Hunger Strikes and Baby Units: Women and prison health
29 May 2025, 18:00 - 19:30
Choose event information:
An online talk on the history of maternal health and women campaigners in the prison system.
It was the poor standards of maternity care in women’s prisons that led to the introduction of the first trained nurses to Holloway Prison in 1919. In this talk, Rachel Bennett outlines the history of maternal health in the prison system, while Ian Miller explores another side of women’s health: the experience of women’s rights campaigners and others on hunger strike in prisons.
Speakers:
Ian Miller is Senior Lecturer in Medical History at Ulster University, Ian is author of eight medical history books including A History of Ireland in Ten Body Parts, shortlisted in the An Post Irish Book Awards as 'Hodges Figgis History Book of the Year 2024. Earlier books looked at the force-feeding of hunger strikers, how the Irish diet changed (mostly for the worse) after the Irish Famine and the surprisingly interesting history of the Victorian stomach.
Image: Suffragette chained to railings (The Women’s Library at LSE)
This event is open to all and takes place online only.
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RCN Library and Museum
rcn.library@rcn.org.uk
0345 337 3368
Online
Page last updated - 09/05/2025
