Evelyn Manesta
(born 1888), Suffragette and governessSitter in 3 portraits
Along with Lillian Forrester, Manesta was arrested for hammering the protective glass covers of paintings in Manchester Art Gallery in 1913 and was sentenced to one month imprisonment. The attack had been a reaction against the arrest and sentencing of Emmeline Pankhurst, the leader of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), and a radical approach by the suffragettes to highlight their campaign for women's rights. After refusing to have their photos taken, without their knowledge or consent police took photographs of the women in prison. The photograph of Evelyn is particularly significant as it was doctored to remove the arm of a police officer around her neck to keep her still. The police began to build a file on each suffragette with photographs and surveillance reports.
'Surveillance Photograph of Militant Suffragettes'
by Criminal Record Office
silver print mounted onto identification sheet, 1914
NPG x132846
Lillian Forrester (née Williamson); Evelyn Manesta
by Unknown photographer
Criminal Record Office memorandum, Issued 24 April 1914
NPG x136417
by Criminal Record Office
silver print mounted onto identification sheet, 1914
NPG x45558
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