50th Anniversary Margaret Skinnider Public Wreath Laying
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Description
Margaret Skinnider was a veteran of the 1916 Rising, a suffragette, a republican, socialist, trade unionist and a teacher.
Born in Scotland to Irish parents, she first became a suffragette, heavily involved in the fight for women’s rights, and in Cumann na mBan activity, before emigrating to Ireland in December of 1915.
In advance of the Rising she smuggled detonators and other materials into Dublin as part of the preparations. During the Easter week of 1916 she played a full combat role as a sniper, until she was wounded multiple times by gunfire from British forces.
She remained active during the Tan War and remained true to the Republic during the counter-revolution. Imprisoned by the Free State in 1923, Skinnider undertook three separate hunger strikes in her defiance as a political prisoner.
After the ceasefire she became a teacher and involved herself in trade unionism until her retirement in the 1960’s.
She lived with her partner, Nora O’Keeffe, until O’Keeffe’s death in 1962, one of a number of lesbian couples central to Ireland’s fight for liberation during the revolutionary period.
Join us at 2.30pm, Sunday the 10th of October, on the 50th anniversary of her death, to honour her life and her contribution to Ireland’s fight for freedom.
Speaker: Nicola Nic Gabhann, Secretary, Lasair Dhearg Belfast.
Organised by Lasair Dhearg Dublin.
