Sheehy-Skeffington, Hanna, 1877-1946

Eva Gore-Booth was born 22 May 1870 in County Sligo, Ireland. Her sister Constance Gore-Booth, later known as Countess Markievicz, was born on 4 February 1868. Eva later moved to Manchester to live with suffragette Esther Roper and became a member of the executive committee of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies and secretary of the Manchester and Salford Women’s Trade Union Council. Both women were instrumental in linking the struggle for women’s rights in industry and the struggle for women’s right to vote. In 1908 Markievicz became actively involved in nationalist politics in Ireland and joined Sinn Féin and Inghinidhe na hÉireann, a revolutionary women’s movement founded by Maud Gonne. Markievicz also joined James Connolly's socialist Irish Citizen Army (ICA), a small volunteer force formed in response to the lock-out of 1913. Markievicz took part in the 1916 Easter Rising and fought in St Stephen’s Green. Markievicz was sentenced to death for her involvement but this was commuted to life in prison. Eva travelled to Dublin and was pivotal in the efforts to reprieve her sister’s death sentence. Eva’s poetry written during this time reflected the trauma she experienced while visiting her sister in solitary confinement. Markievicz was subsequently released in 1917. After the 1918 general election she was elected for the constituency of Dublin St Patrick’s and was the first woman elected to the House of Commons but in line with Sinn Féin she refused to take her seat. Markievicz served as Minister for Labour from 1919 to 1922 and became the first Irish female cabinet minister and the second female government minister in Europe. She left the government in January 1922 with Éámon De Valera in opposition to the Anglo-Irish Treaty and fought for the Republican cause in the Irish Civil War. In 1923 she was returned in the General Election for Dublin South, but with other Republican candidates she did not take her Dáil seat. She left Sinn Féin and joined the new Fianna Fáil part in 1926. In the June 1927 election she was re-elected to the 5th Dáil as a candidate for Fianna Fáil but died only five weeks later on 15 July 1927 due to complications related to appendicitis. Her sister Eva died on 30 June 1926 as a result of cancer and in the remaining years of her life she remained devoted to poetry, painting and became a supporter of animal rights.