Bertha Wilmot Ryland (12 October 1882 – April 1977) was a militant
suffragette
A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...
and member of the
Women's Social and Political Union
The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and ...
(WSPU) who after slashing a painting in
Birmingham Art Gallery
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BM&AG) is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England. It has a collection of international importance covering fine art, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, natural history, archaeology, ethnography, local ...
in 1914 went on
hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
in
Winson Green Prison
HM Prison Birmingham is a Prison security categories in the United Kingdom, Category B men's prison, located in the Winson Green area of Birmingham, England. The prison was operated by G4S from 2011, before it was returned to HM Prison and Probat ...
in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
[Nicola Gauld]
'The Fight for the Vote'
Centre for West Midlands History, University of Birmingham, pg 1 for which she was awarded the WSPU's
Hunger Strike Medal
The Hunger Strike Medal was a silver medal awarded between August 1909 and 1914 to suffragette prisoners by the leadership of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). During their imprisonment, they went on hunger strike while serving th ...
.
[Crawford, Elizabet]
Suffrage Stories: ‘From Frederick Street to Winson Green’: The Birmingham Women’s Suffrage Campaign - Woman and Her Sphere
/ref>
Early life
Born in Edgbaston
Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre.
In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family an ...
in Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
, Bertha Ryland was the youngest of five children of Alice Felicia ''née'' Wilmot (1846–1927) and William Henry Ryland (1844–1925), an architect. Her pedigree as a campaigner for women's suffrage
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
was long: her mother Mrs Alice Ryland of 19 Hermitage Road in Edgbaston
Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre.
In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family an ...
had been a member of the executive committee of the Birmingham Women's Suffrage Society (BWSS) in the mid-1870s.[ Unhappy with the progress being made by the BWSS, in 1907 Mrs Ryland and Bertha joined the Birmingham branch of the ]Women's Social and Political Union
The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and ...
where Bertha Ryland worked closely with Gladice Keevil
Gladice Georgina Keevil (later Mrs Rickford; 1884 – 1959) was a British suffragette who served as head of the Midlands office of the Women's Social and Political Union between 1908 and 1910.
Early life
Gladice was born and had her chi ...
and Hilda Burkitt
Evaline Hilda Burkitt (19 July 1876 – 7 March 1955) was a British suffragette and member of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). A militant activist for Women's suffrage, women's rights, she went on hunger strike in prison and was ...
. In 1910 Ryland established a new WSPU branch in Lichfield
Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of B ...
.[Miss Bertha Ryland - Women's Suffrage: History and Citizenship Resources for Schools]
/ref>
Militancy
In November 1911 Bertha Ryland was sentenced at Bow Street Magistrates' Court
Bow Street Magistrates' Court became one of the most famous magistrates' court in England. Over its 266-year existence it occupied various buildings on Bow Street in Central London, immediately north-east of Covent Garden. It closed in 2006 and ...
[Arrests of Bertha Ryland - England, Suffragettes Arrested, 1906-1914 for Bertha Ryland, HO 45/24665: Suffragettes: Amnesty of August 1914: Index of Women Arrested, 1906-1914]
- Ancestry.com
Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites.
In November 2018, ...
to a week's imprisonment in Holloway Prison
HM Prison Holloway was a closed category prison for adult women and young offenders in Holloway, London, England, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. It was the largest women's prison in western Europe, until its closure in 2016.
Hist ...
. After taking part in the window-smashing campaign on Bond Street
Bond Street in the West End of London links Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. Since the 18th century the street has housed many prestigious and upmarket fashion retailers. The southern section is Old Bond Street and the l ...
in London in March 1912 she was sentenced at the London Sessions to six months’ imprisonment, serving four months in Winson Green Prison
HM Prison Birmingham is a Prison security categories in the United Kingdom, Category B men's prison, located in the Winson Green area of Birmingham, England. The prison was operated by G4S from 2011, before it was returned to HM Prison and Probat ...
[ where she was strip-searched and went on ]hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
and was force-fed
Force-feeding is the practice of feeding a human or animal against their will. The term ''gavage'' (, , ) refers to supplying a substance by means of a small plastic feeding tube passed through the nose ( nasogastric) or mouth (orogastric) into t ...
