Islington Museum will be putting on an exhibition about Holloway Prison, with a focus on ‘the voices which remain unknown and unrecorded.’ This week I joined some of the volunteers to discuss the chronology of Holloway Prison and the themes that come up over and over again during its 164-year history. The museum has a… Continue reading
‘This history of Holloway Prison examines what sort of women prisoners were held there, what crimes they had committed, and how they were treated. Caitlin Davies argues that those who set up and run the justice system have historically been men – and men have always had a problem with deviant women …. A thoughtful… Continue reading
June 12th Last night was press night at the Almeida Theatre in Islington, London, for a new production of Machinal, the 1928 play written by American journalist and playwright Sophie Treadwell. It was inspired by the case of Ruth Snyder, executed by electric chair that same year, after she’d been found guilty of killing… Continue reading
Following a talk about the suffragettes and Holloway Prison at HMP Downview in Surrey earlier this year, inmates produced stunning banners as part of Historic England’s HerStories campaign, along with artist Lucy Orta and the London College of Fashion. The banners were used during Processions on June 10th, a mass art work celebrating 100 years… Continue reading
‘A highly readable history…As the group Reclaim Holloway campaigns for the (prison) site to include a Women’s Building to help the community, Davies provides a sympathetic feminist reading of female incarceration by men who could not control them’ – Julie Peakman, Who Do You Think You Are Magazine Continue reading
Strong Words, a new magazine about books, has listed ’10 wonderful books about swimming’, both fiction and non-fiction. They include the brilliant Liquid Assets by Janet Smith, which inspired my book Taking the Waters: a swim around Hampstead Heath – described by Strong Words as ‘an intriguing story brilliantly told.’ Also on the list is… Continue reading
I’m thrilled that a copy of Bad Girls has been sent to the president of The Sudanese Women’s Union (SWU), Hanan Babiker. The SWU was co founded by a pioneer of women’s rights and anti colonialism, Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim. She was the first woman in Africa to be elected MP, in May 1965. The SWU… Continue reading
The Jewish Chronicle has run an extract from Bad Girls, from one of the chapters about Holloway Prison during World War Two. This was the time when 3600 Jewish refugees were jailed, on the way to internment on the Isle of Man. Their ‘crime’ was to be an ‘enemy alien’. Continue reading
‘What your favorite authors are reading this summer’ – The Washington Post asked 11 writers what books they will be reading this summer. Ruth Ware, the bestselling psychological crime thriller author, chose Bad Girls. Continue reading
Actor Amanda Root has been reading Bad Girls to help her understand Miss Madrigal – the character she plays in The Chalk Garden, the classic 1955 play by Enid Bagnold, which opens this week at The Chichester Festival Theatre. In the play, Miss Madrigal arrives at a Sussex manor to take up a post as… Continue reading
One of the joys of writing a book is hearing readers’ reactions, especially when they relate their personal or professional lives to stories in the book. Here former probation officer Mike Guilfoyle tells the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies about a woman called ‘Elsha’. Read more Continue reading
Author Angela Buckley – the Victorian Supersleuth – has often found her criminal investigations lead her to Holloway Prison, particularly when she researched the life of Amelia Dyer, a Victorian baby farmer. Read more Continue reading
‘Bad Girls offers many great tales of those who called the now-closed Holloway prison their home…and Caitlin Davies delves into every conceivable story.For those living in the shadow of Islington’s Holloway prison the imagination has run wild for years, concocting images of terrible conditions. Caitlin offers a comprehensive and much-needed answer. The study of Britain’s… Continue reading
Caitlin joined Dr Helen Pankhurst to discuss the history of women’s rights at the Hexham Book Festival on May 5th. Helen’s new book, Deeds not Words, outlines a century of fighting for equality. It was brilliant to share the stage with Helen and also a little surreal, seeing as Bad Girls discusses the experiences of… Continue reading
An audience member who attended the Holloway Prison talk at Old St Pancras Church on April 30th brought along her father’s birth certificate. He was born at Holloway Prison in 1951. Now she is trying to find out more about her grandmother. Continue reading
