7 minute read
Not on my Watch
Not On My Watch
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As the Old Police Cells Museum launches a series of short talks aimed at tackling domestic violence during Covid, volunteer Zoe Sutherland-Rowe reveals how she researched Queer Suffragettes: Censorship and Opposing the Law
The Old Police Cells Museum (OPCM) is situated beneath Brighton Town Hall, in the 11 original Victorian holding cells that were used before people appeared upstairs in the old courtroom. You can still see graffiti carved into the cell walls, including Dave the Rocker who managed to find something sharp enough to engrave his name into the cell wall when all the Mods and Rockers who were arrested during the 1974 Battle of Brighton Beach were held together downstairs in the cells.
“My research project on lesbian and bi suffragettes will be one of six films about strong women in Sussex’s history”
Recently, OPCM has embarked on a journey to become Brighton & Hove’s fourth nationally recognised accredited museum. A team of nearly 40 volunteers have spent several years now developing its future direction. This has included some very ‘big thinking’, such as the role of a police museum. Never before has it been more pressing to use this museum to engage and connect with local communities about their wellbeing, safety and concerns.
As part of this work, the OPCM women’s volunteer group applied for an emergency Covid-19 grant from Arts Council England, to work with victims of domestic violence. It is no surprise that domestic violence has skyrocketed in the pandemic, and this includes in LGBTQ+ communities. The grant is facilitating the women’s volunteers to make short films about strong women in Sussex’s history who have either been in the police - or in the hands of the police. These films are going to be made available on the museum’s website. Then, working with women’s shelters and other services, the museum will drop over locally baked organic cakes for residents to share together while they watch the films. Hopefully the project will offer both some comfort and inspiration.
With the largest queer population per capita in the UK, and with it well recognised that local LGBTQ+ communities are equally as affected by domestic violence as the broader community, it was vitally important that the films included LGBTQ+ content. By doing this, OPCM begins the process of engaging with the local queer community about issues that affect them and are important to them. This is what museums should do – act as agents of positive social change.
My research project on lesbian and bisexual suffragettes will be one of six films about strong women in Sussex’s history: Queer Suffragettes: Censorship and Opposing the Law
Anti-suffragette propaganda posters from the early 1900s painted women’s rights activists as ‘ugly’ or ‘wild’, with some intended to shock and anger their audience by showing what Britain would look like if they succeeded. In this ‘dystopian’ world men would have to share in the carrying out of household chores and even help to look after their own children (the horror!). However my favourite is a poster that depicts two women kissing, with the caption Girls are doing all the fellows’ jobs now!. Over the last year I’ve seen this poster reclaimed by fellow Sapphics across social media, and it was this that inspired me to create my film.
Being intrigued by the poster, I searched for any evidence of queerness within the suffragette movement, using something that portrayed it as negative as a springboard to unearth the often glossed-over historical evidence that there were queer women at the heart of the movement. As I excitedly began to explore this idea I pretty quickly hit a brick wall. As a bisexual woman myself I am in no way unaccustomed to queer erasure in TV shows, books, films, and in my own personal life; but in the context of pre-Stonewall history this erasure, and often censorship, was on a whole different scale. Though sexual acts between women have never been illegal in Britain, their broad acceptance from society as a whole is recent, and so we don’t have court documents detailing queerness of women as evidence for crimes, and we don’t have much literature exploring queer female experiences (often the little evidence we have comes from personal diaries). What I mean to say by this is that though queer women have always existed, their stories have not always been told.
“When trying to learn about LGBTQ+ history we meet the frustrating truth that queer stories and experiences are often erased”
However, I am very pleased to say that I do have some stories to tell you. Ethel Smyth was a women’s rights activist and classical composer born in 1858. Smyth’s work was integral to the suffrage movement, writing its anthem The March of the Women in 1911, and keeping up the spirits of her fellow activists in Holloway Prison by conducting sing-alongs not with her usual baton, but with a toothbrush. She had affairs with many of her contemporaries, though most notably Emmeline Pankhurst and Virginia Woolf, writing in a letter to a male friend: “I wonder why it is so much easier for me to love my own sex more passionately than yours.” Another woman featured in my film will be Annie Kenney, the only workingclass woman to be a part of the suffragette leadership circle. In a diary written by Mary Blathwayt, born locally in Worthing, Mary quite plainly writes of Annie’s female lovers, saying that “Annie slept with someone else again last night” or that “There was someone else in Annie’s bed this morning”.
When trying to learn about LGBTQ+ history we meet the frustrating truth that queer stories and experiences are often erased. As a society we must acknowledge that assuming that historical figures are straight by default is just that, an assumption, and one that ignores the active censorship that queer voices and identities have faced historically.
I hope that this dive into the topic of my film has given you a flavour of what will be coming from our museum over the coming months. The other films written by our volunteers will cover a broad range of female experiences concerning the police, including Christiana Edmunds: the Chocolate Cream Killer, Pioneers of the Petticoat Patrol, Mary Hare (1866-1945), and 100 Years of Women Policing in Sussex.
One of the morning teas is specifically aimed at LGBTQ+ victims and the museum says: “Ultimately, the aim is to increase awareness of domestic violence issues within our local queer community (particularly due to the current spike resulting from Covid) and the way that being aware of queer history in our city can be a form of empowerment.” The invitation to local groups adds: “We’re pleased to invite you to a series of short talks about strong women in Sussex’s history who have been in the police – or in the hands of the police.
You’ll hear the story of Mary Hare, whose work as a deaf community advocate equipped her to become the first women’s police officer in Sussex (it was a bumpy ride). You’ll be chilled by the criminal mastermind Christiana Edmunds, Brighton’s notorious serial chocolate poisoner… And be inspired by the brave escapades of local lesbian suffragette herstory… And more!
All produced by museum volunteers, the six half-hour talks can also be accompanied by free organic vegan cake delivered to each community address for groups to enjoy with a cup of tea.
The talks are pre-recorded and downloadable from the OPCM website throughout February – further details, including where to find the films and how to book your cake, from opcmbrighton@gmail.com.
Funding from the Coronavirus Community Support Fund, distributed by the National Lottery Community Fund, has helped to deliver these talks and morning teas.
