Constance Markievicz
Constance Markievicz (1868–1927) was an Irish revolutionary, suffragist, and politician, notable for her role in the Easter Rising of 1916.
Born into an aristocratic Anglo-Irish family, she defied societal expectations to join the Irish nationalist movement. Markievicz played a significant role in the Irish Citizen Army and fought alongside rebels during the Easter Rising, becoming the first woman elected to the British Parliament in 1918, though she abstained in protest. A champion for women's rights and social justice, Markievicz dedicated her life to the pursuit of Irish independence and equality, leaving a lasting legacy as a trailblazer and icon.
In defence of barmaids: The Gore-Booth sisters take on Winston Churchill in Manchester
Constance’s sister Eva had moved to Manchester to live with fellow suffragist Esther Roper, and Constance joined them playing a dramatic role in the women's suffrage campaign including opposing Winston Churchill's election to Parliament during a Manchester North West by-election
Huge population growth in British cities after the industrial revolution brought with it an increase in the number of public houses. By the turn of the twentieth century British newspapers were heaving with reports of the rise in alcohol-related crime, pauperism and insanity. Numerous bills proposed limiting the opening hours of licensed premises and in a further move to control drinking habits, temperance advocate and MP for Bath George Gooch introduced a bill in October 1906 proposing the abolition of barmaids. Gooch argued that this measure would protect young women from the attentions of inebriated customers and ensure that men would not be lured into drinking by attractive servers.
Barmaids were not unionised and previously had no cause to organise themselves. Eva Gore-Booth, now an effective trade union organiser, established the Barmaids’ Political Defence League. She headed a deputation of barmaids to the home secretary, Herbert Gladstone, pointing out the economic implications of throwing thousands of women out of work. Winston Churchill was at the time promoted to president of the board of trade and had to stand for re-election as MP for Manchester North-West constituency. The election was viewed by many as a mere formality. By then, however, Churchill had become a central figure in the barmaid issue and the election was contested. Churchill addressed the public in the Coal Exchange in Manchester two days before the election accompanied by Lloyd George, who spoke in his support
Constance Markievicz and her sister Eva Gore-Booth , launched an intense campaign in opposition. The women backed the alternative Conservative candidate. Gore-Booth organised a striking coach, drawn by four white horses, to be driven around Manchester with Markievicz at the whip. When the coach stopped, Gore-Booth and Markievicz took to the roof of the carriage and made rousing speeches. Markievicz was heckled by a man in the crowd, with the inevitable male query, ‘Can you cook a dinner?’ ‘Certainly,’ she replied, cracking her whip, ‘Can you drive a coach-and-four?
Winston Churchill was defeated by a margin of 529 votes. Within months, the Barmaids’ Political Defence League overwhelmingly won their campaign.
With thanks to Professor Sonja Tiernan
Irish Mancunian has published a book Manchester and the Irish Revolution exploring the activities of the Manchester Irish during the Irish Revolution years 1916-1923.
Read an extract of the book here
Constance Georgine Markievicz Gore-Booth was born at Buckingham Gate in London in 1868, the elder daughter of the Arctic explorer and adventurer Sir Henry Gore-Booth, 5th Baronet, an Anglo-Irish landlord and Georgina, Lady Gore-Booth, née Hill. They owned a 100 km2 (39 sq mi) estate, Lissadell House in Sligo, Ireland. During the famine of 1879–80, Sir Henry provided free food for the tenants on the estate. Their father's example inspired in Gore-Booth and her younger sister, Eva Gore-Booth, a deep concern for working people and the poor.
Embarking on an artistic career Constance studied at Slade School of Art in London and then at the prestigious Académie Julian in Paris where she met her future husband, Casimir Markievicz, an artist from a wealthy Polish family. The Markieviczes settled in Dublin in 1903 and moved in artistic and literary circles, including intellectuals and revolutionary Irish patriots.
In 1908, Markievicz became actively involved in nationalist politics in Ireland. She joined Sinn Féin and Inghinidhe na hÉireann ('Daughters of Ireland'), a revolutionary women's movement founded by the actress and activist Maud Gonne. Markievicz came directly to her first meeting from a function at Dublin Castle, the seat of British rule in Ireland, wearing a satin ball gown and a diamond tiara!
In 1909 Markievicz founded Fianna Éireann, a nationalist scouting organisation that instructed teenage boys in scouting. She was jailed for the first time in 1911 for speaking at an Irish Republican Brotherhood demonstration attended by 30,000 people, organised to protest against George V's visit to Ireland.
Markievicz joined James Connolly's socialist Irish Citizen Army (ICA), a volunteer force formed in response to the lock-out of 1913 to defend the demonstrating workers from the police. Markievicz recruited volunteers to peel potatoes in the basement of Liberty Hall while she and others worked on distributing the food. Markievicz was forced to take out loans and to sell her jewellery. That year, with Inghinidhe na hÉireann, she ran a soup kitchen to feed poor children and enable them to attend school.
As a member of the Citizen Army, Markievicz took part in the 1916 Easter Rising. She was deeply inspired by James Connolly. Markievicz designed the Citizen Army uniform and composed its anthem, based on the tune of a Polish song. Under the command of Michael Mallin. Markievicz supervised the setting-up of barricades on Easter Monday and was in the middle of the fighting all around Stephen's Green, wounding a British army sniper. Withdrawing to the Royal College of Surgeons on the west side of the Green, the Stephen's Green garrison held out for six days, ending the engagement when the British brought them Pearse's surrender order.
They were taken to Dublin Castle and then to Kilmainham Gaol. There, she was the only one of 70 women prisoners who was put into solitary confinement. At her court-martial on 4 May 1916, Markievicz pleaded not guilty to "taking part in an armed rebellion...for the purpose of assisting the enemy," but pleaded guilty to having attempted "to cause disaffection among the civil population of His Majesty". Markievicz told the court, "I went out to fight for Ireland's freedom and it does not matter what happens to me. I did what I thought was right and I stand by it." She was sentenced to death, but the court recommended mercy "solely and only on account of her sex". The sentence was commuted to life in prison.
At the 1918 general election, while in prison, Markievicz was elected for the constituency of Dublin St Patrick's, beating her opponent with 66% of the vote, as one of 73 Sinn Féin MPs. This made her the first woman elected to the United Kingdom House of Commons. However, in line with Sinn Féin abstentionist policy, she did not take her seat in the House of Commons.
Curiosity surrounded Markievicz’s success, the editor of the Manchester Guardian, James Bone, wrote ato the Home Secretary, George Cave, after the election.
Markievicz served as Minister for Labour from April 1919 to January 1922, in the Second Ministry and the Third Ministry of the Dáil. She became the first Irish female Cabinet Minister and remained the only one until 1979.
Markievicz died at the age of 59 on 15 July 1927, of complications after two appendicitis operations. She had given away the last of her wealth and died in a public ward "among the poor where she wanted to be'“. Refused a state funeral by the Free State government, she was laid out in the Rotunda, where she had spoken at so many political meetings. Thousands of the Dubliners who loved her lined O'Connell Street and Parnell Square to pass by her body and pay their respects to 'Madame'.
Her former Citizen Army colleague the playwright Seán O'Casey said of her: "One thing she had in abundance—physical courage; with that she was clothed as with a garment."