Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington
Encyclopedia
Johanna Mary Sheehy-Skeffington, (née Johanna Mary Sheehy) (24 May 1877 - 20 April 1946) was a suffragette
and Irish nationalist. Along with her husband and Margaret Cousins and James Cousins
she founded the Irish Women's Franchise League in 1908 with the aim of obtaining women's voting rights. She was later a founding member of the Irish Women's Workers' Union.
, County Cork
, Ireland
, the eldest daughter of David Sheehy
, an ex-Fenian and Irish Parliamentary Party
Westminster MP, who was also the brother of Father Eugene Sheehy (known as the "Land League priest", whose activities landed him in prison) a priest who educated Éamon de Valera
in Limerick
, and Elizabeth McCoy. One of her sisters, Mary, married the writer and politician Thomas Kettle
. Another sister, Kathleen, who married Frank O'Brien, was the mother of Conor Cruise O'Brien
.
Hanna's father was MP
for South Galway
and the family moved to Drumcondra
, Dublin in 1887.
Sheehy was educated at Dominican Convent, Eccles Street where she was a prize-winning pupil. She then enrolled at St Mary's University College, a third level college for women established by the Dominicans in 1893, to study modern languages (in her case, French and German). Women were not allowed to attend lectures at either University College Dublin
or the University of Dublin
. She sat her examinations at Royal University of Ireland
(later University College, Dublin) where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1899 and a Master of Arts Degree, with first-class honours in 1902. This led to a career as a teacher in Eccles Street and an examiner in the Intermediate Certificate examination.
Sheehy married in 1903, becoming Sheehy-Skeffington and in 1908 founded the Irish Women's Franchise League, a group aiming for women's voting rights. She lost her teaching job in 1913 when she was arrested and put in prison for three months after throwing stones at Dublin Castle
. Whilst in jail she started a hunger strike
but was released under the Prisoner's Temporary Discharge of Ill Health Act and was soon rearrested. However, being free from her teaching job enabled her to devote more time to women's suffrage activities. She was influenced by James Connolly
and during the 1913 lock-out worked with other suffragists in Liberty Hall, providing food for the families of the strikers.
Hanna strongly opposed participation in the First World War that broke out in August 1914. She was prevented by the British government from attending the international women's peace conference in The Hague in April 1915. The following June her husband, Francis Sheehy-Skeffington
was imprisoned for anti-recruiting activities.
In 1916 Francis Sheehy-Skeffington was shot dead during the Easter Rising
on the orders of a British army officer, Captain J C Bowen-Colthurst. Sheehy-Skeffington had had no involvement in the Rising and had in fact been arrested while trying to prevent looting in Dublin's city centre. Bowen-Colthurst, following court martial in June 1916, was sent temporarily to a Canadian hospital after being adjudged insane, but he was released with a pension to settle in Canada.
Sheehy refused any kind of compensation for her husband's death, and soon afterwards she travelled to the United States
to publicise the political situation in Ireland. In October 1917 she was the sole Irish representative to League for Small and Subject Nationalities
where, along with several other contributors, she was accused of pro-German sympathies. She published British Militarism as I Have Known It, which was banned in the United Kingdom
until after the First World War. Upon her return to Britain she was once again imprisoned, this time in Holloway prison. After being released Sheehy attended the 1918 Irish Race Convention
in New York City
and later supported the anti-Treaty
IRA during the Irish Civil War
.
During the 1930s she was assistant editor of An Phoblacht
, a Sinn Féin
newspaper. In January 1933 she was arrested in Newry
for breaching an exclusion order banning her from Northern Ireland. At her trial she was defiant stating "I recognize no partition. I recognize it as no crime to be in my own country. I would be ashamed of my own name and my murdered husband's name if I did . . . Long live the Republic!", and was sentenced to one month's imprisonment. Sheehy was also a founding member of the Irish Women's Workers' Union as well as an author whose works deeply opposed British imperialism
in Ireland. Her son, Owen Sheehy-Skeffington
became a politician and Irish Senator.
She died, aged 68, in Dublin and is buried there in Glasnevin Cemetery
.
