![THE WOMEN'S SOCIAL AND POLITICAL UNION'S MEDAL FOR VALOUR, silver (Hallmarks for Birmingham, 1912), prepared by Toye, 57 Theobalds Rd., London, obverse engraved, 'Hunger Strike', reverse engraved, 'Lavender Guthrie', within raised border, with enamelled suspension bar, the reverse of which is inscribed, 'Fed by Force 1/3/12', and plain silver upper wearing brooch inscribed, 'For Valour', 22mm., contained in original [damaged] leather box of issue, the inner lid of white silk bearing a gold lettered inscription, 'Presented to Lavender Guthrie by the Women's Social & Political Union in Recognition of a Gallant Action, Whereby Through Endurance to the Last Extremity of Hunger and Hardship, a Great Principle of Political Justice was Vindicated'](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2000/SKS/2000_SKS_01264_0378_000(020912).jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Sold with the recipient's 'Portcullis Badge', by Toye & Co., London, silver and enamel, slightly chipped and lacking one chain; an attractive silver and enamelled 'Votes for Women' pin-brooch; a small length of silk riband embroidered with 'Votes for Women' logo; and a card box bearing the Movement's colours, with green velvet interior
Joan Lavender Baillie Guthrie, who more usually called herself Laura Grey, was a young woman of slender years when she began her association with the Women's Social and Political Union (W.S.P.U.) led by the indomitable Pankhursts. Indeed in her book The Suffragette Movement, Sylvia Pankhurst describes her as 'a ...girl... [who] had been reared in a sheltered middle class home'. Probably she was arrested on at least four occasions between 1910 and 1912 mainly, if not solely, for window smashing during some of the most famous occasions of mass protest by the W.S.P.U. In November 1911 she was charged with breaking a window at the National Liberal Club. Giving evidence at Bow Street the Constable who arrested her reported that twice on the way to the Police Station she tried to throw stones and when they reached Cannon Street she managed to throw one through the Station window. It was discovered she was also in possession of a hammer. In court she responded that she regretted doing so little damage (assessed at £1 at the Liberal Club and 1 shilling at the Police Station) and that she would not cease protesting until women got the vote. She was sentenced to a fine or 14 days imprisonment; she elected for the latter.
Only three months after her release she participated in the 1st March Suffragette demonstration in London's West End as a result of which she was sentenced to six months imprisonment for breaking the windows of Messrs. Gerrard Ltd (Sic)., Regent Street (valued at £36). On this occasion she told the Judge to expect to see her back in court in another six months. During her imprisonment in Holloway she joined other Suffragette prisoners on hunger strike and it is reported in the W.S.P.U. newspaper Votes for Women (28.6.1912) that she was force fed during her incarceration. The brutality of force-feeding had a lasting effect on most of the women brave enough to undergo this terrible experience, but for Laura it had even more far-reaching consequences. Sylvia Pankhurst writes that in 1912, Laura mentioned to another W.S.P.U. member that the experience was one of the causes which had led her to resort to drugs. She observes:
'In the circumstances of today with wider opportunities for women this girl would probably have trained for a profession which would have absorbed her energies and supplied the scope and interest she required'.
Tragically Laura Grey committed suicide, seemingly in 1914. This received some prominence in the press but, says Sylvia Pankhurst, it was a nine days sensation for the public. She supplies further background to the incident that suggests Laura Grey was seeking wider social reforms than those she saw spearheaded by the W.S.P.U.
About 1911 there was unrest amongst some of the younger Suffragettes stirred by the realization of poverty and social problems, economic and sexual. Unsatisfied by the reply that Votes for Women would cure all these difficulties, some of them joined the Fabian Nursery which for a time bulked large as a daring and drastic-thinking body in the eyes of some sections of ardent youth. Some interested themselves in the New Age and the Free Woman, some few kicked over the traces of conventional usage, and where they stood alone without the backing of friends and influence, found society coldly unready for their concepts of freedom. A few, and one of these was Laura Grey, took to investigating the conditions of the submerged poor, for this purpose sleeping in common lodgings and on the Embankment. Laura Grey drifted away from the Union. She was deserted by a man who had obtained an influence over her and eventually followed her tragic end. During her time in Holloway in March 1912, Laura described some of her thoughts in a poem, later published, dedicated to her imprisoned fellow Suffragette Dorothy Merlet Roe.
