Why was Countess Markievicz born in London ?

TheRedDevil10

Anyone know ?

Delancey

Because that was where her mother was ?

Jokes aside , I think the Gore-Booth family maintained a London residence as well as Lissadell. Perhaps her family were in Lindon for the social season or something like that ?

TheRedDevil10

Did Constance stay in London for long after her birth ?

franc 91

I've had a look round the net and nearly all that's there is just repetition - as far as I can see she spent her childhood at Lissadell House.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_Markievicz
http://ga.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_Gore-Booth_Markiewicz
http://lissadellhouse.com/countess.html

CDfm

Delancey wrote: »

Because that was where her mother was ?

Jokes aside , I think the Gore-Booth family maintained a London residence as well as Lissadell. Perhaps her family were in Lindon for the social season or something like that ?

That makes sense and wasn't her mother english and her father a sometime MP with property interests in England.

franc 91

If you look at the information provided you will see that her family belonged to the Anglo-Irish ascendancy. They owned land and property both in England and Ireland and up until 1900's, I don't think making the distinction of being either Irish or English would have meant very much to them. In fact at the time of the Famine they even sold land in England - at a loss, as it turned out - to be in position to finance the aid they provided to the starving and not only to those who lived on their own estates. They were protestant of course but Constance became a catholic towards the end of her eventful life.

CDfm

So I wonder if there is a biography of her father or something listed on the PRONI Lissadel site.

http://www.proni.gov.uk/introduction__lissadell_papers_d4131_.pdf

http://www.proni.gov.uk/lissadell_papers_summary.pdf

Her sister Eva Gore-booth was secretary of the Manchester National Society for Women's Suffrage and they had property interests there afaik.

I agree with franc 91 that they may have considered thesmelves British

franc 91

I see, looking at one of the documents above (which are very detailed) that the exact family address where she was born was - 7 Buckingham Gate, directly opposite to Buckingham Palace. You can see it on google maps/street view if you want to. The facade and doorway wouldn't have changed much since she was there.

CDfm

Her father inherited the estate in 1876 and was involved in other activities and had an interest in big game hunting and arctic exploration.

.

Henry Gore-Booth, Sligo: (1843 –1900), was a notable Arctic explorer, adventurer and landowner from Lissadell House, Sligo, Ireland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Henry_Gore-Booth,_5th_Baronet

Smith/Leigh Smith - B. Leigh Smith is recorded as the owner of almost 3,000 acres in county Galway in the 1870s. This may be Benjamin Leigh Smith, the polar explorer and brother of Barbara Leigh Smith Bodicon, artist and female activist, who was rescued by Sir Henry Gore Booth during an Arctic expedition in 1882.

http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie:8080/LandedEstates/jsp/family-show.jsp?id=135

There were quite a few Irish explorers

http://www.ncte.ie/navanec/polar.html

basillarkin

Taken from the Oxford DNB Markievicz [née Gore-Booth], Constance Georgine, Countess Markievicz in the Polish nobility (1868–1927), Irish republican and first woman elected to parliament, was born on 4 February 1868 at 7 Buckingham Gate, Pimlico, London, the eldest of the three daughters and two sons of Sir Henry William Gore-Booth (1843–1900), philanthropist and explorer, of Lissadell, co. Sligo, and Georgina Mary Hill (d. 1927), of Tickhill Castle, York. Eva Gore-Booth, the campaigner for women's suffrage, was her sister. Constance Gore-Booth spent most of her childhood at the family house at Lissadell, and although she lived most of her adult life in Dublin and abroad she retained a strong attachment to the west of Ireland.

Descended from seventeenth-century planters, the Gore-Booths were prominent landowners whose wealth and social standing ensured that their children enjoyed a privileged childhood. The family entertained lavishly, hosting such guests as W. B. Yeats, whose poem ‘In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Constance Markievicz’ (1927) chronicled both his early visits to Lissadell and the subsequent careers of both women. Taking advantage of the family's extensive grounds Constance Gore-Booth enjoyed country pursuits, including hunting, driving, and riding, and became especially well known for her skill with the rifle and in the saddle. With Eva she was educated by governesses at home, her tutelage consisting mainly of instruction in the genteel arts of poetry, music, and art appreciation. In 1886 she made a grand tour of the continent, and in the following year was presented to Queen Victoria.

Constance Gore-Booth hoped to study art, and finally persuaded her disapproving parents to fund her studies in 1893, when she enrolled at the Slade School of Art, in London. Having moved to Paris to further her studies she met fellow art student Count Casimir Dunin-Markievicz, a Polish widower whose family owned land in the Ukraine. They married in London in 1900 and their daughter, Maeve, was born the following year. Constance Markievicz's relationship with her daughter was strained; the couple returned to Paris in 1902, leaving their daughter in the care of Lady Gore-Booth. The child's family was reunited when her parents moved to Dublin, but from about 1908 she lived almost exclusively with her grandparents at Lissadell House.

The Markieviczes' move to Dublin coincided with a period of literary and cultural renaissance, and they soon became involved in the city's liveliest artistic circles, displaying their paintings and producing and acting in plays at the Abbey Theatre. They co-founded the United Arts Club in 1907 but Constance Markievicz's interest in Irish nationalism soon took precedence over her artistic ambitions. She joined Sinn Féin and Inghinidhe na hÉireann (Daughters of Ireland) in 1908 and helped to found—and became a regular contributor to—Bean na hÉireann (‘Women of Ireland’), Ireland's first women's nationalist journal. She had become interested in women's suffrage as a young woman, presiding in 1896 over a meeting of the Sligo Women's Suffrage Society; she remained committed to this cause but she gave increasing time to overtly nationalist organizations.

Markievicz became something of a celebrity in Dublin's radical circles. A strident and flamboyant orator, her background and penchant for military uniforms and weaponry made her a figure of fun in some circles, while attracting deep suspicion in others. In 1909 she founded Na Fianna Éireann, a youth movement whose aims included establishing an independent Ireland and promoting the Irish language. By 1911 she had become an executive member of both Sinn Féin and Inghinidhe na hÉireann, and was arrested in the same year for protesting against George V's visit to Dublin. She grew increasingly interested in socialism and trade unionism, becoming a strong supporter of the Irish Women Workers' Union and of the political programme advocated by the prominent socialist James Connolly. She assisted striking workers during the lock-out of 1913, organizing soup kitchens in Dublin slums and at Liberty Hall. Strongly opposed to Irish involvement in the allied war effort, she co-founded the Irish Neutrality League in 1914 and became a vocal advocate of the small group of men who split from the nationalist Volunteer movement over the question of Irish participation in the war. She had separated amicably from her husband about 1909; while he worked as a war correspondent in the Balkans she continued to assist in training and mobilizing the Irish Citizen Army and the Fianna.

Markievicz made no secret of her support for armed rebellion against British forces, and joined whole-heartedly in the Irish Citizen Army's involvement in the Easter rising of 1916. She was second in command of a troop of Irish Citizen Army combatants at St Stephen's Green; her battalion was hopelessly outmanoeuvred by British soldiers and was forced to retreat to the College of Surgeons. After a week of intense fighting Markievicz and her fellow rebels surrendered. She was sentenced to death for her part in the rebellion but this was commuted to penal servitude for life on account of her sex. She served fourteen months of her sentence at Aylesbury gaol before being released in the general amnesty of June 1917. She claimed to have experienced an epiphany during the Easter rising, took instruction from a priest while in prison, and converted to Catholicism shortly after her release.

In 1918 Markievicz was arrested along with many fellow Sinn Féin members on account of their alleged involvement in a spurious ‘German plot’. While in prison she stood successfully in the general election of 1918 as a Sinn Féin candidate for Dublin's St Patrick's division, and became the first woman elected to the British parliament; like all Sinn Féin MPs she refused to take her seat. Released from gaol in March 1919 she was appointed secretary for labour in the first Dáil Éireann, but like her colleagues in the proscribed Dáil she spent much of her time on the run. She was arrested again in June for making a seditious speech, and was sentenced to four months' hard labour—her third prison term in four years. After another arrest a sentence of two years' hard labour in the following year was interrupted by the general amnesty that followed the signing of the Anglo-Irish treaty. A vocal opponent of the treaty, she denounced it in the Dáil and continued to work against it through Cumann na mBan, a republican women's organization of which she was president.

Markievicz's stand against the treaty forced her into another period of exile and abstention from the Dáil. She publicized the anti-treaty position during a speaking tour of America and through several publications in which she continued to extol the republican cause. Markievicz lost her seat in the general Dáil election of 1922 but was elected to the Free State parliament in August 1923. In common with other elected republicans she refused to take the oath of allegiance to the king, thus disqualifying herself from sitting. Her characteristic flamboyance—she insisted, for example, on wearing her Cumann na mBan uniform while addressing the Dáil—and an increasingly hostile general attitude to female politicians ensured that she was viewed with growing suspicion by a number of her fellow republicans. She was arrested for the last time in November 1923 but was released soon after she went on hunger strike in protest. She joined Fianna Fáil on its establishment in 1926 and stood successfully as a candidate for the new party in the general election of 1927. She remained an outspoken republican but her influence waned and her health suffered as a result of hard work and often rough conditions. She died, of peritonitis, in a public ward at Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital in Dublin on 15 July 1927, and was buried in Glasnevin cemetery in the city, following a well-attended public funeral.

TheRedDevil10 wrote: »

Anyone know ?

CDfm

So this woman may have been her role model

This may be Benjamin Leigh Smith, the polar explorer and brother of Barbara Leigh Smith Bodicon, artist and female activist, who was rescued by Sir Henry Gore Booth during an Arctic expedition in 1882.

And has anyone ever seen any paintings by the Countess.

Its at times like this I wish that more women posted here.

pedroeibar1

CDfm wrote: »

So this woman may have been her role model


And has anyone ever seen any paintings by the Countess.

Its at times like this I wish that more women posted here.

There are a few of them about half way down the page here http://www.constancemarkievicz.ie/exhibition.php

Her father Sir Henry's Arctic passages in his yacht 'Kara' were written up in the yachting press of the day. Unlike many others of that era he sailed the boat himself (he was a master mariner) and was a member of the Royal Afred YC in Dublin. Not sure about post-sale Lissadell, but years ago there were were walrus tusts, skis, snow-shoes , harpoons, etc. on view.

CDfm

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

There are a few of them about half way down the page here http://www.constancemarkievicz.ie/exhibition.php

.

Great.

There are some similarities between her and Charlotte Despard, sister of Field Marshall French background wise.

There is a bit of me that thinks that the Countess was a bit of a champagne socialist (as in once suffrage was achieved), am I being fair ?

She did support DeValera entering the Dail when she was not in the best of health so she definitely pushed the democracy envelope.

meganj

CDfm wrote: »

There is a bit of me that thinks that the Countess was a bit of a champagne socialist (as in once suffrage was achieved), am I being fair ?

I don't know that she was a 'champagne socialist'. I'm presuming by this you mean that once suffrage was achieved she had little interest in either suffrage or socialism?

It always struck me that the Countess was not a suffragette and in studying both her and her sister, it has always seemed to me that Eva was (obviously) the more interested in the suffrage movement and that the Countess was more influenced by her sisters strong opinions then by her own desire.

That said, the Countess was of that time that for many, the Republic was the be all and end all. The common cry of 'Labour Must Wait' signalled the belief that the most important thing was to get the country back, then we could decide what to do with it. I think in that way she was a not a devout socialist because she was willing to set her socialism aside if it meant a republic, and the same seems to have applied to the suffrage movement.

CDfm

I don't really know if I like the "Countess" and I did.

She liked her drama but also her nice lifestyle.

More frequently he lodged in 49b Leinster Road, Rathmines, (a.k.a Surrey House) the home of Constance Markievicz where several of her colleagues in the Fianna organisation also lived. (James Larkin hid in this house after he was arrested on 28 August 1913 and before he addressed the crowd from The Imperial Hotel on Sackville Street on 31 august. The house also served as Connolly’s and Markievicz’s office for The Spark and The Workers’ Republic which was also printed here.)

http://comeheretome.wordpress.com/2009/12/23/james-connollys-dublin-addresses/

Her life seemed all over the place .

http://www.constancemarkievicz.ie/marriage.php

franc 91

I think calling her 'a champagne socialist' is a mistake - she showed enormous courage and detemination, she was directly and actively involved in what she believed in. She frequently had to face danger and death - don't forget she was one of those who were due to be shot for her active role in the Easter Rising. Even later on in her life, she went out to Wicklow and single-handed went and loaded her car up with peat for the needy in Dublin. She was sentenced to hard labour because she stood up against her own social class, something which, in today's society we would find difficult to appreciate. She was very close to her sister, who was not only a suffragette but who threw herself into what we would now call social work - all this was virtually unthinkable for the daughters of a wealthy family at the time.

CDfm

She is alleged to have shot the unarmed Constable Michael Lahiff, who she knew, and it seems that his family believe her to be his killer.

And she may have collected for the poor but didn't spend time with her daughter.

http://www.sligoheritage.com/ArchMaeveMarkievicz.htm

meganj

CDfm wrote: »

And she may have collected for the poor but didn't spend time with her daughter.

http://www.sligoheritage.com/ArchMaeveMarkievicz.htm

That article just says that Maeve was sent to live with her grandmother and that Markievicz visited often.

It's not uncommon for children (of that time) to be sent to live with grandparents, and she then went on to boarding school, which once again wouldn't have been uncommon and hardly invalidates Markievicz' contribution to the poor.

CDfm

meganj wrote: »

That article just says that Maeve was sent to live with her grandmother and that Markievicz visited often.

It's not uncommon for children (of that time) to be sent to live with grandparents, and she then went on to boarding school, which once again wouldn't have been uncommon and hardly invalidates Markievicz' contribution to the poor.

The child was brought up by her grandparents.

I have read up on Markievicz and I imagine that IRL she is a type of character I would avoid.

Hannah Sheehy-Skeffington, on the other hand, is someone who made a greater contribution and is less recognised than Madame Markievicz or Maude Gonne.

I had expected to like her but don't.

meganj

CDfm wrote: »

The child was brought up by her grandparents.

And??

CDfm wrote: »

Hannah Sheehy-Skeffington, on the other hand, is someone who made a greater contribution and is less recognised than Madame Markievicz or Maude Gonne.

HSS was (and is) hugely recognisable. Not just in this country either.

The fact that she is not (in your opinion) as recognised as Markievicz or Gonne probably boils down to one thing: the Abbey. The importance of the cultural revolution cannot be overlooked, both Markievicz and Gonne played a huge role in this.

I would be less concerned with why HSS isn't recognisable and more concerned with the many other women overlooked in the telling of Republican History, Elizabeth O'Farrell is just one woman who was literally erased from the Rising.

CDfm wrote: »

I had expected to like her but don't.

You had expected to like her? Sorry, but what has that got to do with anything?

CDfm

meganj wrote: »

And??

Nothing, my value system.

HSS was (and is) hugely recognisable. Not just in this country either.

The fact that she is not (in your opinion) as recognised as Markievicz or Gonne probably boils down to one thing: the Abbey. The importance of the cultural revolution cannot be overlooked, both Markievicz and Gonne played a huge role in this.

I would be less concerned with why HSS isn't recognisable and more concerned with the many other women overlooked in the telling of Republican History, Elizabeth O'Farrell is just one woman who was literally erased from the Rising.

Oh yes, I agree and have often added in detail where possible

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=70366543

I am a big HSS fan and when I posted here about her few knew her or were aware of Anna Haslam.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056265715

You had expected to like her? Sorry, but what has that got to do with anything?

Ah well, it helps when reading up on someone that you like them.

Bannasidhe

CDfm wrote: »

Nothing, my value system.




