The Birth Of Surveillance Photography
It all began with the fight for a woman’s right to vote
Modern day surveillance photography started in Britain in 1913 with an unassuming prison van parked in the exercise yard of Holloway Prison. We only know the occupant of the van as Mr. Barrett, a professional photographer who had been employed by Scotland Yard to snap paparazzi-style shots of the women in the yard. His long-lens photography equipment — the purchase of which was authorised by the then Home Secretary — was rudimentary, but effective.
And who were these women Barrett was photographing? Members of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), also, and perhaps better, known as the suffragettes. Suffrage campaigns were ongoing in both Europe and the United States in the early part of the 20th century, with Finland being the first country to grant women the right to vote and stand for office in 1906.
In Britain, the suffrage movement began in earnest in 1903. Asking politely had got the WSPU nowhere, so they began a campaign of civil disobedience, meaning that they essentially decided to make a nuisance of themselves. This included sabotaging political meetings, demonstrating frequently outside the two Houses of Parliament, and chaining themselves to the railings lining Downing Street and Buckingham Palace, among other…
