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Historical Background

Cat and Mouse rehearsed reading at the Soutar Theatre, Perth, October 2010

votes for women
In 1914 Scotland was in the grip of a terrorist campaign of bombing and burning. The prime movers used false names and disguises to outwit the police. Their supporters belonged to every social class, and lived in every corner of Scotland. They had two things in common: they were women, and as women they were not allowed to vote.

After a series of high-profile attacks on Scottish buildings, the Liberal Government decided that jailed Scottish suffragettes who went on hunger and thirst strike would be force fed. Just one man was prepared to do this job: prison physician Dr Hugh Ferguson Watson.

In the summer of 1914 four militant campaigners for women's votes were force-fed in Perth Prison. Suffragettes from all over Scotland descended on Perth to support them. For five weeks the town witnessed unprecedented scenes of public disorder including mass-marches through the streets, shouting in churches and cinemas, and even an attack on the royal car.

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force feeding - how it was done

Force feeding was traumatic, painful, humiliating and dangerous. Two of Dr Ferguson Watson's "patients" nearly died as a result. Ethel Moorhead contracted pneumonia after food got into her lungs, and Frances Gordon found it impossible to breathe with the feeding tube in her throat.

implements used in force feeding

They were fed a mixture of eggs and sweetened milk, sometimes fortified by meat juice. This was poured from a jug, via a funnel, into a rubber tube that had been greased with Vaseline and eased down the throat into the woman's stomach. A metal gag held her mouth open during the procedure. When the jug was empty, the tube was removed and her mouth stopped with a hand, or a towel - for hours in some cases - to prevent the mixture being vomited out. The nostrils were pinched shut for the same reason.