Mrs. [Kate] Harvey’s Imprisonment.
Mrs. Harvey was released from Holloway on
morning in a very bad condition of health, her imprisonment having had a
serious effect on her constitution. She was met at the prison gates by Mrs.
[Charlotte] Despard, Miss Harvey, and Miss Watson, and taken to Brackenhill,
where she will be nursed back to health. The refusal of the Home Secretary to
allow the attendance of a homœpathic doctor aroused great indignation at
Bromley, and some women residents, deeply interested in her person as well as
in her protest, paid the smaller fine to secure her release before actual
injury should have occurred. Mrs. Harvey has served her sentence for the
Insurance Act resistance, and the remaining term of imprisonment would have
been in respect of the gardener’s license.
Also in that issue are a letter Harvey sent from prison to her comrades and some of the correspondence concerning her struggle to get her preferred variety of medical treatment while behind bars, and a report on an “Indignation Meeting” that includes the following:
Mrs. [Margaret] Kineton Parkes next addressed the meeting. In the first place
she compared the sentences passed on persons who resisted taxation from
conscientious convictions with those who resisted from selfish or dishonest
motives, showing very forcibly that in the eyes of the Government the former
were more worthy of contempt than the latter. Secondly, she condemned the
incompetence of the officials who administered the law showing the ridiculous
and dilatory methods in which the proceedings against tax-resisters were
carried through, often being allowed to extend over months, and in many
instances eventually dropped. Finally Mrs. Parkes drew attention to the
policy followed previously in the cases of Miss [Clemence] Housman and Mr.
[Mark] Wilks, as well as that of Mrs. Harvey, of waiting until Parliament
was prorogued before making any attempt to bring such cases to an end, and
carry out the sentences imposed. Of course, it was quite easy to see the
reason for this policy. Had Mrs. Harvey’s imprisonment been effected while
the House was sitting, numerous friends drawn from all parties would have
been asking awkward and unpleasant questions.
…
More Indignation Meetings.
The usual meeting was held last
week by the Women’s Tax Resistance League, in Bromley Market-square, to
protest against the imprisonment of Mrs. Harvey. The chair was taken by Mrs.
Beaumont Thomas, and the speakers were Mrs. Despard and Mrs. Kineton Parkes.
Mrs. Despard emphasized Mrs. Harvey’s care for neglected children, even to
taking them to her home for weeks together. This, she said, was the kind of
woman on whom the Government passed vindictively heavy sentences. Mrs.
Kineton Parkes also pointed out the peculiar hardships of the case. At the
close of the meeting the following resolutions was unanimously carried:—
“That this meeting protests against the sentences passed on Mrs. Harvey, and
demands equal treatment under the law for men and women.”
A large and enthusiastic mass meeting was held by the League in Hyde Park on
afternoon to protest against the
injustice of Mrs. Harvey’s imprisonment. The speakers were Mrs. Despard and
Mr. H.W. Nevinson, and the chair was taken by Mrs. Kineton Parkes. At the
close of the meeting the resolution was passed unanimously followed by
prolonged cheering and applause, and the crowd manifested a great interest in
this case and remained for more than half an hour to have their questions
answered.
…
Pertinent Questions to Mr. McKenna.
The following letter has been sent by Mrs. Kineton Parkes, Organising
Secretary of the Women’s Tax Resistance League:—
To the Right Honourable R. McKenna,
M.P.,
Home Office, S.W.
.
Sir,— I am writing again on behalf of the Committee of this League with
regard to the imprisonment of Mrs. Harvey. I find that an urgent letter was
sent to you about this matter on , setting forth the facts of the case in detail, and that though
acknowledged by your secretary, no reply of any kind had been received.
Would you kindly see that a definite answer is at once sent to the following
questions, either by yourself or whoever is acting at the Home Office during
your absence?:—
- Are you aware that one of the two months’ imprisonment to which Mrs.
Harvey was sentenced is for non-payment of the license for her
manservant?
If so, can you explain why Mrs. Harvey has been treated differently
from other members of this League who for the same conscientious
reasons have refused to pay licenses?
- Can you explain why Mrs. Harvey is sentenced to a term of imprisonment
in the second division instead of being placed in the first division,
as Miss Housman was, who also refused to pay taxes?
- Will you explain why the Insurance Commissioners were allowed to make a
claim for special costs of two guineas in Mrs. Harvey’s case? Such costs
have never been claimed before from man or woman, and Mrs. Harvey’s
court fees were already far in excess of the usual costs,
viz. £4
10s. Will you explain
why the Bench was allowed to grant this unusual claim?
- Can you explain why, if Mrs. Harvey’s imprisonment is a just one, she
was not arrested immediately she refused to pay her fine instead of
waiting until Parliament was prorogued, when no questions could be asked
in the House of Commons by Members of Parliament about the injustice of
the case?
Also in the same issue were reports from local branches, including the following:
Provinces. — Burnage.
At our last meeting Miss [Mary?] Trott addressed the members of the Branch,
appealing to all to help in every possible way to secure the release of Mrs.
K. Harvey and to work harder for the suffrage cause…
Manchester.
An interesting Branch meeting was held on
, at which
Miss Trott, from London, appealed on behalf of Mrs. Harvey. Printed
post-cards protesting against the vindictive sentence passed upon her are now
ready for signature, and may be obtained at the office.…
