Suffragette Mary Richardson's account of force feeding | Votes for Women

[Music] forcible feeding is to my mind one of the worst forms of torture imaginable the attack is brutal the method primitive when I was first forcibly fed I offered only passive resistance but after a few days the process became so degrading so morally staining to me as well as increasingly painful that I was obliged to resist the struggle with ten wardresses is severe and in it the arms and legs are twisted and the hands badly cut by the wardresses nails after these ten wardresses had overcome me and thrown me violently on the bed three of them lay full weight across my legs my knees are still painful cannot go up or down stairs without difficulty on several occasions wardresses fell on top of me on the floor once so severely injuring my ribs that I could not lie in bed on my left side for several days twice my head was thrown against the wall of the cell owing to my feet being taken from under me violently my face was blackened and swollen from this even after my release from prison [Music] the process of driving the tube through the nose is very terrible as the tube is usually too large for the nasal cavity and when there appears any obstruction more and more violent pushing is resorted to on one occasion dr. Pearson almost tore my nose in his repeated efforts to force the tube through the opening after 30 times of nasal feeding my face eyes and nose were so swollen and bruised that dr. Pearson brought in a home office specialist and after consultation he announced that he would feed me by the throat tube thereafter I refused to be so fed and set my teeth together whereupon he ran his second finger through my lips cutting them and then finding the extremity of my jaw he deliberately cut my cheek with his fingernail I cried out at his cruelty but he continued until in agony my teeth were parted and a metal spring gag inserted followed by the feeding tube by this time the blood from my cut cheek and gums was running from the corner of my mouth down the neck into my clothing and I began to choke violently the pain of this operation was beyond my insurance I was driven almost mad by it and springing off the bed when they had left off holding me I ran out of my cell dr. Pearson said I was in a dangerous state of mind and must be treated accordingly with the result that they refused to open my cell door when I needed anything and contented themselves with shouting at me as they went to a lunatic the following day dr. Pearson told me he had decided to return to nasal feeding and I was fed accordingly until I was discharged four days later owing to an attack of appendicitis this was brought on by the hospital treatment I had been receiving [Music]