SUFFRAGE – HUNGER STRIKE MEDAL Hunger strike medal awarded by the WSPU to Frances McPhun, ...

SUFFRAGE – HUNGER STRIKE MEDAL Hunger strike medal awarded by the WSPU to Frances McPhun, in silver and enamel construction, the top bar fitted with a pin and the obverse engraved 'For Valour', the suspension bar comprising three enamel stripes in purple, white and green, engraved on reverse 'Fed By Force 4/3/12', the disc 22mm. diameter, engraved 'Hunger Strike' on obverse and 'Frances McPhun' on reverse surrounded by a design of laurel leaves, ribbon in green, white and purple grosgrain silk, maker's name engraved on reverse of top bar ('Toye 67 Theobalds/ Rd London'), overall 82 x 40mm.; in original purple roan presentation box, lined with green velvet, padded silk inner lid with dedication to Frances McPhun printed in gilt, box 55 x 102mm., [1912]; with portrait photograph (3) Footnotes: THE HUNGER STRIKE MEDAL OF A SCOTTISH ACTIVIST. Frances McPhun, like her sister and so many others, was arrested for her part in the great window-smashing campaign in London of March 1912. She had joined a group of women who travelled from Glasgow to take part in the organised protest and when arrested, took the alias 'Campbell'. She served two months hard labour at Holloway during which she undertook hunger strike, for which she was awarded this medal, and was forcibly fed ('...I was held in a chair and two pints of milk were poured down my throat...' she wrote). The McPhun sisters were '...amongst the most active WSPU members in Glasgow...' (Leah Lenaman, A Guid Cause: The Women's Suffrage Movement in Scotland, 1991, p.264), and a group of letters describing their experiences in prison is also offered in the present sale (see lot 191). Frances was born in Glasgow in 1880 and, following in her sister Margaret's footsteps, graduated from the University of Glasgow with an MA and prizes in Political Economy, English Literature and Moral Philosophy. Her father, John McPhun, was a timber merchant, the police magistrate of the City of Glasgow, and one of the founders of the People's Palace. She and her sister Margaret joined the WSPU in 1909, and Frances was one of the organizers of the Pageant of Famous Scottish Women for the procession in Edinburgh held in October that year. She was also organising secretary for the Scottish Suffrage Exhibition in 1910, and honorary secretary of the Glasgow WSPU from 1911-1912. '...Helen Crawfurd, with whom she and her sister undertook a WSPU tour of Lanarkshire, described Frances McPhun as 'a beautiful woman, and [one who] had a real sense of humour'...' (Elizabeth Crawford, The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866-1928, 2001, p.404). The military-style medals, known as the 'Victoria Cross' of the suffragette movement, were awarded by the leaders of the WSPU to suffragettes who had undertaken hunger-strike whilst imprisoned for the cause. There are several variations of design, but they all hang on a length of ribbon in the WSPU colours, usually from a silver pin bar engraved 'For Valour'. On the obverse is engraved 'Hunger Strike' or 'Holloway' and the reverse is engraved with the name of the recipient. Some medals had additional silver bars in recognition of periods of hunger strike, or striped enamelled bars to denote forcible feeding. The medals were made by Toye & Co. at a cost of £1.00 each, and were first presented in St James' Hall in early August 1909. Frances McPhun's medal comes in its original purple box with green velvet lining, and the wording on the inside lid, printed in gold on white silk: 'Presented to Frances McPhun 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'. Exhibited: Glasgow Women's Library, 'We Deserve a Medal: Militant Suffrage Activism' exhibition, 1 February to 31 July 2024. Provenance: Frances Mary McPhun (1880-1940); thence by descent. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing