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Not only did women participate in the rising but also Irish children. The Fianna boys consisted of boys and girls from the ages of eight to eighteen.  The organization of these children was completely the opposite of the traditional family relationship.  The children were sent out for training away from their homes and families.  It did not matter what the children’s prior affiliation was before they joined the Fianna Boys.  The Fianna accepted all creeds, classes, and parties.[1]

The Fianna wanted to gain independence by training youth.  They were involved in both physical and mental training.  The Irish language and Irish history were also discussed.  Their ideology was to use heroism to overcome oppression.[2]  The children learned values of citizenship, discipline, and manliness.  They strived for nationalist values and not imperial ones.  The group arose around concerns of “the moral and physical degeneration” of the Irish.[3]  The Fianna Boys fell under the control of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.  The Irish Republican Brotherhood increased the military aspect of the Fianna Boys.   They trained the boys so they can fight for Ireland when they become men.[4]  Being a Fianna Boy was a “sacred duty” to Ireland.[5]

An interesting figure from the Fianna Boys was the Countess Markievicz.  She founded the Na Fianna Éireann.  She would work closely with the boys.  She acted in a motherly role where she cared for and nursed the boys when necessary.  She spent a lot of time with them.  She lived part-time in Dublin and part-time in Warsaw.  She wanted the boy scout movement to be successful.[6]  Scouting and shooting were observed regularly at the Countess’s house by Margaret Skinnider.  She described the children as young as ten, studying and playing at the Countess’ house.[7]  The Fianna was a Gaelic name to invoke the spirit of Ireland, “romance and patriotic tradition.”[8]  The boys saved their own money for their uniforms and equipment.  She described them as “independent and self-respecting.”[9]

Skinnider also describes an episode where the Fianna Boys held a house for three days.  When they were asked how they learned to shoot so well they explained that the Countess taught them every Sunday.  Skinnider was dressed up as a Fianna Boy and was able to experience first hand what they did.  She walked with them while they asserted their authority.[10]  She explained that the Nationalists used the Fianna boys to save Irish men from fighting in the war.  Men were out of work because Britain was trying to force them to join the army.  The Countess would take children on outings.  An example in Skinnider’s memoir was the Countess taking the children to see a play.  On this occasion, British officers were present.  The Fianna Boys started singing, “The Watch on the Rhine” and the officers responded back with “God Save the King.”  “God Save the King” was not socially acceptable at the time and the British were pelted with vegetables and the play was shut down.[11]  This struck me as an odd example of the outings that were probably typical with the Countess.  Although she is a motherly figure, the Fianna Boys would continue to push the acceptable norms of the British oppressors.

 

[1] McGarry, 2016. 30.
[2] McGarry, 2016. 31.
[3] McGarry, 2016. 32.
[4] McGarry, 2016. 32.
[5] McGarry, 2016. 33.
[6] Skinnider, 12.
[7] Skinnider, 12.
[8] Skinnider, 23.
[9] Skinnider, 23.
[10] Skinnider, 13.
[11] Skinnider, 15.

 

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Skinnider, Margaret. 2016. Doing My Bit For Ireland (Illustrated Edition). S.l.: Echo Library.

 

Secondary Sources

McGarry, Fearghal. 2017. The Rising: Ireland: Easter 1916. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Constance Gore-Booth, who would later become the Countess Markievicz was of planter stock and from an English noble family.  With her background, she was an unlikely candidate to become one of the leaders of the Rising.^[1]  The Countess was a lieutenant and sentenced to penal servitude for her participation in the rising.^[2]  She converted from Protestantism to Catholicism.^[3]  The Countess was one of the leading members and founded with Bulmer Hobson (an IRB, Gaelic Athletic Association Sinn Féin activist), Na Fianna Éireann.  She had an ascendancy background which was unconventional for Republicans.  She was a mother to the Fianna Boys; she regularly showed her affection when she was missing or spoiling them.[4]

She urged the Irish boy scout movement with Fianna Fireann, a military organization.  The boy scouts were taught scouting and shooting.  Many boys were always at the countesses’ house studying and playing.^[5]  She trained the boys in Fianna.  The boys were capable of holding a building and proved to do so for three days.  The Countess instructed them every Sunday.  She sincerely cared about the boys.  The Countess was the first to put Margaret Skinnider into boy’s clothes.  The Countess never knew what guests she had, they would climb in through the windows.  She would sell jewels for the republic cause and was fearless.  She also fed refugees and sister activists.^[6]

The Countess Markievicz was the only woman that held a position of command.[7]  In jail, the Countess was ridiculed by Dublin Fusiliers.  They were lenient on the Countess.[8]  She arrived at the Kilmainham jail in uniform.[9]  The Countess was the only woman to be court-martialed, her life was probably spared because she was a woman.[10]  The Countess was one of a number of women who participated in the Easter Rising.

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Skinnider, Margaret. 2016. Doing My Bit For Ireland (Illustrated Edition). S.l.: Echo Library. 10.

[2] Skinnider, 2016. 57.

[3] McGarry, 161.