Oh yes, I agree and have often added in detail where possible

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=70366543

I am a big HSS fan and when I posted here about her few knew her or were aware of Anna Haslam.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056265715








Ah well, it helps when reading up on someone that you like them.

TBH - I don't see what liking her has to do with it. Do you 'like' every historical figure you read about?


I also think that to use the fact that Meave was raised by her grandparent's to criticise Constance is sexist in the extreme - Did Meave not have a father?

Tom Clarke (born on the Isle of Wight where his father was in the British Army btw) had 3 children - who cared for them when he spent 15 years in prison?
what did he think would happen to them after he was executed?

Connolly (born in Edinburgh) had children. Apart from Nora, how many people here can name any of them or say what happened to them?

MacBride never saw his son Sean after his separation from Gonne - does that negate what he did - which was a hell of a lot less then Con?

It always annoys me that Constance is measured by a different standard to her male compatriots and the same old sexist crap is trotted out to criticise her.

Have a read of Diana Norman's Terrible Beauty. An excellent work on her. She bankrupted herself not just providing funds for nationalist movements but also in donating money to feed Dublin's poor. She suffered chronic ill health due to the treatment she was subjected to in prison - including forced feedings while she was on hunger strike. She was no champagne socialist and although often dismissed as a dilettante by her critics - I think this says more about them then her. Her actions show her to have been a woman who put her life and wealth to the service of the marginalised in Ireland - women, children and the poor.




Eva Gore-Booth was a lesbian - in a relationship with Esther Roper (see
Challenging Presumptions of Heterosexuality:Eva Gore-Booth, A Biographical Case Study by Sonja Teirnan http://lhu.academia.edu/httpwwwhopeacukstaffindextiernashtml/Papers/841339/Challenging_Presumptions_of_Heterosexuality_Eva_Gore-Booth_A_Biographical_Case_Study - and of fragile health her whole life. There can be no doubt that Eva's work among slum dwellers in Manchester was the cause of her early death.

The Gore-Booth sisters were exceptional women and we should be celebrating them as Irish icons and examples of true self-sacrifice and socialism in action.

CDfm

Did Meave not have a father?

I don't think much of him either.

And, I am not using sexist crap to make my assessment of her . WB Yeats portrayed Maud Gonne in his letters as a bit of a nutter.

And, the financial demise of the Gore-Booths was something she may not have predicted. It wasn't earned money that she had and the family depleted their UK property portfolio.

She didn't join the Communist Party with Charlotte Despard. So I suppose that she didn't join the Stalin Fan Club visiting Russia is a plus.

All I a saying is that I do not like her and expected to but don't and I am trying to get a handle on her belief system but can't. I am left with the impression that she liked the drama associated with what she was doing.

MarchDub

Bannasidhe wrote: »

TBH - I don't see what liking her has to do with it. Do you 'like' every historical figure you read about?


I also think that to use the fact that Meave was raised by her grandparent's to criticise Constance is sexist in the extreme - Did Meave not have a father?

Tom Clarke (born on the Isle of Wight where his father was in the British Army btw) had 3 children - who cared for them when he spent 15 years in prison?
what did he think would happen to them after he was executed?

Connolly (born in Edinburgh) had children. Apart from Nora, how many people here can name any of them or say what happened to them?

MacBride never saw his son Sean after his separation from Gonne - does that negate what he did - which was a hell of a lot less then Con?

It always annoys me that Constance is measured by a different standard to her male compatriots and the same old sexist crap is trotted out to criticise her.

I have to say that I agree 100% with you on this issue Bannasidhe - Constance frequently gets viewed through a different prism, good mother, bad mother, likable, not likable. pushy etc..

Too often women get looked closely at if they have 'lives' that don't involve putting their children at the centre but men invariably get a pass on that...

pedroeibar1

Bannasidhe wrote: »

TBH - I don't see what liking her has to do with it. Do you 'like' every historical figure you read about?


I also think that to use the fact that Meave was raised by her grandparent's to criticise Constance is sexist in the extreme - Did Meave not have a father?

