User:Sydneycurrie5/sandbox

Education
Dr. Elizabeth Gould Bell attended Queen's College Belfast. In 1889, Bell completed her one year study in the Arts Faculty at Queen's College. That same year, Bell and two other students, Bell's sister Margaret Smith Bell and Harriette Rosetta Neil, applied to transfer into the faculty of Medicine, making them three of the first five women to join the faculty of Medicine at Queen's College. After 1889, it became usual for medical students to enroll in medicine classes after they had completed their first year. Bell graduated in 1893 and after she continued her work in the medical field.

Political Activism
Dr. Bell was a member of the women's suffrage movement, which fought for women's right to vote. The women's suffrage movement in Ireland began in 1847 and reached its goal in 1922, when women were given equal voting rights. Dr. Bell was most involved with the suffrage movement before World War I. In 1903, Emmeline Pankhursts and her daughters, Sylvia, Christabel, and Adela, established the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). Dr. Bell was a friend of the Pankhursts and an ally of the WSPU. Members of the WSPU, including Dr. Bell, were called suffragettes, and were known for using more militant tactics in their activism than other suffragist groups, like the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). The NUWSS was known for using more peaceful tactics, such as petitions and crafting literature for their cause. Although most groups in support of suffragism joined the NUWSS, the WSPU refused to join the NUWSS because they disagreed with the peaceful tactics of the NUWSS. The WSPU adopted the motto of "Deeds not Words." Dr. Bell befriended Lady Balfour, who was an important suffragist during this time. In 1911, Dr. Bell participated in a WSPU demonstration in London, England. During this demonstration, Dr. Bell and others threw stones through store windows of Swan and Edgar's London Department. Dr. Bell was arrested for this demonstration and was imprisoned at Holloway Women's Prison.

When imprisoned, suffragettes in Belfast went on a hunger strike to protest for voting rights. When all suffragettes were participating in this hunger strike, authorities began to violently force feed the suffragettes, which often resulted in violent sickness. This practice caused an upset in the community, which resulted in the Cat and Mouse Act, or the Prisoners Temporary Discharge for Ill Health Act. This act allowed jail authorities to temporarily release prisoners on hunger strike and re-imprison them once they became healthy again. This act was passed in hopes to control the suffragettes, but many suffragettes released on this act hid from the jail authorities and carried out militant acts while released. In 1912, Dr. Bell became a doctor for suffragettes suffering from force feedings. She specifically worked with patients at the Crumlin Road Jail. For this work, she received a certificate from WSPU that thanked her for her service and dedication to the suffrage movement. It is believed that about 1,000 women were involved in the Ulster suffragism movement in 1914, but most suffragette activity decreased at the start of World War I.