[4] McGarry, Fearghal. 2017. The Rising: Ireland: Easter 1916. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 30.

[5] Skinnider, 2016. 12.

[6] Skinnider, 2016. 11.

[7] McGarry, 164.

[8] McGarry, 259.

[9] McGarry, 261.

[10] McGarry, 270.

 

 

 

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Skinnider, Margaret. 2016. Doing My Bit For Ireland (Illustrated Edition). S.l.: Echo Library.

 

Secondary Sources

McGarry, Fearghal. 2017. The Rising: Ireland: Easter 1916. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wills, Clair. Dublin 1916 – the Siege of the Gpo. London: Profile Books, 2010.

 

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Margaret Skinnider traversed Dublin with despatches for the Republic of Ireland during the Easter Rising.  She was an intelligent teacher who had an infinity for mathematics and calculus.  She rode her bike fast and hard to put distance between her and the British with their machine guns.  She could shoot and be extremely capable of using a rifle with accuracy.  After the Easter Rising, Skinnider wrote down her memoirs so others could hear her story.  She also made appearances in memoirs of fellow rebel fighters and she was one of many women who fought in the Easter Rising.  Margaret Skinnider was a brave woman who fought for the Republic in the Easter Rising, she crossed gender boundaries, and did her part to help her comrades and her country.

Margaret Skinnider was born in Ireland.  She rode her bike to help where she could with the Easter Uprising.  She worked as a scout, a dispatch-rider, a raider, and a sniper.  She had an exciting role and was able to participate in the rebellion.  Margaret Skinnider has not been covered enough in historical writings.  Even though she is an intriguing and bold suffragette character, her role in the uprising was not examined as it deserved.  She wrote a memoir which describes her early life as well as her participation as a rebel, and her injury in combat.

In Skinnider’s memoirs, she stated, “Scotland is my home, but Ireland my country.”  Both of her parents were Irish, but they lived their whole lives in Scotland.  She resented the English because it was usually the rich English planter people versus the poor Irish people.  She was appalled at how Irish History was rewritten by the English and Anglicized.^[1]  Skinnider became part of a few organizations; the Irish Volunteers, the Cumman-na-nBan, and the British Rifle Practice Club.  The rifle club is where Skinnider learned to shoot.  This was ironic because the club was first started by the British for British home protection, teaching the women to shoot so they could defend the Empire.^[2]

The Countess Markievicz heard of Skinnider and wanted to meet her.  Skinnider’s work in the Cumman-na-nBan preceded her. ^[3]  The Countess was the first to put Skinnider into boy’s clothes.  After, Skinnider went walking with the Fianna Boys while they asserted their authority and discovered she fit right into the Glasgow Fianna.^[4]  Eventually, the Countess inquired if Skinnider could make a dynamite plan to bomb Beggar’s Bush barracks.  She already knew that Skinnider knew how to figure out distances and how to map.  Skinnider loved her calculus and mathematics.^[5]  She studied the map of Dublin so she could navigate the city.  She visited the barracks and tracked data regarding its placement and construction.^[6]  Skinnider started scouting the city for troops on her bike.^[7]  She was the despatch rider for St. Stephen’s Green Command.  She was also a scout for Commandant Michael Mallin. ^[8]

During the Uprising, Skinnider is shot three times.^[9]  Soon a general surrender came. Within an hour of the surrender, Skinnider was sent to the hospital by ambulance.  Most Irish fighters surrendered in St. Patricks Square and turned in their weapons.^[10]  Skinnider was extremely ill in the hospital trying to recover from her wounds.  She kept hearing the news of executions and prison sentences.^[11]  Skinnider was left untouched by the British because she was so sick.  A detective came some weeks later and took Skinnider to prison.  She was only there for a short period before her doctor raged that she was not well enough to go to jail and needs more time to recover.  She was free to go.^[12]

 

 

[1] Skinnider, 2016. 9.
[2] Skinnider, 2016. 9.
[3] Skinnider, 2016. 10.
[4] Skinnider, 2016. 13.
[5] Skinnider, 2016. 18.
[6] Skinnider, 2016. 18.
[7] Skinnider, 2016. 34.
[8] Skinnider, 2016. 35.
[9] Skinnider, 2016. 52.
[10] Skinnider, 2016. 56.
[11] Skinnider, 2016. 57.
[12] Skinnider, 2016. 65.

 

 

 

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Skinnider, Margaret. 2016. Doing My Bit For Ireland (Illustrated Edition). S.l.: Echo Library.

 

Secondary Sources

McGarry, Fearghal. 2017. The Rising: Ireland: Easter 1916. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wills, Clair. Dublin 1916 – the Siege of the Gpo. London: Profile Books, 2010.

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Cathleen ni Houlihan

In Cathleen ni Houlihan by William Butler Yeats and Lady Gregory, the play was used metaphorically to encourage young men to resist English ways and fight for their country. Yates writes a play where the old woman, which represents Ireland, pays a visit to an Irish family in order to recruit young fighters for her. The old woman wants action, she has a different set of values. The old woman states to the family upon leaving,

 

“Do not make a great keening,
When the graves have been dug to-morrow,
Do not call the white-scarfed riders,
To the burying that shall be to-morrow.”