Tom Clarke (born on the Isle of Wight where his father was in the British Army btw) had 3 children - who cared for them when he spent 15 years in prison?
what did he think would happen to them after he was executed?

Connolly (born in Edinburgh) had children. Apart from Nora, how many people here can name any of them or say what happened to them?

MacBride never saw his son Sean after his separation from Gonne - does that negate what he did - which was a hell of a lot less then Con?

It always annoys me that Constance is measured by a different standard to her male compatriots and the same old sexist crap is trotted out to criticise her.

Have a read of Diana Norman's Terrible Beauty. An excellent work on her. She bankrupted herself not just providing funds for nationalist movements but also in donating money to feed Dublin's poor. She suffered chronic ill health due to the treatment she was subjected to in prison - including forced feedings while she was on hunger strike. She was no champagne socialist and although often dismissed as a dilettante by her critics - I think this says more about them then her. Her actions show her to have been a woman who put her life and wealth to the service of the marginalised in Ireland - women, children and the poor.

Eva Gore-Booth was a lesbian - in a relationship with Esther Roper (see
Challenging Presumptions of Heterosexuality:Eva Gore-Booth, A Biographical Case Study by Sonja Teirnanhttp://lhu.academia.edu/httpwwwhopeacukstaffindextiernashtml/Papers/841339/Challenging_Presumptions_of_Heterosexuality_Eva_Gore-Booth_A_Biographical_Case_Study - and of fragile health her whole life. There can be no doubt that Eva's work among slum dwellers in Manchester was the cause of her early death.

The Gore-Booth sisters were exceptional women and we should be celebrating them as Irish icons and examples of true self-sacrifice and socialism in action.

I wonder about those comments.
Both women were paid allowances by the family, that cash was unearned by them, and their outlook was rather typical of the ‘chip on the shoulder’ variety borne by those of the upper middle classes in later decades. Bringing a bag of turf in the family motor from the bogs of Wicklow is hardly an economic use of anything, and if it is done in a showy way with attendant publicty it leaves the motives open to question. Yes they were a bit ahead of their time, but typical of the later variety from Ballsbridge / Foxrock / Montenotte in NUI & TCD back in my day – Social Studies, unable to come to terms with the cash from daddy and the privileged background. Constance was a primadonna, loved the publicity, and murdered an unarmed policeman. Not something to be proud of in my view.

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Eva Gore-Booth was a lesbian - in a relationship with Esther Roper

So what? Why should that make her special? I value my homosexual friends for the people they are, not for their sexuality.

Bannasidhe wrote: »

.... we should be celebrating them as Irish icons and examples of true self-sacrifice and socialism in action.

Why should I? Why would this type of comment not conversely apply to William Martin Murphy, him being an icon of the capitalist in action variety? And he certainly left a much nore concrete legacy.

As for ‘liking’ a historical figure, well, for me, having a feeling one way or the other sharpens my critique.
Madeleine ffrench-Mullen (from a similar background) along with Kathleen Lynn were much more worthy figures, achieved a lot more with for e.g. St. Ultans, and did not go around shooting unarmed people in cold blood.

CDfm

There is almost something of the Bloomsbury Set about the Gaiety Group and its associates.

MarchDub

Just to note that the shooting of the policeman is a controversial issue and historians are not by any means agreed on its validity.

Markievicz's biographer Diana Norman researched the claim - made after M was arrested - and concluded that it was a completely unsubstantiated rumour which, for whatever reason, was frequently repeated. There's insufficient evidence from all I have read to really establish this with certainty.

CDfm

Is what your saying is that it is "not proven" ?

A bit of a Scottish verdict. Here is a picture of Constable Lahiff's grave.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/floweringwoman/4293366982/

I know its not a great source, but wikipedia have the actor Patrick J Donnelly's granny despising Constance Markievicz for her role in their relatives death. He is potrayed as a nationalist supporter of Redmond and someone who would have known her.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Norton3600/sandbox/Patrick_J._Donnelly

The general idea of armed rebellion is shooting , so MD what are you asking me to believe here. We have unarmed policemen and civilians getting shot ? She commanded.

