Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill Health) Act 1913 Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill Health) Act 1913 The Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill Health) Act, commonly referred to as the Cat and Mouse Act, was an Act of Parliament passed in Britain under Herbert Henry Asquith's Liberal government in 1913. Some members of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU, commonly referred to as suffragettes) had been imprisoned for acts of vandalism in support of women's suffrage. In protest at being imprisoned some of the suffragettes undertook hunger strikes. The hunger strikers were then force-fed by the prison staff leading to a public outcry. The act was a response
The drunken mouse and the cat “Ah,” says the mouse, “I was drunk at the time.” The story first appeared in the 13th century "Parabolae" of Odo of Cheriton, where the barrel into which the mouse falls is said to be either of wine or beer. Told ‘against those who do not keep their word’, it was also recorded about the same time among the Jewish ‘fox fables’ of Berechiah ha-Nakdan. Later it is found in the 14th century Gesta Romanorum with the comment that what is promised in time of peril is not often fulfilled. In England the proverb ‘drunk as a mouse’ also emerged