Bertha Wilmot Ryland was a militant suffragette and member of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) who after slashing a painting in Birmingham Art Gallery in 1914 went on hunger strike in Winson Green Prison in Birmingham for which she was awarded the WSPU's Hunger Strike Medal.
The damage caused to Romney's Master Thornhill by Bertha Ryland in 1914
In 1912 Ryland was sentenced to six months in Winson Green Prison - seen here in the 1920s
In 1914 Ryland damaged the painting of John Bensley Thornhill known as 'Master Thornhill' by George Romney in Birmingham Art Gallery
Blue plaque at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery commemorating Ryland.
Women's Social and Political Union
The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom founded in 1903. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and policies were tightly controlled by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel and Sylvia. Sylvia was eventually expelled.
Annie Kenney (left) and Christabel Pankhurst, c. 1908
62 Nelson Street, where the WSPU was formed
WSPU leaders Flora Drummond, Christabel Pankhurst, Annie Kenney, Emmeline Pankhurst, Charlotte Despard, with two others, 1906–1907
WSPU meeting, c. 1908. Emmeline Pankhurst stands (left) by the table on the platform.
