Maud Joachim’s Hunger Strike Medal comes to Glasgow Women’s Library

Silver and enamel hunger strike medal awarded to Maud Joachim in 1909. Acquired by Glasgow Women’s Library in 2023 with a grant of £13,200 from the National Fund for Acquisitions, funded by the Scottish Government.

In September, Glasgow Women’s Library launched a public fundraising appeal to enable us to purchase a hunger strike medal awarded to suffragette Maud Joachim in 1909 by the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). The medal, previously in a private collection, was up for auction at Bonhams in London on 3rd October 2023.

Hunger strike medal awarded to Maud Joachim

Maud Joachim was arrested, with the claim that she had, “conducted herself in a disorderly manner and committed a breach of the peace” in Dundee on 20 October 1909, along with Adela Pankhurst, Helen Archdale, Catherine Corbett and Laura Evans. They had interrupted a meeting led by Winston Churchill the day before, 19 October, by leading a crowd and shouting “This way! Votes for Women!” When interviewed later, Churchill called them “a band of silly, neurotic, hysterical women”. Maud went to prison where she was released after a four day hunger strike.

We knew that raising the money for a successful bid for Maud’s medal would be a challenge, but we did it! Media coverage in The Guardian and on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour helped, and the response was overwhelming.

Our winning bid was £32,500 and, with buyers’ premium of £9,100, the total cost was £41,600. With a grant of £13,200 secured from the National Fund for Acquisitions, we fundraised a massive £28,500, with 544 people donating. This is exceptional crowd-source fundraising, and we would like to thank everyone who donated for their generosity.

We were also thrilled to be contacted by several members of the Joachim family who lent their full support to our campaign and are delighted that Maud’s medal is now in the collection at Glasgow Women’s Library.

Sue John collecting the medal from Bonhams

With my Co-Director Adele Patrick, we collected the medal from Bonhams on 11 October. It was a privilege to finally hold Maud’s medal – such a small and humble item, but with huge significance in suffrage history. It was an emotional moment and a reminder of the bravery of generations before us. Maud’s medal will be treasured at Glasgow Women’s Library – a symbol of resolve, hope, celebration and activism in the past, present and into the future.

We can now see the inscription on the back of the horizontal purple, white and green bar, confirming that Maud was force fed on 1 March 1912, during another period of imprisonment.

The medal bar ‘Fed by Force 1/3/12’

On 19 October 2023, exactly 114 years after disrupting Churchill’s meeting in Dundee, we pay tribute to Maud, and to all other courageous suffrage activists who endured violence, abuse, humiliation, intimidation and imprisonment so that women could vote.

Sue John                                                                                                                                                  Director of Operations, Resources and Enterprise                                                                                Glasgow Women’s Library

https://womenslibrary.org.uk/

Another McMenace

Denise the Menace costume designed and worn by Ellie Diamond for an appearance on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK. Acquired by Leisure and Culture Dundee in 2021 with a grant of £3,000 from the National Fund for Acquisitions, funded by the Scottish Government.

© Dundee Art Galleries and Museums, DC Thomson & Co Ltd. Image by GSR Photographic

To celebrate the 80th birthday of Beano in 2018, The McManus gave the best present it could and became … The McMenace. It seems only fitting that the museum continues to earn its stripes from Beano’s most cherished wild child. But in 2020 there was a new kid on the block …

Red and black stripes? Check!

Mad mop of black hair? Check!

A trusty sidekick in the form of a black-and-white dog? Check!

Move over Dennis because Ellie Diamond is serving up some Denise realness.

Dundee’s very own drag queen, Ellie Diamond, sashayed onto screens in the first episode of the second series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK as Denise the Menace. In response to the challenge ‘Queen of Your Home Town’, Ellie wanted to celebrate Dundee’s rich history through her love of comics. It really shouldn’t come as any surprise that we were very keen to acquire the outfit and, thanks to the National Fund for Acquisitions, we successfully purchased it from Ellie.

Ellie made the outfit herself from material bartered from a local haberdashery (Dennis would be proud). Not able to find an appropriate Gnasher, she spray-painted a white dog and glued in some joke-shop teeth (again a move that her name-sake would wholeheartedly approve).

