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.

Comments:

"Women's enfranchisement and prison reform combine powerfully in Prisons and Prisoners, Constance Lytton's 1914 memoir of brutal incarcerations for her participation in the militant Suffragette movement. The 'pent-up feelings of indignation and revolt' in this book first published on the eve of the First World War resonate no less provocatively nearly a century later, as questions of detention, hunger strikes, forcible feeding, and torture underwrite local and everyday challenges to global advocates for human rights and social justice. As Lytton concludes her account, 'I hear the cry go up from all parts of the country, How long? How long?'" - Barbara Harlow, University of Texas at Austin

"Jason Haslam's edition of Prisons and Prisoners provides an excellent context for Lytton's work. The introduction is comprehensive in its discussion of Lytton’s biography, the women's suffrage movement, and the state of penology at the time. Particularly significant is its consideration that Lytton's goal of giving voice to female inmates raises complex issues of class and privilege. The front matter and appendices are extremely relevant and helpful. The context offered by the readings in the appendices makes the edition very appropriate for both classroom study and serious research. The bibliographies are very thoughtfully planned, offering a wealth of complementary material linking to Prisons and Prisoners from a variety of perspectives." - Judith Scheffler, West Chester University

Jason Haslam is Associate Professor of English at Dalhousie University and the author of Fitting Sentences: Identity in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Prison Narratives
(University of Toronto Press, 2005).

Academics please note that this is a title classified as having a restricted allocation of complimentary copies. While the availability of bound complimentary copies is restricted to desk copies only, electronic complimentary copies are readily available for those professors wishing to consider this title for possible course adoption. Should you choose to adopt the book after viewing an electronic copy we will be happy to provide a bound desk copy.

Table of Contents: [Back to Top]

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Constance Lytton: A Brief Chronology

A Note on the Text

Prisons and Prisoners: Some Personal Experiences

Appendix A:  Glossary of Names

Appendix B:  Selection of Other Suffragette Writings by Constance Lytton

1. Lytton, Constance.  "Woman Suffrage."  The Times 14 July 1909: 10
2. From Lytton, Constance.  "The Prison Experiences of Lady Constance Lytton."  Votes for Women.  28 January 1910: 276
3. From Lytton, Constance.  "A Speech by Lady Constance Lytton.  Delivered at the Queen’s Hall, January 31, 1910."  Votes for Women.  4 February 1910: 292-93
   

Appendix C:  Suffrage Material Concerning Lytton

1. From "The Outlook."  Votes for Women 28 January 1910: 273-74
2. Pethick Lawrence, Emmeline.  "Lady Constance Lytton."  Votes for Women 28 January 1910: 280
3. From "The 'Liverpool Courier' on 'Jane Warton's' Imprisonment"; "Some Press Comments."  Votes for Women 4 February 1910: 298
4. From Lytton, Victor.  "The House of Lords and Women's Suffrage: Speech by The Earl of Lytton in the Debate in the House of Lords,—May 6th, 1914."  London: P. S. King and Son, 1914
   

Appendix D: Reviews of Prisons and Prisoners

1. "Prisons and Prisoners: Some Reviews of Lady Constance Lytton's Book."  [Reprinted Rev. from Christian Commonwealth and Pall Mall Gazette.] The Suffragette 27 March 1914: 548
2. From Pankhurst, Christabel.  "A Prisoner’s Book." The Suffragette 13 March 1914: 485, 497; 20 March 1914: 509
3. From "Views and Comments."  The Egoist: An Individualist Review 1.10 (15 May 1914): 182-5
   

Appendix E:  Selected Material Concerning Suffragettes and Prison

1. England.  Departments of States and Official Bodies, Home Office.  "Suffragist Women Prisoners."  Home Office Papers and Memoranda 1889-1910.  London, 1909
2. From Lilley, Kate.  Prisoners and Prison Life.  Clacton-on-Sea: Clacton News Company, Ltd., 1912
   

Appendix F:  Relevant Photographs and Suffragette Cartoons

1. Portrait of Constance Lytton.  Frontispiece from 1914 edition of Prisons and Prisoners
2. Portrait of Jane Warton.  From 1914 edition of Prisons and Prisoners
3. [A. Patriot].  "The Government's Methods of Barbarism.  Forcible Feeding in Prison."  Votes for Women 28 January 1910: 1
4. Mills, A. Wallis.  "Suffragettes at Home."  Punch 14 April 1909: 269
5. Mills, A. Wallis.  "The Suffragette that Knew Jiu-Jitsu: The Arrest."  Punch 6 July 1910: 9