Violet Ann Bland (17 December 1863 – 21 March 1940) was an English suffragette and hotelier who wrote about her experiences being force fed in prison.

Early life and career

Bland was born in

Bayston Hill Bayston Hill is a large village and civil parish in central Shropshire, England. It is south of the county town Shrewsbury and located on the main A49 road, the Shrewsbury to Hereford road. Occupied continuously since before the Middle Ages, ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

, the oldest of nine children of railway fitter William Henry Bland and his wife Violet. via: system reference After school she became a kitchen maid at

Dudmaston Hall Dudmaston Hall is a 17th-century country house in the care of the National Trust in the Severn Valley, Shropshire, England. Dudmaston Hall is located near the village of Quatt, a few miles south of the market town of Bridgnorth, just off the ...

, near Bridgenorth. Ten years later, she was offering furnished accommodation “with good cooking” in

Cirencester Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...

, first in a modest house and then in Gloucester House, a large Queen Anne mansion in Dyer Street. She acquired three new houses, renting out two of them. By 1905 she was running a Ladies College of Domestic Science in Henley Grove,

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, a fifteen-bedroom parkland mansion, offering classes in hygienic cooking, food values, and gymnastics. By 1906 she had turned Henley Grove into a boutique hotel.

Suffragette activism

In Bristol, Bland became active in 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 ...

(the 'Suffragettes'). Among her guests at Henley Grove were prominent Suffragettes

Annie Kenney Ann "Annie" Kenney (13 September 1879 – 9 July 1953) was an English working-class suffragette and socialist feminist who became a leading figure in the Women's Social and Political Union. She co-founded its first branch in London with Minnie ...

Lettice Floyd Lettice Annie Floyd (21 November 1865 – 1934) was a British suffragette. She is especially known for her openly lesbian relationship with fellow suffragette Annie Williams. During the suffragette campaign, Floyd and Williams were arrested an ...

Elsie Howey Rose Elsie Neville Howey (1 December 1884 – 13 March 1963), known as Elsie Howey, was an English suffragette. She was a militant activist with the Women's Social and Political Union and was jailed at least six times between 1908 and 1912. Earl ...

, Mary Phillips, Vera Wentworth,

Mary Blathwayt Mary Blathwayt (1 February 1879 – 25 June 1961) was a British feminist, suffragette and social reformer. She lived at Eagle House in Somerset. This house became known as the "Suffragette's Rest" and contained a memorial to the protests o ...

, and

Mary Sophia Allen Mary Sophia Allen OBE (12 March 1878 – 16 December 1964) was a British political activist known for her defence of women's rights in the 1910–1920s and later involvement with British fascism. She is chiefly noted as one of the early leaders ...

. In August 1909, she laid on a fundraising reception to honour the Suffragette hunger strikers Lillian Dove-Wilcox and Mary Allen. In August 1910 Bland sold-up and moved to London, where for the next 25 years she ran a guest house at 22 Old Burlington Street. She was arrested during the November 1910 ''Black Friday'' Suffragette march on Parliament. At another demonstration in 1912, she was arrested for throwing a rock through the windows of the Commercial Cable Company in Northumberland Avenue and sentenced to four months in prison.

Account of prison force-feeding

After she refused the prison food in

HM Prison Aylesbury His Majesty's Young Offender Institution (HMYOI) Aylesbury is a Young Offender Institution situated in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England. It is located on the north side of the town centre, on Bierton Road and is operated by Her Majesty's Priso ...

, Bland was force-fed. She wrote about this experience in ''Votes for Women''.''Votes for Women'', 5 July 1912 To honour her fortitude in prison, Bland received a

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 ...

and commendation from

Emmeline Pankhurst Emmeline Pankhurst ('' née'' Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was an English political activist who organised the UK suffragette movement and helped women win the right to vote. In 1999, ''Time'' named her as one of the 100 Most Impo ...

, leader of the Suffragette movement. The citation on the presentation case (see photo, right) reads: "Presented to Violet Ann Bland 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."

Later life

In 1915, though now 52 and unmarried, Bland fostered five of her sister's orphaned children. The eldest, Richard, became the father of economists

Eamonn Butler Eamonn Butler (born 1953) is a British economist. He is the co-founder and Director of the Adam Smith Institute. Early life Eamonn Butler was born in 1953. His brother is Stuart Butler.Michael David Kandiah, Anthony Seldon, ''Ideas and Think Ta ...

and

Stuart Butler Stuart M. Butler (born 1947) is a Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution. Until 2014, he was Director of the Center for Policy Innovation at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank in Washington, D.C. He is a h ...

. Violet Ann Bland died in

St Benedict's Hospital St Benedict's Hospital was a long-stay hospital in Tooting in South London. History The hospital was established in a disused Roman Catholic College building as the Tooting Home for the Aged and Infirm in 1897. During the First World War it ser ...

Tooting Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth and partly in the London Borough of Merton. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross. History Tooting has been settled since pre- Saxon times ...

, on 21 March 1940 and was buried at

City of Westminster Cemetery, Hanwell City of Westminster (Hanwell) Cemetery is a cemetery located in Hanwell, Ealing, west London. It is owned and managed by the City of Westminster's Parks Service. History By the 1840s, the cemeteries of London were full and almost overflowing. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bland, Violet British hoteliers English prisoners and detainees English suffragists English torture victims 1863 births 1940 deaths Hunger Strike Medal recipients

Early life and career

Suffragette activism

Account of prison force-feeding

Later life

See also

References