But beyond the fun of the acquisition, on a deeper level it allowed the museum to acquire and represent an area of the collection that had not previously been openly showcased in our history exhibits – LGBTQ+ voices and experiences. Thanks to funding from Museums Galleries Scotland, we were able to purchase a bespoke mannequin to display the outfit in all its glory. We fully acknowledge that this is just one element in the huge rainbow of LGBTQ+ collecting and that we have a lot more to do to make our displays more inclusive and representative of our City. But as a first step, we think we’ve earned a coveted RuPeter badge on our stripes.

© Dundee Art Galleries and Museums, DC Thomson & Co Ltd, Ellie Diamond. Image by Alan Richardson

Carly Cooper
Curator (Social History)
Leisure and Culture Dundee
https://www.leisureandculturedundee.com/culture

The Dandy, Dundee and Daddy McCartney

The Dandy print shirt and trouser suit, 2016, designed by Stella McCartney, acquired by Leisure and Culture Dundee in 2017 with an NFA grant of £517.

 

It all started with Twitter. It’s where I keep up-to-date with most museum-related news these days. Stella McCartney was releasing a new clothing line after approaching Beano Studios to collaborate for The Dandy’s 80^th anniversary in 2017. It featured a trouser suit, t-shirts and a dress showing Korky the Cat, Dinah Mo and twins Cuddles and Dimples. We had to have it in the collection.

Stella McCartney, The Dandy shirt and trouser suit, 2016. © Dundee City Council (Dundee’s Art Galleries and Museums).

 

The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery and Museum has a large costume collection with strengths in female Victorian costume and Dundee couture costumiers, including Miss Laing, active in the 1870s, and Maison Souter, active from the late 1870s to the 1920s.

 

Bodice and skirt by Miss Laing, 1873-77. © Dundee City Council (Dundee’s Art Galleries and Museums).

Bodice and skirt by Maison Souter, c1894. © Dundee City Council (Dundee’s Art Galleries and Museums).

There was a burst of collecting during the 1970s and ’80s but little was added to the collection from the 1990s to the present. This could be an indication of changes in society and our throwaway culture but it is something that we aim to address. I am keen to develop this area of the collection by focusing on clothing made in Dundee or inspired by Dundee, hence Stella and her Dundee-centric DC Thomson collection.

The collaboration seems to have come about due to Dad, Paul McCartney’s, love of The Dandy, first issued on 4 December 1937. Dundee publisher DC Thomson & Co Ltd pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable for a comic at the time – figures of authority were mocked and slapstick humour was championed. Just before the comic ceased printing and went digital in 2012, Paul McCartney fulfilled a lifelong ambition when he featured in the comic alongside Desperate Dan and Bananaman.

Having successfully secured funding from the National Fund for Acquisitions we purchased the shirt and trouser suit towards the end of 2017. Now fully accessioned, it’s waiting for its first outing. The plan? Over the next year or so we are keen to redisplay some of the cases in The McManus to get more of the costume collection out on view, including the trouser suit. Stella, meanwhile, has continued her collaboration and, in keeping with 80^th birthdays, has designed a range of kid’s clothing featuring Beano characters for Beano’s 80^th this year.

Now, where did I put that NFA application form …

 

Carly Cooper
Curator (Social History)
Leisure and Culture Dundee

http://www.leisureandculturedundee.com/

 

 

Frozen in Time: The Frank Plumley Collection

Collection of personal items, archives and photographs which belonged to Frank Plumley (1876-1971), a stoker on SY Discovery during the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901-1904, acquired by Dundee Heritage Trust in 2016 with an NFA grant of £12,500.

In 1901 48 men risked their lives in pursuit of the unknown. Led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott on board SY Discovery, the British National Antarctic Expedition of 1901-1904 set sail to pursue scientific and geographic discovery in this largely untouched continent.

Here at Discovery Point, while we aim to tell this story of Antarctic exploration by showcasing both the ship and the men who served on her, the nature of collecting means that our narrative often focuses on just 11 men, the officers and scientists. Some of them published diaries and reports and a few, Scott, Ernest Shackleton and Edward Wilson, went on to become celebrated figures in this Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration. As a result, more material relating to higher ranking men has been recorded and preserved.

