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Annie Bell

(born 1874), Suffragette

Sitter in 2 portraits
A militant suffragette, Bell was arrested three times in 1913 for assaulting police officers and for damaging Home office windows during protests. She was arrested again in 1914 for placing explosives in St John’s Church and the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. Released from prison as part of the Cat and Mouse Act, which sought to deal with ill health brought on by hunger striking, she hid from police but was eventually recaptured. During her court case she responded to one of the female witness who gave evidence against her 'I should like to congratulate the witness on her smartness ... it is worthy of a better cause. I think she would make a good suffragette'. Bell avoided a sentence as the Government's amnesty for suffragette prisoners came into effect with the onset of World War I.

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'Surveillance Photograph of Militant Suffragettes', by Criminal Record Office - NPG x132846

'Surveillance Photograph of Militant Suffragettes'

by Criminal Record Office
silver print mounted onto identification sheet, 1914
NPG x132846

Annie Bell, by Criminal Record Office - NPG x45553

Annie Bell

by Criminal Record Office
silver print mounted onto identification sheet, 1914
NPG x45553

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