14 times, for which she received the Hunger Strike Medal
The Hunger Strike Medal was a silver medal awarded between August 1909 and 1914 to suffragette prisoners by the leadership of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). During their imprisonment, they went on hunger strike while serving th ...
from the WSPU.[ Her treatment caused permanent damage to her kidney.][
On 8 June 1914 the 31 year-old Ryland slashed the painting of John Bensley Thornhill known as 'Master Thornhill' by George Romney in ]Birmingham Art Gallery
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BM&AG) is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England. It has a collection of international importance covering fine art, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, natural history, archaeology, ethnography, local ...
three times with a meat cleaver
A cleaver is a large knife that varies in its shape but usually resembles a rectangular-bladed hatchet. It is largely used as a kitchen or butcher knife and is mostly intended for splitting up large pieces of soft bones and slashing through ...
she had concealed in her jacket causing £50 worth of damage.[Blue plaque for Birmingham 'painting attack' suffragette]
- BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
16 November 2018 During the attack she had on her a letter containing her name and address which justified her action, stating: 'I attack this work of art deliberately as a protest against the government's criminal injustice in denying women the vote, and also against the government's brutal injustice in imprisoning,s forcibly feeding, and drugging suffragist militants, while allowing Ulster militants to go free..' This she left behind after she left the Gallery.[Woman who attacked museum painting with meat cleaver to be commemorated in Birmingham]
- ''Birmingham Mail
The ''Birmingham Mail'' (branded the ''Black Country Mail'' in the Black Country) is a tabloid newspaper based in Birmingham, England but distributed around Birmingham, the Black Country, and Solihull and parts of Warwickshire, Worcestershire ...
'' 4 October 2018 Following the attack the Gallery closed for six weeks and on its reopening security was increased so that it not open after 5 p.m. and was closed all day on Sundays, at the same time enforcing a new rule of 'No muffs, wrist-bags or sticks'. After her arrest Ryland appeared before magistrates on 10 June 1914 for her committal hearing[ during which she refused to take part in the proceedings and shouted 'No surrender!' as she was taken out of court. She again went on hunger strike while held on remand. Accepting bail, Ryland was too ill to stand trial at the July ]Assizes
The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes e ...
[ after a doctor at ]Queen's Hospital Queens is a borough of New York City.
Queens or Queen's may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Queens (group), a Polish musical group
* "Queens" (Saara Aalto song), 2018
* ''Queens'' (novel), by Stephen Pickles, 1984
* "Queens", a song by C ...
in Birmingham stated that her attending the hearing would cause her mental condition to deteriorate and she still had not received a sentence when World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
broke out.[ She suffered permanent kidney damage as a result of her force-feeding in prison.][
The July 1914 edition of ''The Suffragette'' contained a statement by Ryland about her force-feeding during which she was held down by four prison wardresses and a thick rubber tube forced down her nostril into her throat:
]
"I resisted, and was seized round the waist by wardresses, and once tied around the waist in the operating chair. This mauling of the unprotected kidney together with the retching and choking, strained and twisted the kidney and caused chronic inflammation... the acute agony, the inevitable retching and choking, and the feeling of suffocation, accompanied by the utter helplessness, all combined to make this the most unutterably hideous experience... I lay in bed practically all the time... feeling too ill and exhausted to do anything. In addition to this feeling of exhaustion there came long periods of mental depression... Besides an unaccountable feeling of misery and depression, my memory seemed to be going, and it was a great effort to think clearly or fix my attention on anything... the mental anguish caused by forcible feeding is, of course, quite indescribable."
Later years
In 1939 Ryland was living in a guest house in Stroud
Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021.
Below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the Five ...
in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
where the register described her as "incapacitated through illness."
She received a 1953 Coronation Medal; this with her Hunger Strike Medal
The Hunger Strike Medal was a silver medal awarded between August 1909 and 1914 to suffragette prisoners by the leadership of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). During their imprisonment, they went on hunger strike while serving th ...
from the WSPU were sold by Christie's
Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...
in 1999 for £6,325. Bertha Ryland never married and died in Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
in April 1977.
In November 2018 in commemoration of her attack a century before a blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...
was unveiled in her honour by Birmingham Civic Society
Birmingham Civic Society is a voluntary body in Birmingham, England, and is registered with the Civic Trust.
History
The society was founded at an inaugural meeting on 10 June 1918 in the Birmingham Council House. The first president of the ...
in the Round Room at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BM&AG) is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England. It has a collection of international importance covering fine art, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, natural history, archaeology, ethnography, local ...
.[ The inscription on the plaque reads: "Bertha Ryland (1882-1977) Edgbaston suffragette. Member of the Women's Social and Political Union who slashed a painting at this museum on 9th June 1914 as part of militant campaigning across Birmingham to secure votes for women".Blue Plaque for Bertha Ryland - Open Plaques website]
/ref>
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryland, Bertha
1882 births
1977 deaths
People from Edgbaston
Women's Social and Political Union
British feminists
British women's rights activists
Prisoners and detainees of England and Wales
Hunger Strike Medal recipients