Frank Plumley in naval uniform

We were therefore delighted when an opportunity arose to redress the balance to some extent. With the support of the National Fund for Acquisitions we secured a collection of 35 items which belonged to Frank Plumley, one of five stokers on board the 1901 expedition and a man we previously knew very little about. The collection includes personal notebooks, poems and letters, service and polar medals, photographs and personal items, including an Expedition Royal Doulton mug, snow goggles and a pipe. Preserved by his grandson, the collection also includes many newspaper cuttings and articles relating to Frank’s later life, allowing us to build up a fascinating history.

Crew and officers of Discovery on 14 September 1904, the morning after the Lord Mayor’s banquet to celebrate their return. Frank Plumley is in the 4th row, 3rd from the right

Born in 1876 Frank joined the Royal Navy at the age of 20. Five years later at Cape Town, South Africa, he joined Discovery from HMS Gibraltar. During the expedition he was part of Lieutenant Barne’s first attempt in March 1902 to reach Cape Crozier, which struck trouble when a blizzard swept over the Hut Point Peninsula sending George Vince to his death. He later played a part in Captain Scott’s Western Attempt in October 1903. After Discovery he served on a number of Royal Navy ships, including HMS Dreadnought, HMS Venus and HMS King George V, and saw active service during the First World War. He returned to civilian life in 1919, employed as a blacksmith at Gun Wharf in Portsmouth. Frank died in 1971, aged 95, in Newport on the Isle of Wight.

A selection of material from the Frank Plumley collection

For more detail on these objects or to see other highlights of our fascinating collection please visit our Collections Online http://www.dhtcollections.com/

Louisa Attaheri
Curator
Dundee Heritage Trust

http://www.rrsdiscovery.com

 

 

 

From Outer Space to Museum Case: a Whiff of the Strange and Exotic

Two fragments of iron meteorite from Canyon Diablo Meteor Crater, Arizona, acquired by Leisure and Culture Dundee in 1983 with an NFA grant of £170.97; polished slice of meteorite from Kainsaz, Russia, 13 September 1937, acquired by the Hunterian in 2009 with an NFA grant of £164.77; fragment of Strathmore meteorite, 3 December 1917, acquired by Leisure and Culture Dundee in 2011 with an NFA grant of £2,000.

There is no question that meteorites have more than a whiff of the strange and exotic about them – and one or two types of meteorite actually do smell! As mankind explores further and further into space and discovers more and more about the origins of the Solar System and the Universe, so the interest in acquiring and studying meteorites has increased and this has led to an increasing awareness by the public.

In response to this, museums are re-evaluating, strengthening and expanding their meteorite collections and the support of the National Fund for Acquisitions is absolutely vital to achieving this goal. The increasing popularity of meteorites has led to a vigorous market in buying and selling these stones and this has resulted in an increase in their value. Some specific types of meteorites can fetch very high prices indeed and this can put them out of the range of most museum budgets. It has been my good fortune, as expert adviser to the NFA, to be involved in the two most recent acquisitions at auction of specimens by the Hunterian in Glasgow and Leisure and Culture Dundee.

Fragment of the Strathmore meteorite

The specimen bought by Dundee is of particular note as it was a small fragment of the Strathmore meteorite which fell in the Blairgowrie/Coupar Angus area in 1917 and is one of the best documented of the four known Scottish falls. At the time of writing, the fragment is on display at the Mills Observatory in Dundee along with other meteorites, including one on loan from National Museums Scotland. In supporting these bids I was keen to both promote the expansion of these meteorite collections and to see a wider public appreciation of these strange but wonderful objects.

Peter Davidson
Curator of Mineralogy and Expert Adviser to the NFA
National Museums Scotland

www.leisureandculturedundee.com

www.gla.ac.uk/hunterian

Rediscovering Captain Scott’s Forgotten Surgeon

Microscope and medical kit which belonged to Dr Reginald Koettlitz, surgeon onboard RRS Discovery, acquired by Dundee Heritage Trust in 2013 with an NFA grant of £3,000.

