Sworders
Lot 505
Of Suffragette Interest: a sterling silver enamelled medal fob, with a gold portcullis to royal blue enamel ground, with gold ribbon below. Engraved verso 'W.F.L., DIV. I., 1914'. Chester 1914, by Croneen New Brompton, 43 x 31mm, suspended on an Albertina chain, with silver pin set open-faced fob watch, engraved to the cuvette 'Lily Sutton, Basingstoke, Hants, 1908'.The initials ‘W.F.L.’ engraved on the medal refer to the Women's Freedom League (WFL), a suffrage group formed in 1907. The WFL was comprised of members of the Women's Social and Political Union (WPSU) who were unhappy with the Pankhursts' decision to rule without democratic process, and so established a separate organisation. Like the WSPU, the WFL agitated for women's voting rights, but used direct action such as passive resistance, non-cooperation with the census and refusal to pay taxes, rather than attacks on people and property.Perhaps the most famous protest for which the WFL is known, is that of the ‘Grille Incident’ of 1908. On 28 October, members of the WFL chained themselves to a grille above a window in the Ladies’ Gallery of the House of Commons. Law enforcement arrived but, unable to undo the chains attached to the grille, the police were forced to remove the suffragettes to a nearby room with the grille still attached, whereupon a blacksmith was called to detach the women.The portcullis motif references a term of imprisonment and Div. I. refers to first division prisoners. The portcullis is the same motif as used for the Holloway brooch, or 'Portcullis badge', designed by Sylvia Pankhurst and presented by the WPSU to women who had been imprisoned at Holloway Prison for militant suffragette activity.In the Home Office 'Index of Suffragettes Arrested', there is an L Sutton listed with an imprisonment or trial date at Bow Street on the 9 July 1909. It is possible that the 'L Sutton' listed is the Lily Sutton whose name is engraved on the fob watch.
