votes for Women".
She was subsequently imprisoned four times, including once in Walton gaol in Liverpool under the nom de guerre of Jane Warton, where she was force fed while on hunger strike. She chose the alias and disguise of Jane Warton, an "ugly London seamstress", to avoid receiving special treatment and privileges because of her family connections: she was the daughter of a viceroy and the sister of a member of the House of Lords. She wrote pamphlets on women's rights, articles in The Times newspaper, and a book on her experiences, Prisons and Prisoners, which was published in 1914. While imprisoned in Holloway during March 1909, Lytton used a piece of broken enamel from a hairpin to cut the letter "V" into the flesh of her breast, placed exactly over the heart. (The "V" came from "Votes for Women", as she had planned to scratch the whole phrase "beginning over the heart and ending it on [her] face".)
Lytton remained unmarried, because her mother refused her permission to marry a man from a "lower social order", while she refused to contemplate marrying anyone else. Her heart attack, stroke, and early death at the age of 54 have been attributed in part to the trauma of her hunger strike and force feeding by the prison authorities [continues].
Subject and Association KeywordsPrison, imprisonment
Subject and Association Keywordssuffragettes, militant suffrage campaign
Subject and Association Keywordswomen's suffrage, right to vote
Subject and Association KeywordsWomen's Social and Political Union (WSPU)
Named CollectionGlasgow Women's Library
Object TypeBook
Object numberGWL-2025-65-10
Spine LabelPRISONS AND PRISONERS ~ LADY CONSTANCE LYTTON ~ HEINEMANN
Copyright LicenceAll rights reserved