Her command of the Royal College of Surgeon's is her claim to fame and we also have her having tea with the head gardener at Stephen's Green.

The Rising was not a military success in the way the War of Independence in West Cork was.

EDIT - You don't suppose her giving her property away and collecting turf was atonement for the civiloan deaths in 1916. Most people don't know that more civilian's died than rebels or British forces.

MarchDub

CDfm wrote: »

Is what your saying is that it is "not proven" ?

A bit of a Scottish verdict.

We're talking about historiographical research here. I was pointing out that it is a controversial issue and not by any means an established historic fact. I am saying that from a historical studies point of view - the original source material that would establish it beyond rumour - or 'myth' as another thread describes such issues - has not been found and that it cannot therefore be referred to with historic certainty.

CDfm

MarchDub wrote: »

We're talking about historiographical research here. I was pointing out that it is a controversial issue and not by any means an established historic fact. I am saying that from a historical studies point of view - the original source material that would establish it beyond rumour - or 'myth' as another thread describes such issues - has not been found and that it cannot therefore be referred to with historic certainty.

It is a controversial issue and we do know that M, as you affectionately call her, left home that day armed and ready for battle.

We know that Constable Lahiff was not armed.

We also know that one of the first casualties was another unarmed policeman shot by Sean (?) Connolly a comrade of M's & who himself died in the GPO.

So being an unarmed policeman was to be treated as a fair target.

Casualties
64 Rebels Killed, 120 Wounded
British Army and Police 132 Killed, 397 Wounded
Civilians 300 Killed, 2,000 Wounded.

http://www.irishtourist.com/general_information/history_of_ireland/1916_easter_rising.shtml

People don't know where DeV was when Michael Collins was killled or who killed Noel Lemass. We know who shot Collins and his brothers knew who shot him. We know there were no reprisals.

So not knowing is not a problem here.

M was engaged in gaining control of Stephen's Green and was in charge and in doing so an unarmed policeman who held the keys for the green was shot in the head and killed. We know that M had tea with the head gardiner and commandeered the gatekeepers lodge.

Unarmed policemen and civilians were killed and wounded and some of them by the rebel's.

We also know that the rising was not a popular one and even Patrick Pearse's sister wanted him home. Willie Pearse's elder step-brother felt guilty for not doing enough to keep him out of harm's way.

We do not know how many civilian's were killed or wounded by the rebel's.

In this context, it is fair to say that whether or not M actually fired the shot , Michael Lahiff was shot by someone under her command procuring the keys to Stephen's Green and she proceeded to take it over and the RCS using force of arm's.

She also fired shots at British soldiers with the intention of killing them.

I don't know why people are reticent in discussing her involvement and it does not harm her feminist credential's at all to do so.

pedroeibar1

Constance drove up to St Stephen’s Green, arriving near the University of Dublin between 1 and 2pm. Members of the University Club claimed that Constance fired on a figure in a khaki uniform in the window of the Club. This figure was Dr de Burgh Daly, then a medical officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He recalled that he had been standing in the window talking to a Mr Best (who later became Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland) who exclaimed "Look out! There is a woman on the Green pointing a gun at us."
A bullet cracked between the two men, through a window which was slightly raised, striking neither. Evidence was given at Constance’s trial by a page boy attached to the University Club of this event. It has been rumoured that it was here that Constance in fact shot a policeman in cold blood. No such charge was ever brought against her, and her brother Josslyn attempted without success to track the rumour to its source. When in prison she denied the rumour (Lissadell Papers, PRONI). Interestingly, de Burgh Daly’s wife confirms the incident involving her husband and the death of a policeman, but puts the policeman at the Harcourt Street end of St Stephen’s Green, and not by the Club where rumour placed the policeman.

Taken from the Lissadell site. http://www.constancemarkievicz.ie/politics.php - owners Eddie Walsh & Constance Cassidy are unabashed Markievicz fans, and obviously would see her in the most positive light. The Club in question was (and still is) at 17, St. Stephens Green. M was perfectly capable of using a sidearm....