'Surveillance Photograph of Militant Suffragettes'
1 of 2 portraits of Gertrude Mary Ansell
'Surveillance Photograph of Militant Suffragettes'
by Criminal Record Office
silver print mounted onto identification sheet, 1914
5 1/2 in. x 8 1/2 in. (140 mm x 216 mm) overall
Acquired from Criminal Record Office, 1914
Photographs Collection
NPG x132846
Artistback to top
- Criminal Record Office, Photographer. Artist or producer associated with 20 portraits.
Sittersback to top
- Gertrude Mary Ansell (1861-1932), Suffragette and member of the Fabian Women's Group. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
- Annie Bell (born 1874), Suffragette. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
- Maud Mary Brindley (born 1866), Suffragette. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
- Olive Leared (née Hockin) (1881-1936), Suffragette; Artist. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
- Margaret McFarlane (born 1887), Suffragette. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
- Evelyn Manesta (born 1888), Suffragette and governess. Sitter in 3 portraits. Identify
- Verity Oates, Suffragette. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
- Margaret Scott (Margaret Gertrude Schencke) (1888-1983), Suffragette. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
- Jane Short (born 1882), Suffragette. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
- Mary Wyan (Mary Ellen Taylor) (1864-1914), Suffragette. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
This portraitback to top
Surveillance photographs of militant Suffragettes were issued to public galleries including the National Portrait Gallery in 1914. Most of the photographs show women serving sentences in Holloway and Manchester, and were taken undercover in prison exercise yards.
Related worksback to top
- NPG x45558: Evelyn Manesta (appears within the portrait)
- NPG x45557: Verity Oates (appears within the portrait)
- NPG x45556: Maud Mary Brindley (appears within the portrait)
- NPG x45555: Gertrude Mary Ansell (appears within the portrait)
- NPG x45554: Jane Short (appears within the portrait)
- NPG x45553: Annie Bell (appears within the portrait)
- NPG x45552: Mary Wyan (Mary Ellen Taylor) (appears within the portrait)
- NPG x45551: Margaret McFarlane (appears within the portrait)
- NPG x45550: Olive Leared (née Hockin) (appears within the portrait)
- NPG x45549: Margaret Scott (Margaret Gertrude Schencke) (appears within the portrait)
Linked publicationsback to top
- 100 Pioneering Women, p. 14
- Flavia Frigeri, Women At Work: 1900 to Now, 2023, p. 31
- Schama, Simon, The Face of Britain: The Nation Through its Portraits, 2015-09-15, p. 517
- Schama, Simon, The Face of Britain: The Nation Through its Portraits, 2015-09-15, p. 561
Placesback to top
- Place made: United Kingdom: England, London (HollowayPrison, London)
- Place made: United Kingdom: England, Greater Manchester (Manchester Prison)
Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top
- Simon Schama's Face of Britain: People (14 September 2015 - 4 January 2016)
- Suffragettes: Deeds not Words (2 July 2014 - 10 May 2015)
Portrait setback to top
Events of 1914back to top
Current affairs
Following Germany's declaration of war on France and invasion of Belgium, Herbert Henry Asquith, the British Prime Minister, declares war on the German Empire on August 4, 1914. The popular belief that the conflict would be 'over by Christmas' was soon found to be a bitter underestimate of the scale of the war.Art and science
The fist issue of the periodical Blast is published by Wyndham Lewis, announcing the advent of Vorticism. This movement, named by Ezra Pound and taking in art and poetry, combined the vitality and dynamism of Italian Futurism with the geometric structure of Cubism. Vorticism was a direct challenge to the perceived quaint and domestic style of the Bloomsbury group and Roger Fry's Omega Workshop.International
On June 28th 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria is assassinated in Sarajevo leading to Austria's declaration of war against Serbia and triggering the First World War. Germany declared war on Serbia's ally, Russia, and then marched on France via Belgium. Soon all of Europe and most of the world was embroiled in total war.Comments back to top
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