Suffragette
"Suffragette" is a term coined by the Daily Mail newspaper as a derogatory label for members of the late 19th and early 20th century movement for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, in particular members of the Women's Social and Political Union...
and Irish nationalist. Along with her husband and Margaret Cousins and James Cousins
James Cousins
James Henry Cousins was an Irish writer, playwright, actor, critic, editor, teacher and poet. He used several pseudonyms including Mac Oisín and the Hindu name Jayaram....
she founded the Irish Women's Franchise League in 1908 with the aim of obtaining women's voting rights. She was later a founding member of the Irish Women's Workers' Union.
Life
Hanna Sheehy was born in KanturkKanturk
-Transport:*Kanturk railway station opened on 1 April 1889, closed for passenger traffic on 27 January 1947 and finally closed altogether on 4 February 1963. Kanturk is however served by the nearby Banteer railway station.-People:...
, County Cork
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, the eldest daughter of David Sheehy
David Sheehy
David Sheehy was an Irish nationalist politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 1885 to 1900 and from 1903 to 1918, taking his seat as a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.- Political career :Born in Limerick, he...
, an ex-Fenian and Irish Parliamentary Party
Irish Parliamentary Party
The Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons at...
Westminster MP, who was also the brother of Father Eugene Sheehy (known as the "Land League priest", whose activities landed him in prison) a priest who educated Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in twentieth century Ireland, serving as head of government of the Irish Free State and head of government and head of state of Ireland...
in Limerick
Limerick
Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland's Mid-West Region. It is the fifth most populous city in all of Ireland. When taking the extra-municipal suburbs into account, Limerick is the third largest conurbation in the...
, and Elizabeth McCoy. One of her sisters, Mary, married the writer and politician Thomas Kettle
Thomas Kettle
Thomas Michael "Tom" Kettle was an Irish journalist, barrister, writer, poet, soldier, economist and Home Rule politician. As a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, he was Member of Parliament for East Tyrone from 1906 to 1910 at Westminster...
. Another sister, Kathleen, who married Frank O'Brien, was the mother of Conor Cruise O'Brien
Conor Cruise O'Brien
Conor Cruise O'Brien often nicknamed "The Cruiser", was an Irish politician, writer, historian and academic. Although his opinion on the role of Britain in Northern Ireland changed over the course of the 1970s and 1980s, he always acknowledge values of, as he saw, the two irreconcilable traditions...
.
Hanna's father was MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for South Galway
South Galway (UK Parliament constituency)
South Galway was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland, returning one Member of Parliament 1885–1922.Prior to the 1885 general election the area was part of the Galway County constituency...
and the family moved to Drumcondra
Drumcondra, Dublin
Drumcondra is a residential area and inner suburb on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. It is administered by Dublin City Council.The River Tolka and the Royal Canal flow through the area.-History:...
, Dublin in 1887.
Sheehy was educated at Dominican Convent, Eccles Street where she was a prize-winning pupil. She then enrolled at St Mary's University College, a third level college for women established by the Dominicans in 1893, to study modern languages (in her case, French and German). Women were not allowed to attend lectures at either University College Dublin
University College Dublin
University College Dublin ) - formally known as University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's largest, and Ireland's second largest, university, with over 1,300 faculty and 17,000 students...
or the University of Dublin
University of Dublin
The University of Dublin , corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin , located in Dublin, Ireland, was effectively founded when in 1592 Queen Elizabeth I issued a charter for Trinity College, Dublin, as "the mother of a university" – this date making it...
. She sat her examinations at Royal University of Ireland
Royal University of Ireland
The Royal University of Ireland was founded in accordance with the University Education Act 1879 as an examining and degree-awarding university based on the model of the University of London. A Royal Charter was issued on April 27, 1880 and examinations were opened to candidates irrespective of...
(later University College, Dublin) where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1899 and a Master of Arts Degree, with first-class honours in 1902. This led to a career as a teacher in Eccles Street and an examiner in the Intermediate Certificate examination.
Sheehy married in 1903, becoming Sheehy-Skeffington and in 1908 founded the Irish Women's Franchise League, a group aiming for women's voting rights. She lost her teaching job in 1913 when she was arrested and put in prison for three months after throwing stones at Dublin Castle
Dublin Castle
Dublin Castle off Dame Street, Dublin, Ireland, was until 1922 the fortified seat of British rule in Ireland, and is now a major Irish government complex. Most of it dates from the 18th century, though a castle has stood on the site since the days of King John, the first Lord of Ireland...
