Con Markiewicz and Eva Gore-Booth
Two girls in silk kimonos, both/Beautiful, one a gazelle.
It was Yeats who first introduced me to the subjects of this post. Through Yeats’ gaze, the first thing I learned about the sisters Con Markiewicz and Eva Gore-Booth was about their appearance. ‘Both beautiful, one a gazelle’ told me about their grace. The rest of the poem is below:
There is so much more to know.
Eva and Constance Gore-Booth, daughters of an Anglo-Irish landowner, grew up knowing what it meant to help the vulnerable. Their father suspended rents to allow farmers to cope with the Irish Famine of 1879-80 and provided free food. Their father modelled the need to support the marginalised, a lesson the women would carry with them through their lives.
Constance started her young adult life in the Arts. She was a student of art and expressed a desire to be a painter, something her parents were not particularly impressed by. It was, inevitably, her associations at art school that led her into an interest in politics. She initially joined the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies. Not long afterwards, she married a wealthy Polish artist, Casimir Markiewicz. Their social circle was extensive and, it seems, made up of artists and revolutionaries. Constance was aware of her Irish identity and heritage, became more and more interested in Irish politics and by 1908 was a member of Sinn Fein. She continued to campaign for women’s suffrage in Manchester.
Constance was a leading figure in the Easter Rising, helping to erect barricades and even engaging in the fighting. She shot and killed a policeman in the skirmishes that were taking place. She was at the forefront of the Rising and was captured, imprisoned and sentenced to death, a sentence that was commuted because she was a woman with the help of prominent female suffragists (more on this later!). She was eventually released, but jailed again in 1918 for alleged involvement in the German plot. It is clear that Constance didn’t let an arrest or an imprisonment stop her. She ran for, and was elected as the first woman elected to the House of Commons, but she rejected the seat in line with Sinn Fein policy on abstention. She served as a minister in the DaÃl for many years, served as the first female Irish cabinet minister. She suffered another bout of imprisonment. She was involved in the early development of Fianna Fáil.
She was a mother to a daughter, and a stepson. There is lots of evidence to suggest that she was a difficult and complex person in relation to her friends and family. She was not perfect, by any means.
What is remarkable about her, considering all of the above, is that she spent her life in support of the struggles of women and Ireland. She was physical, clever, determined, resilient and independent. She died of complications from appendicitis surgery.
When you consider that her sister was just as fierce, it hard not to be impressed. Eva Gore-Booth, the ‘gazelle’ of Yeats’ poem, was raised in the same household and witnessed the horrors of starving farmers arriving at the doorstep of Lissadell, the family home, to beg for food. Eva grew up with a strong sense of social justice.
She was also widely travelled, accompanying her father to the Americas and travelling to Europe with her sister and friends. It was in Italy that she met Esther Roper, a woman who would become Eva’s lifelong companion. That’s code for ‘girlfriend/partner’.
Eva and Esther settled in Manchester where they engaged with the work of those campaigning for universal suffrage. Eva was involved in discussions with Christabel and Sylvia Pankhurst. She continued to look at poverty and its consequences, even spending time working at a colliery as a ‘pit brow lass’ to learn first hand what working conditions were like for women there. She attended Labour Party conferences, had meetings with the Fabian Women and represented the north of England in deputations to government. She was vehemently anti-conscription and campaigned on anti-conscription campaigns in 1916.
1916 was a significant year. Her sister was arrested, imprisoned and sentenced to death. It was Eva who travelled to Dublin to campaign for her sister’s release and was successful in doing so. She campaigned against the death sentence for years afterwards.
Not content with defending women, and the poor, she spent her later years campaigning for animal rights. She was a vegetarian for most of her life.
Was Eva Gore-Booth gay? As with most figures in the past, everything is debatable. She and Esther lived together, and while they slept in separate beds, there are some clues as to their relationship. She was a published poet, with several poems that referenced her feelings for Esther. She published a magazine on sexual politics, called Urania, in which she questioned the primacy of heterosexual marriage. Eva and Esther are buried next to each other in Hampstead. It was a life well lived, with love.
I am always struck by the conviction and the passion Con and Eva displayed in their lives. I am always struck by their absolute commitment to the betterment of society.
They might feature in:
History - Irish politics in the early 20th century
History - suffrage studies
English - poetry by Eva Gore-Booth - or if you must, in teaching Yeats
Politics - significant women in British and Irish politics
For more, read the following:
Eva and Queer History: https://www.makingqueerhistory.com/articles/2023/12/3/eva-gore-booth
Eva the Quiet Sister: https://blog.epicchq.com/eva-gore-booth-herstory-blazing-a-trail
Eva and Politics: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781847795090/
Constance the Rebel Countess: https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/constance-markievicz-the-making-of-a-rebel-countess/
Constance and Casimir: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691161242/revolutionary-lives
Constance as a Revolutionary: https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/anne-m-haverty/constance-markievicz/9781843516729?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwp4m0BhBAEiwAsdc4aNl5cEW0oipi2jdEQ0ObhVkMqjHH6rTqQcr92HKRaHk6WXGA2Ag1NRoCB-oQAvD_BwE#GOR009949732
Terrific post Bennie!