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Could you spend four years in a small wooden ship battling icy winds and temperatures averaging around -40 °C with just 47 other men and penguins for company? Discovery Point tells the story of Antarctic exploration and the men who did just that in search of unknown lands, scientific discoveries and adventure.

Officers and scientists aboard Discovery in Lyttelton, New Zealand, 1901. Dr Koettlitz, with moustache, is pictured in the centre, Captain Scott standing to the right

Our museum centres around RRS (Royal Research Ship) Discovery, a three-masted wooden sailing ship, purpose-built here in Dundee for renowned explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott on his first expedition to Antarctica in 1901. We aim to showcase Discovery and the men who served on her with items varying from navigational and scientific specimens collected on the ship’s three Antarctic expeditions to more personal objects vividly representing daily life for polar explorers of the period.

Over the last few years, with generous support from the NFA, we have been able to secure significant additions to the collection relating both to Discovery and to Scott’s second fateful Antarctic journey on board the Terra Nova. These have included original ship blueprints, rare personal letters and even a teaspoon handcrafted from a broken sledge runner.

Our latest acquisitions, a medical kit and microscope, belonged to Dr Reginald Koettlitz, the senior surgeon and bacteriologist aboard Discovery’s maiden voyage. The lightweight travelling medical kit was used when on sledging journeys exploring the vast Antarctic landscape and collecting important scientific specimens. Ideal for treating minor injuries, its contents include tweezers, scissors, surgeon’s needles and thread.

Dr Koettlitz aboard Discovery in the Tropics en route to Antarctica. Picture credit: Ann and Gus Jones

The microscope would have been used for examining both scientific specimens and blood samples taken at the men’s monthly medical examinations. Koettlitz was lucky in that there were few serious injuries to deal with, although minor cases included a number of fractures and cases of scurvy and frostbite. The doctor also carried out the first ever surgical operation in Antarctica, removing a cyst from Lieutenant Royd’s face.

For more details on these objects or to see other highlights of our fantastic collection please visit our Collections Online http://www.dhtcollections.com/

Louisa Attaheri
Assistant Curator
Dundee Heritage Trust
http://www.rrsdiscovery.com

Desperately Seeking Dan

Christmas 1943 issue of The Beano published by D C Thomson, Dundee, acquired by Leisure and Culture Dundee in 2007 with an NFA grant of £145

Despite Dundee being home to such iconic popular characters as Desperate Dan and Dennis the Menace, not a single Beano or Dandy was to be found in the museum collection. In fact we didn’t have anything at all to represent D C Thomson, the company behind journalism in Dundee’s ‘3 Js’; jute, jam and journalism.

 

With responsibility for selecting objects for The Making of Modern Dundee in the redeveloped McManus Gallery, I set about filling this gap and found a Christmas 1943 issue of the Beano on ebay. With a cartoon on the front cover showing the Beano office and the old printing presses, it was a gift to interpretation!  It also contains some fascinating wartime propaganda. Cartoonist Dudley Watkins, who was responsible for Desperate Dan and Lord Snooty and His Pals, frequently lampooned both Hitler and Mussolini in episodes which saw them outwitted and humiliated by his characters. This issue carries an appeal to readers to help the war effort by recycling their comic: ‘To Adolf, here’s wishing you a terrible Xmas and a worse New Year. All our readers are saving all their waste paper to make sure you’re beaten in 1944’.

Through discussions with staff at NFA I knew I would have to move fast in order to receive financial support. I contacted the seller and he agreed to take the comic to a curator at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery who had kindly agreed to help with condition checking. I was now ready to bid. I had a good idea of how much other comics had sold for and managed to buy ours for just under our top price. Bidding in the final moments was nerve racking but we won.

The seller posted our Beano immediately and we were able to prepare it for display alongside other items from D C Thomson and a typewriter on loan from National Museums Scotland. The display has captured the interest of young and old and our Learning and Access team have used the idea of a comic strip to introduce schools groups to the gallery, helping to bring social and industrial themes to life for children.

My next challenge is to update the display and rest our Beano to prevent light damage – so I am now on the lookout for an interesting and aged Dandy!

Rhona Rodger
Curator (Social History)
Leisure and Culture Dundee
http://www.leisureandculturedundee.com/