Here the old women asked the people to not mourn for men tomorrow, which is a reflection of Robert Emmet. She asserted those who fight for Ireland will automatically be saved, there was no need for extra prayer for the fighting men, nor a wake or feast. The old woman needs young men to help her and give her their whole life. She states it is worth dying for Ireland to become a saint and fathers need not worry about their abandoned children, the nation will take care of the orphan. The new generation does not see an old woman, the old woman is transformed into a young girl once the land is restored. Many Irish did resist the English, not only men but women and children too.

Easter Rising

Monday, April 24, 1916, was the first day of the Easter Rising.  Irish Volunteers along with 200 socialists from the Irish Citizen Army met at Liberty Hall in Dublin.  They seized key locations in the city. Clair Wills described, “the 1916 Rising is seen as the most significant event in modern Ireland.”  The Rising was the founding act of the Democratic Irish State.  A new type of politics was demanded by the leaders of the Rising.  Some of their concerns were socialism, Irish language, women’s suffrage, and progressive education.  The Rising was the first anti-colonist revolt. Guerilla warfare was used and replicated in later conflicts.  

Two hundred women participated in the Rising.  Many times, male comrades were also obstacles.  Roles were gendered and women found themselves washing, cooking, handing out food, and giving first aid.  Men were in charge.  Women were in combat on “the green” but they were mostly unarmed.  Common jobs for women were dispatch, sniper, food worker, transporting ammunition and weapons, and scouting.  Women were less likely to be shot, and they were more likely to be able to talk their way out of a sticky situation.  There were even accounts of women wearing mourning blacks with British emblems in order to bypass the British soldiers.

Women’s uniforms were male like.  A more acceptable gender norm for women would be working in the kitchen or nursing.  Women were expected to hold dying men’s hands and deal with “emotionally demanding tasks.”  Women delivered messages to the wives of British soldiers who were being held captive.  Crossing gender boundaries were made possible by the shared views of their time. The “egalitarian nature of the Proclamation and the active role which women actually played—advanced the status of women within the revolutionary movement and the Irish State that it created.”  Many women experienced Easter week from the back of a kitchen.

In rural Dublin, women were not allowed in the field to battle.  Those that were there were volunteers. They had feminine duties like cooking and sewing, messengers on bikes.  At the Volunteers’ headquarters, the women’s roles were also gendered.  Women would not always be in the loop. Many messages that they carried, they knew nothing of what it meant strategically.  In jails, women received an indifferent, “benign” treatment.  Many women felt they could leave after being searched.  The British had little desire to arrest women and many were given fares to go home.  Irish women both resented and exploited their being considered inferior. Women could be defiant without being beaten, but the incarcerations were harsh.

In Kilmainham jail, women were held in minimal conditions without even blankets at first.  Women sat in the dirt with nothing else to sit on, there was no furniture. There was no privacy.  Women were forced to use the bathroom while soldiers watched on. Mountjoy jail was better than Kilmainham where many women were sent.   Only five women went on to Britain and the rest were released saying they were misled and that it was just a passing phase.  Women had a hard time being taken seriously that they have political connections, could be intellectuals and control their emotions.  Teenagers were also given leniency.  Prison welfare associations ran by women.

 

The Daughters of Erin or the Inghinidne na hÉireann

The Daughters of Erin or the Inghinidne na hÉireann as known as “the ninnies” emerged in protest to “the orgy of flunkeyism.” The Warriors of Erin or Na Fianna Éireann was the male counterpart.  The Countess Markievicz worked with the Fianna Boys.  The Daughters wanted to radicalize anyone who was not previously allowed in radical politics.  This meant women, children, and the working class. They wanted to revive the “language, literature, music, dancing, history, customs, games, and industries.”  Furthermore, they wanted to politicize poor Dublin children. At school, classes had field trips to see Republican martyrs. Materials were distributed in the shape of literature and attack symbols of British imperialism.

 

Cumann Na mBan

Women wanted to do work with the Volunteers.  In the Volunteer’s manifesto, it was stated that there would be work for women.  MacNeill suggested that women could form auxiliaries.  The auxiliary could then help the volunteers.  The result was Cumann Na mBan. Cumann Na mBan was founded in Wynn’s Hotel on April 4, 1914.  They declared themselves an independent organization. They made their own decisions, they did service for the Volunteers, but they were not the Volunteers.  The Cumann Na mBan was established in communities throughout Ireland. They were an armed and equipped body of Irishmen ready to defend Ireland. This caused questions about the role of women.  Margaret Skinnider was a member of Cumann Na mBan.

 

 

Bibliography

McGarry, Fearghal. 2017. The Rising: Ireland: Easter 1916. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wills, Clair. Dublin 1916 – the Siege of the Gpo. London: Profile Books, 2010.

Yeats, William Butler. “Cathleen ni Houlihan.” Plays in Prose and Verse, Macmillan Publishers, 1922, pp. 3-18.