Prisons and Prisoners: Some Personal Experiences

by Constance Bulwer-Lytton, Jason Haslam (Editor)

Prisons and Prisoners is the autobiography of aristocratic suffragette Constance Lytton. In it, she details her militant actions in the struggle to gain the vote for women, including her masquerade and imprisonment as the working-class “Jane Warton.” As a member of a well-known political family (and grand-daughter of the famous novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton), Lytton's arrests garnered much attention at the time, but she was treated differently than other suffragettes because of her class―when other suffragettes were forcibly fed while on hunger strikes, she was released. “Jane Warton,” however, was forcibly fed, an act that permanently damaged Lytton’s health, but that also became a singular moment in the history of women’s and prisoner’s rights.

This Broadview edition includes news articles, reviews, and illustrations on women’s suffrage from the periodicals of the time.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, History, Feminism

372 pages, Paperback

First published September 16, 1976

About the author

Lady Constance Georgina Bulwer-Lytton (12 February 1869 – 2 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 sometimes used the name Jane Warton.

Reviews

[Anjj]

hard to side with her points of view sometime

[hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars - It was really interesting to hear her first-hand accounts of imprisonment and activism within the women's suffrage movement. However, most of it was pretty slow and hard to get through.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memoir from a British suffragette—her mission for women’s franchise almost led to her death after a heart condition was exacerbated from forcible feeding during a hunger strike in prison. Fascinating account of this aristocrat’s disguise as a working class woman in an effort to expose the abuses of officials toward the poorer prisoners compared to the wealthier women…and a much-needed reminder of what the suffragettes endured in order to bring the vote to women.

[charlotte markovsky]

Read bits in pieces for class— sadly could not get into it, the writing style was too dry for me :(

[Benedict · Rating 3 out of 5]

Relationship to the truth:
True. There's enough detail in the account, the author either has an excellent memory or kept notes or both (or more). Is there a source of bias? The person was absolutely convinced of what they were doing. It seems a noble cause. However, if you have met someone with a vendetta, it is the only thing that they talk about.

Description:
An account of (numerous) trips to prison, suffered by one of the women fighting for the vote, in Britain around 1910. Sorry, I have read this over a course of several years- and insodoing, lost sight of the timeframe. She gives an account, of her background and childhood- and then charts the years of the campaign.

Reaction:
Honestly, the route I took to get here, started in jeopardy. I was very forward with a young woman. There followed a trajectory, learn respect for women.
When the fright of the initial experience, had died down a bit, I saw how, learn respect for women path... could be the bargaining stage of grief, in the Kubler Ross model/oversimplification of life.
But in another way, it said, if I understood women more, then this sort of thing would not happen. Defences down, make repairs. However , a parlous time.

I found the narrator a little odd, indeed honest, and am sorry the campaign was reduced to violence. I feel marginally less guilty and better informed. There's the book itself. Sorry, I have been reading it for about five years.

The fair? systems I have encountered- a&e gives you a ticket as soon as you arrive, and constructs triage. The post office, too. I cannot see clearly, what fairness is, when it comes to men and women compared. Strong feelings are held, on the subject. Wider questions: Men and women are not so different? Discuss. Calmly. I am sure, a prejudice hides there, within me- with a little sorrow I note this.

Thanks (but d. 2 May 1923)

[Jbondandrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

A simply wonderful book about some very courageous women. Constance Lytton and the other women should always be remembered for their sacrifices.