. Whilst in jail she started a hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
but was released under the Prisoner's Temporary Discharge of Ill Health Act and was soon rearrested. However, being free from her teaching job enabled her to devote more time to women's suffrage activities. She was influenced by James Connolly
James Connolly
James Connolly was an Irish republican and socialist leader. He was born in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, to Irish immigrant parents and spoke with a Scottish accent throughout his life. He left school for working life at the age of 11, but became one of the leading Marxist theorists of...
and during the 1913 lock-out worked with other suffragists in Liberty Hall, providing food for the families of the strikers.
Hanna strongly opposed participation in the First World War that broke out in August 1914. She was prevented by the British government from attending the international women's peace conference in The Hague in April 1915. The following June her husband, Francis Sheehy-Skeffington
Francis Sheehy-Skeffington
Francis Skeffington from Bailieborough, County Cavan, was an Irish suffragist, pacifist and writer. He was a friend and schoolmate of James Joyce, Oliver St John Gogarty, Tom Kettle, and Conor Cruise O'Brien's father, Frank O'Brien...
was imprisoned for anti-recruiting activities.
In 1916 Francis Sheehy-Skeffington was shot dead during the Easter Rising
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...
on the orders of a British army officer, Captain J C Bowen-Colthurst. Sheehy-Skeffington had had no involvement in the Rising and had in fact been arrested while trying to prevent looting in Dublin's city centre. Bowen-Colthurst, following court martial in June 1916, was sent temporarily to a Canadian hospital after being adjudged insane, but he was released with a pension to settle in Canada.
Sheehy refused any kind of compensation for her husband's death, and soon afterwards she travelled to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to publicise the political situation in Ireland. In October 1917 she was the sole Irish representative to League for Small and Subject Nationalities
League for Small and Subject Nationalities
The League for Small and Subject Nationalities was an self-determinist organisation formed during World War I in New York City, with the following aims:The League's President was Frederic C...
where, along with several other contributors, she was accused of pro-German sympathies. She published British Militarism as I Have Known It, which was banned in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
until after the First World War. Upon her return to Britain she was once again imprisoned, this time in Holloway prison. After being released Sheehy attended the 1918 Irish Race Convention
Irish Race Conventions
The Irish Race Conventions were a disconnected series of conventions held in Europe and America between 1881 and 1994. None was concerned in defining the Irish as an ethnic race, but they were arranged to discuss some pressing or emerging political issues at the time concerning Irish Nationalism....
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and later supported the anti-Treaty
Anglo-Irish Treaty
The Anglo-Irish Treaty , officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the secessionist Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of...
IRA during the Irish Civil War
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War was a conflict that accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State as an entity independent from the United Kingdom within the British Empire....
.
During the 1930s she was assistant editor of An Phoblacht
An Phoblacht
An Phoblacht is the official newspaper of Sinn Féin in Ireland. It is published once a month, and according to its website sells an average of up to 15,000 copies every month and was the first Irish paper to provide an edition online and currently having in excess of 100,000 website hits per...
, a Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
newspaper. In January 1933 she was arrested in Newry
Newry
Newry is a city in Northern Ireland. The River Clanrye, which runs through the city, formed the historic border between County Armagh and County Down. It is from Belfast and from Dublin. Newry had a population of 27,433 at the 2001 Census, while Newry and Mourne Council Area had a population...
for breaching an exclusion order banning her from Northern Ireland. At her trial she was defiant stating "I recognize no partition. I recognize it as no crime to be in my own country. I would be ashamed of my own name and my murdered husband's name if I did . . . Long live the Republic!", and was sentenced to one month's imprisonment. Sheehy was also a founding member of the Irish Women's Workers' Union as well as an author whose works deeply opposed British imperialism
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
in Ireland. Her son, Owen Sheehy-Skeffington
Owen Sheehy-Skeffington
Dr. Owen Lancelot Sheehy-Skeffington was an Irish university lecturer and Senator.- Early life :Sheehy-Skeffington was brought up in Dublin, Ireland. His father, Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, was a pacifist and nationalist whose murder by Captain J.C. Bowen-Colthurst in 1916 during the week of the...
became a politician and Irish Senator.
She died, aged 68, in Dublin and is buried there in Glasnevin Cemetery
Glasnevin Cemetery
Glasnevin Cemetery , officially known as Prospect Cemetery, is the largest non-denominational cemetery in Ireland with an estimated 1.5 million burials...
.