Caitlin gave an illustrated talk on the history of Holloway Prison and the role of the chaplain, as part of the Parish of Old St Pancras’ Spring History Lecture Series on April 30th. The talk was introduced by Fr James. … Continue reading
I joined ‘Inspirational Conversations’ on talkRADIO’s award winning Badass Women’s Hour on May 12th, to talk about the inmates and staff of Holloway Prison. Listen here Continue reading
I chatted about Bad Girls, the history of Holloway Prison and what will happen to the prison site now, with Georgina Godwin on The Weekend Edition, Monocle 24 Radio. Continue reading
June 9th. 4.10pm. Bath Spa University Caitlin gave a talk at the end of term summer event for students from the MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. Classes take place at Corsham Court, a former royal manor where peacocks roam the grounds. She spoke about how to earn a living as a writer,… Continue reading
The audience at the Bad Girls talk at West Hampstead library on May 22nd shared many of their own experiences of Holloway. One man, a former solicitor, recalled a horrific visit to Holloway in the 1960s when he was working with a 16-year-old client, while the writer Anna Meryt spoke of her time teaching in… Continue reading
Caitlin gave an illustrated talk on ‘The Hollowayettes: the Suffragettes at Holloway Prison’ as part of Conway Hall’s Thinking on Sunday series. Conway Hall, in the Holborn area of London, has a long tradition of celebrating free speech and hosting radical speakers including suffragettes. It is also home to the library of the Ethical Society.… Continue reading
I talked about Bad Girls and the 164-year old history of Holloway Prison with Yasmeen Khan on talkRADIO. Questions ranged from ‘what is the point of prison?’ to what should be done with the derelict Holloway Prison site. Listen here Continue reading
Haunt London, which promotes London history and folklore, organised a sell out event at the Backyard Comedy Club in East London on April 17th. Caitlin spoke about ‘The Hollowayettes: the Suffragettes at Holloway Prison’, while the brilliant Sarah Jackson revealed the stories of the East London Suffragettes. Sarah co-founded the East End Women’s Museum, which… Continue reading
The Spring issue of the Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society featured Holloway Prison on its cover, as well as running an extract from Bad Girls. The journal also covered the recently re named Cat and Mouse Library next to Holloway Prison (the new name is a reference to the Temporary Discharge for… Continue reading
‘Women who broke the law throughout much of British history often also broke another taboo: what was expected of their gender. Caitlin Davies’ book explores HMP Holloway, the London lockup where many of these female felons were incarcerated. It’s fascinating both for its portrait of larger-than-life women and the ways in which they were regarded… Continue reading
‘Caitlin Davies’ revealing account of the jail’s 164-year history offers overwhelming evidence for her thesis, that ‘ever since Holloway opened, women have been held up to different standards: were they good wives and mothers, did they know their place?’..(She) makes a good case for the prison’s role as ‘a graduating university for militants’…(and) digs into… Continue reading
Caitlin – and her dad, Hunter – were in conversation with Jane Wenham-Jones at the Broadstairs Literary Festival at the Yarrow Hotel. One member of the audience explained that she had spent time in Holloway Prison as a baby in the 1950s, while her siblings were put into care. She believes her mother had been… Continue reading
Stylist chose Bad Girls as one of its ‘unmissable books to read this spring’. ‘Through the story of its inmates, Davies explores how society has dealt with disobedient women – from suffragettes to refugees to women seeking abortions – for decades, and how they’ve failed to silence those who won’t go down without a fight.’… Continue reading
I chatted to Tina Daheley on Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio4, about Bad Girls and the inmates of Holloway Prison – including Selina Salter, a young girl imprisoned 60 times in the 1860s, the Duchess of Sutherland, jailed in 1893 for contempt of court, and the thousands of Jewish refugees locked up in World War Two… Continue reading
The Life and Times of Mary, Dowager Duchess of Sutherland, by Catherine Layton, has been released by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. It tells the full story of May Caroline, who in 1893 was imprisoned at Holloway. Catherine, an academic who lives in Australia, is related to May Caroline’s… Continue reading