'Beyond the bars I see her move,
A mystery of blue and green,
as though across the prison yard
The Spirit of the Spring had been;
And when she lifts her hands to press
The sunshine of her hair,
From the grey ground the pigeons rise
And rustle through the air,
As though her two hands held a key
To set imprisoned spirits free.'
Joan Lavender Baillie Guthrie, who more usually called herself Laura Grey, was a young woman of slender years when she began her association with the Women's Social and Political Union (W.S.P.U.) led by the indomitable Pankhursts. Indeed in her book The Suffragette Movement, Sylvia Pankhurst describes her as 'a ...girl... [who] had been reared in a sheltered middle class home'. Probably she was arrested on at least four occasions between 1910 and 1912 mainly, if not solely, for window smashing during some of the most famous occasions of mass protest by the W.S.P.U. In November 1911 she was charged with breaking a window at the National Liberal Club. Giving evidence at Bow Street the Constable who arrested her reported that twice on the way to the Police Station she tried to throw stones and when they reached Cannon Street she managed to throw one through the Station window. It was discovered she was also in possession of a hammer. In court she responded that she regretted doing so little damage (assessed at £1 at the Liberal Club and 1 shilling at the Police Station) and that she would not cease protesting until women got the vote. She was sentenced to a fine or 14 days imprisonment; she elected for the latter.
Only three months after her release she participated in the 1st March Suffragette demonstration in London's West End as a result of which she was sentenced to six months imprisonment for breaking the windows of Messrs. Gerrard Ltd (Sic)., Regent Street (valued at £36). On this occasion she told the Judge to expect to see her back in court in another six months. During her imprisonment in Holloway she joined other Suffragette prisoners on hunger strike and it is reported in the W.S.P.U. newspaper Votes for Women (28.6.1912) that she was force fed during her incarceration. The brutality of force-feeding had a lasting effect on most of the women brave enough to undergo this terrible experience, but for Laura it had even more far-reaching consequences. Sylvia Pankhurst writes that in 1912, Laura mentioned to another W.S.P.U. member that the experience was one of the causes which had led her to resort to drugs. She observes:
'In the circumstances of today with wider opportunities for women this girl would probably have trained for a profession which would have absorbed her energies and supplied the scope and interest she required'.
Tragically Laura Grey committed suicide, seemingly in 1914. This received some prominence in the press but, says Sylvia Pankhurst, it was a nine days sensation for the public. She supplies further background to the incident that suggests Laura Grey was seeking wider social reforms than those she saw spearheaded by the W.S.P.U.
About 1911 there was unrest amongst some of the younger Suffragettes stirred by the realization of poverty and social problems, economic and sexual. Unsatisfied by the reply that Votes for Women would cure all these difficulties, some of them joined the Fabian Nursery which for a time bulked large as a daring and drastic-thinking body in the eyes of some sections of ardent youth. Some interested themselves in the New Age and the Free Woman, some few kicked over the traces of conventional usage, and where they stood alone without the backing of friends and influence, found society coldly unready for their concepts of freedom. A few, and one of these was Laura Grey, took to investigating the conditions of the submerged poor, for this purpose sleeping in common lodgings and on the Embankment. Laura Grey drifted away from the Union. She was deserted by a man who had obtained an influence over her and eventually followed her tragic end. During her time in Holloway in March 1912, Laura described some of her thoughts in a poem, later published, dedicated to her imprisoned fellow Suffragette Dorothy Merlet Roe.
'Beyond the bars I see her move,
A mystery of blue and green,
as though across the prison yard
The Spirit of the Spring had been;
And when she lifts her hands to press
The sunshine of her hair,
From the grey ground the pigeons rise
And rustle through the air,
As though her two hands held a key
To set imprisoned spirits free.'