Orders, Decorations and Medals

Women’s Social and Political Union Medal for Valour, silver, 22 mm, hallmarks for Birmingham 1913, the obverse inscribed ‘Hunger Strike’, the reverse inscribed ‘Pleasance Pendred’, the enamelled suspension bar inscribed ‘Fed by force 28/1/13’, the top suspension brooch bar inscribed ‘For Valour’, with original ribbon, contained in case of issue, the inside of the lid embossed in gold lettering ‘Presented to Pleasance Pendred 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’; together with, W.S.P.U. Imprisonment Badge, silver portcullis with chains attached and applied broad arrow enamelled in the Union’s colours, the reverse with maker’s mark Toye & Co. London, and stamped ‘Silver’, fitted with original brooch pin, nearly extremely fine and very rare (2) £3000-4000

See Colour Plate VIII

Pleasance Pendred was a member of the Women's Social and Political Union (W.S.P.U.), the militant Suffragette movement headed by the redoubtable Pankhurst women. In the main, Suffragette records reveal little personal information about the lives of most members of the W.S.P.U., who were largely, though not exclusively, educated women from upper and middle class backgrounds. However, details of any arrests and periods of imprisonment are usually recorded in the W.S.P.U. newspaper Votes for Women.

The beginning of 1913 saw some intense campaigning from the various women’s suffrage organisations due to the fact that amendments to the Franchise Bill to allow women the vote were about to be debated in Parliament. Though, by the end of January, all hope of reform had been severely dashed once more with the women levelling charges of treachery against some Ministers and other M.P.s. A period of intense militant action from the W.S.P.U., which considered itself the 'suffrage army in the field', then ensued. This included several new forms of direct action such as the despoiling of golf greens with the words 'Votes of Women' burnt in acid. In a matter of weeks, London and elsewhere, had felt the brunt of the women's despair and anger - acid was poured into pillar boxes, 'bullets' marked with the words 'Votes for Women' were fired from catapults at traffic and other targets, telephone wires were cut, many windows were broken particularly around Whitehall, the Strand, Regent and Oxford Streets, public places were attacked - most daringly the jewel case at the Tower of London was smashed and the orchid house at Kew was wrecked with the destruction of many rare blooms.

Pleasance's arrest occurred on 28 January the day on which Mrs Flora Drummond led a deputation to see Lloyd George at the House of Commons, while other W.S.P.U. members and supporters were engaged in a campaign of window breaking, mainly of government offices around Westminster and large department stores in the West End of London. After her arrest for window breaking, Pleasance Pendred was committed for trial in February. On 21 February she was sentenced to six months imprisonment in Holloway gaol. At her sentencing she took the opportunity to complain publically of the treatment received by the arrested women at Rochester Row Police Station. She said that the Home Secretary had lied when he reported that the women had been supplied with camp beds and that they were in the charge of women warders. The cell in which she had been detained had only a plank bed, the sanitary arrangements were disgusting and she was visited five times during the night by a male warder. The jury requested that enquiry be made into the truth of these statements and the Chairman of the Sessions concurred expressing the rather optimistic and, perhaps, naive view that, if true, the statements disclosed a state of things which was most discreditable and he was sure that when the attention of the authorities was drawn to it the grievance would be remedied.

However bad the treatment the Suffragettes regularly received from the police, far worse was to follow for those who were imprisoned. Pleasance was most probably one of the women who declared in court that she intended to go on hunger strike, the fact she received the medal, with the clasp for being force fed, indicates that not only did she reject all food, but she was also the victim of the force-feeding that was at the time normal procedure. This was a brutal process in any circumstances, but when administered with, at best, indifference and often in a spirit of retribution, the horror became a torture. Some of those who suffered have left graphic accounts of the process - a wooden or, even worse, a metal gag was rammed into the mouth before a tube, of at least four feet in length, was forced into the stomach. Particularly resistant women endured the most intense suffering by having to be force-fed via the nose. Accounts by women who were subjected to these methods (see for example Lady Constance Lytton’s book, Prisons and Prisoners: Experiences of a Suffragette), more than illustrate how hard won were the W.S.P.U. awards - the Portcullis Badge for imprisonment, the Medal for refusing food, and the ‘Fed by Force’ clasp, the latter being awarded only to those women willing to take their cause to the absolute limit.