Surveillance Photograph of a Suffragette Prisoner

ID:

53.140/71

Production date:

1914

Location:

In Store

This surveillance image is identified in Home Office files as 'Miss Johansen' convicted of criminal damage. Miss Johansen is the alias used by 'Annie Wheeler,' whose name is also on the reverse of the image. This surveillance photo was taken as Annie exercised in the yard of Holloway prison. Such photos were used to identify militant suffragettes attempting to enter public buildings such as museums or art galleries.  < ...Read more

This surveillance image is identified in Home Office files as 'Miss Johansen' convicted of criminal damage. Miss Johansen is the alias used by 'Annie Wheeler,' whose name is also on the reverse of the image. This surveillance photo was taken as Annie exercised in the yard of Holloway prison. Such photos were used to identify militant suffragettes attempting to enter public buildings such as museums or art galleries.

Annie Wheeler was arrested on 23rd May 1914 for attacking a glass case containing Egyptian mummified remains at the British Museum with an accomplice Nellie Hay. Two days following the attack the British Museum announced that in future women would only be admitted to the galleries by ticket on condition they produced a ‘satisfactory recommendation from a person willing to be responsible for their behaviour.’
Wheeler appears to have used the alias 'Johansen' when arrested. Charged with malicious damage she was sentenced two months in Holloway and went on hunger and thirst strike. She was force fed and released just a few days before the end of her sentence in July.
The image clearly reflects the terrible impact of the hunger and thirst strike undertaken by Wheeler in Holloway. Here she is depicted looking gaunt and weak, being supported by prison wardens as she takes exercise in the prison yard. < Hide

Measurements

H 90 mm; W 47 mm

Materials

paper

Last Updated

2024-04-15