Countess Markievicz 1868-1927
Countess Markievicz was the first female MP elected in Ireland and first female Cabinet Minister elected in Europe.
Born Constance Gore-Booth in London on 4 February 1868, her parents owned the picturesque Lissadell House in Co. Sligo, where Constance spent most of her childhood. She followed her artistic dreams to London, where she befriended the poet W.B. Yeats and later to Paris, where Constance met the Polish Count Casimir Markievicz. They married in London in 1900 and their daughter Maeve was born in Lissadell in 1901. The couple later drifted apart due to differing interests. Initially, the Countess lived in Dublin as an artist, but she became increasingly involved in politics. Her earliest political involvement was joining Maud Gonne's Inghinidhe na hÉireann (Daughters of Ireland) in 1908. The following year she joined Sinn Féin and she set up Na Fianna Éireann, a young boyscout troop. Together with Delia Larkin, she organised a soup kitchen in Liberty Hall during the 1913 Lockout.
Constance Markievicz became a member of the Irish Citizen Army (ICA), which was under the command of socialist James Connolly, who was a formative influence on Markievicz. He afforded the women in the ICA an opportunity to take part in the Easter Rising on an equal footing to the men. Markievicz was a lieutenant in the ICA and was second-in-command to Michael Mallin in the St. Stephen’s Green/Royal College of Surgeons garrison. Upon the rebels’ surrender, the Countess was arrested and taken to Richmond Barracks, before being taken to Kilmainham Gaol, where she was held in solitary confinement. The only woman to be court martialled after the Rising, Markievicz was sentenced to death alongside the other leaders, but her death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment because she was a woman. She spent over a year in Aylebury Jail in the UK. Whilst in jail she was elected honorary President of Cumann na mBan. Under an amnesty, she was freed from jail in July 1917.
In May 1918, Markievicz was one of 73 high profile Sinn Féin members arrested by a British Government fearful of another Rising. She was sent to Holloway Jail, where she was held with Maud Gonne and Kathleen Clarke. Whilst in jail in Holloway in December 1918, she became the first ever female MP elected in Ireland or Britain. However, as a member of Sinn Féin, she refused to take her seat in the Westminster Parliament. In 1919, she was appointed Minister for Labour in the first Irish parliament, Dáil Éireann, becoming the first female Cabinet Minister elected in Europe.
As Minister for Labour, Markievicz was arrested by the British for giving a seditious speech in Cork and was sentenced to four months imprisonment in Cork Jail. She was arrested again and sent to Mountjoy Prison where she was resident from Autumn 1920 to Summer 1921. Whilst in Mountjoy, she learned how to speak the Irish language and busied herself in the prison garden. Markievicz was against the Anglo-Irish Treaty agreed with Britain in December 1921, which saw Ireland being split into a Free State and Northern Ireland. In January 1922 she voted against the Treaty and left the Dáil with Eamon de Valera and the other Republicans. Constance Markievicz travelled to the US to campaign and fundraise for an Irish Republic in April 1922 and later moved to Scotland to escape the Free State, where she edited Éire. Back in Ireland she was arrested by the Free State government for canvassing against it. She was sentenced to a month's imprisonment in North Dublin Union. In the former workhouse that served as a prison, she took part in her first hunger strike. In 1926, Markievicz left Sinn Féin and joined the new Fianna Fáil party, rescinding her membership and Presidency of Cumann na mBan in order to do so.
She died in Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital on 15 July 1927 from peritonitis. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets of Dublin for her funeral, where Eamon de Valera read the eulogy. A report from The Boston Telegraph in 1922, when she visited the city to seek support for the Irish Republic, described her as ’Ireland’s Joan of Arc’. The Countess had a deep sense of social justice and it is from this we find our inspiration.
Born Constance Gore-Booth in London on 4 February 1868, her parents owned the picturesque Lissadell House in Co. Sligo, where Constance spent most of her childhood. She followed her artistic dreams to London, where she befriended the poet W.B. Yeats and later to Paris, where Constance met the Polish Count Casimir Markievicz. They married in London in 1900 and their daughter Maeve was born in Lissadell in 1901. The couple later drifted apart due to differing interests. Initially, the Countess lived in Dublin as an artist, but she became increasingly involved in politics. Her earliest political involvement was joining Maud Gonne's Inghinidhe na hÉireann (Daughters of Ireland) in 1908. The following year she joined Sinn Féin and she set up Na Fianna Éireann, a young boyscout troop. Together with Delia Larkin, she organised a soup kitchen in Liberty Hall during the 1913 Lockout.
Constance Markievicz became a member of the Irish Citizen Army (ICA), which was under the command of socialist James Connolly, who was a formative influence on Markievicz. He afforded the women in the ICA an opportunity to take part in the Easter Rising on an equal footing to the men. Markievicz was a lieutenant in the ICA and was second-in-command to Michael Mallin in the St. Stephen’s Green/Royal College of Surgeons garrison. Upon the rebels’ surrender, the Countess was arrested and taken to Richmond Barracks, before being taken to Kilmainham Gaol, where she was held in solitary confinement. The only woman to be court martialled after the Rising, Markievicz was sentenced to death alongside the other leaders, but her death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment because she was a woman. She spent over a year in Aylebury Jail in the UK. Whilst in jail she was elected honorary President of Cumann na mBan. Under an amnesty, she was freed from jail in July 1917.
In May 1918, Markievicz was one of 73 high profile Sinn Féin members arrested by a British Government fearful of another Rising. She was sent to Holloway Jail, where she was held with Maud Gonne and Kathleen Clarke. Whilst in jail in Holloway in December 1918, she became the first ever female MP elected in Ireland or Britain. However, as a member of Sinn Féin, she refused to take her seat in the Westminster Parliament. In 1919, she was appointed Minister for Labour in the first Irish parliament, Dáil Éireann, becoming the first female Cabinet Minister elected in Europe.
As Minister for Labour, Markievicz was arrested by the British for giving a seditious speech in Cork and was sentenced to four months imprisonment in Cork Jail. She was arrested again and sent to Mountjoy Prison where she was resident from Autumn 1920 to Summer 1921. Whilst in Mountjoy, she learned how to speak the Irish language and busied herself in the prison garden. Markievicz was against the Anglo-Irish Treaty agreed with Britain in December 1921, which saw Ireland being split into a Free State and Northern Ireland. In January 1922 she voted against the Treaty and left the Dáil with Eamon de Valera and the other Republicans. Constance Markievicz travelled to the US to campaign and fundraise for an Irish Republic in April 1922 and later moved to Scotland to escape the Free State, where she edited Éire. Back in Ireland she was arrested by the Free State government for canvassing against it. She was sentenced to a month's imprisonment in North Dublin Union. In the former workhouse that served as a prison, she took part in her first hunger strike. In 1926, Markievicz left Sinn Féin and joined the new Fianna Fáil party, rescinding her membership and Presidency of Cumann na mBan in order to do so.
She died in Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital on 15 July 1927 from peritonitis. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets of Dublin for her funeral, where Eamon de Valera read the eulogy. A report from The Boston Telegraph in 1922, when she visited the city to seek support for the Irish Republic, described her as ’Ireland’s Joan of Arc’. The Countess had a deep sense of social justice and it is from this we find our inspiration.
