Blue Plaque: Bertha Ryland

Bertha Ryland was a prominent and militant suffragette from Birmingham, a city she called home for much of her life. 

Born into the fight
Born in Edgbaston, her commitment to women’s suffrage was deeply rooted, and her mother, Alice Ryland, was active in the Birmingham Women’s Suffrage Society. Dissatisfied with the slow pace of change, both Bertha and her mother joined the more radical Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1907.

From protests to prison
Bertha quickly became a key figure in the Midlands campaign for votes for women. Her activism often involved direct action, leading to several arrests and periods of imprisonment. In 1912, she was sentenced to six months in Winson Green Prison in Birmingham for her part in a window-smashing campaign in London. During this time, she bravely went on hunger strike and was subjected to the brutal practice of force-feeding, for which she was later awarded the WSPU’s Hunger Strike Medal.

The famous art gallery attack
Her most famous act of protest occurred on 9th June 1914, when she entered Birmingham Art Gallery and slashed George Romney’s painting, ‘Master Thornhill’, three times with a meat cleaver that she had hidden in her jacket. She had with her a note explaining her actions as a protest against the government’s refusal to grant women the vote and their cruel treatment of suffragette prisoners. This act caused £50 worth of damage and led to her re-arrest and another hunger strike in Winson Green.

Suffering for the cause
Bertha Ryland suffered permanent kidney damage as a result of the force-feeding she endured in prison. Her deteriorating health led to her trial being postponed, and the charges against her were eventually dropped with the outbreak of the First World War and the subsequent amnesty for suffragette prisoners. Despite her health battles, Bertha lived until 1977, her life a testament to her unwavering dedication to the cause of women’s enfranchisement.