Winifred Carney was a suffragist, a teacher and a trade unionist, a member of Cumann na mBan and the Irish Citizen Army, she stood alongside James Connolly and her other comrades in the GPO in Dublin in 1916.
Originally from Bangor, Co. Down, her family moved to the Falls Road when she was a child. Educated at the CBS school in Donegall Street, she later qualified as a secretary and as one of the first Belfast women to become a shorthand typist. Her education and skills she put to good use in her political activism, helping to found the women’s section of the Irish Textile Worker’s Union in Belfast.
As friend, confidant and personal secretary to James Connolly, she fought for improved conditions for female workers, and went on to join Cumann na mBan and the Irish Citizen Army.
The role of women in revolution is often-times overlooked, particularly in Ireland. Join us as we remember Winifred’s contribution to our fight for freedom.
Join with us on Saturday the 23rd of November at 1pm, in Belfast’s Milltown Cemetery as we remember ‘The Typist with the Webley’.
Winifred Carney, ICA, CnamB, 4 December 1887 – 21 November 1943.
