Maire Comerford
Encyclopedia
Máire Comerford was an Irish republican
from County Wexford
who witnessed central events in 1916-23 and remained a committed supporter of Cumann na mBan
until her death.
to a middle-class family. Her grandfather, Thomas Esmonde was awarded a V.C.
for bravery in the Crimean war
in 1854. On his return to Ireland he joined the Royal Irish Constabulary
and was promoted to Deputy Chief Inspector. Her father James Comerford was the owner of the Comerford Mill in Rathdrum. She had two brothers (Thomas and Alexander) and one sister (Dymphia).
Her father died when she was sixteen and in 1911 she was sent to London to a secretarial school. During this time she stayed in the Ladies club in Eccles Place. She returned to Ireland to live along with her mother in the home of her uncle in Wexford, T. L. Esmonde, around 1915 her mother rented a house in Courtown, Co Wexford to set up a school.
She was in Dublin during the outbreak of the 1916 Easter Rising
in Dublin and volunteered to aid Countess Markievicz in St Stephen's Green, but was turned away and carried despatches for the GPO
garrison. She returned to Gorey after the rising and joined the local Sinn Féin
branch where she worked alongside Sean Etchingham
.
She returned to Dublin shortly before the 1918 General election, where she worked on Roger Sweetman
's election campaign. On 21 January 1919 she attended the Round room at the Mansion House, witnessing the creation of the First Dail
by the twenty-seven TD
s present.
party from 1917. It won a majority in the election of December 1918 and she was an observer when the First Dail
was inaugurated on 19 January 1919. Supporting the IRA
in the Dublin area during the Irish War of Independence, she also helped to run the Irish White Cross, led by the Quaker James Douglas, which aimed to assist civilian war victims by raising money in the United States
.
of 1922-23, Cumann na mBan had voted by 419-63 against the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty
and wanted to maintain the Irish Republic
. However this vote was taken after the Treaty had been approved by the Dáil on 7 January. In June 1922 she managed to escape from the Four Courts
during the Battle of Dublin
. The war further split the Sinn Féin movement, and in 1923 Comerford was arrested and held at the women's section of Mountjoy Prison
.
In later years she felt that Éamon de Valera
's suggestion in America in 1919-20 that Ireland's future relationship to Britain would be about the same as that of Cuba
to the USA had started the mentality of compromise that had led on to the Treaty signed in 1921.
and his abstentionist Republican candidates, but split with him (as did MacSwiney) when he entered the Dáil in 1927. In 1926 he had established the Fianna Fáil
party, which drew off a number of Cumann na mBan supporters and weakened it thereafter. She remained a member of what was from now on generally seen as a committed group which would not compromise in terms of everyday politics on constitutional matters. She never married.
In 1935-65, despite their political differences, she worked as a journalist at de Valera's newspaper the Irish Press. In 1967 she worked on the restoration of the Tailors' Hall in Dublin with the Irish Georgian Society
, which had housed Wolfe Tone's
nascent republican parliament in the 1790s. In 1969 her book 'The First Dáil' was published by Joe Clarke
. In the 1970s and up to her death she supported the Provisional Irish Republican Army
war
in Northern Ireland
, in particular its hunger strike
campaign. In 1976 she was interviewed for the 'Curious Journey' television documentary with other survivors of the 1914-23 period, later published as a book.
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
from County Wexford
County Wexford
County Wexford is a county in Ireland. It is part of the South-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Wexford. In pre-Norman times it was part of the Kingdom of Uí Cheinnselaig, whose capital was at Ferns. Wexford County Council is the local...
who witnessed central events in 1916-23 and remained a committed supporter of Cumann na mBan
Cumann na mBan
Cumann na mBan is an Irish republican women's paramilitary organisation formed in Dublin on 2 April 1914 as an auxiliary of the Irish Volunteers...
until her death.
Early career to 1916
Comerford was born in Rathdrum, County WicklowRathdrum, County Wicklow
Rathdrum is a village in County Wicklow, Ireland. It is situated high on the western side of the Avonmore river valley, which flows through the Vale of Clara.-People:Born in Rathdrum:...
to a middle-class family. Her grandfather, Thomas Esmonde was awarded a V.C.
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
for bravery in the Crimean war
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
in 1854. On his return to Ireland he joined the Royal Irish Constabulary
Royal Irish Constabulary
The armed Royal Irish Constabulary was Ireland's major police force for most of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. A separate civic police force, the unarmed Dublin Metropolitan Police controlled the capital, and the cities of Derry and Belfast, originally with their own police...
and was promoted to Deputy Chief Inspector. Her father James Comerford was the owner of the Comerford Mill in Rathdrum. She had two brothers (Thomas and Alexander) and one sister (Dymphia).
Her father died when she was sixteen and in 1911 she was sent to London to a secretarial school. During this time she stayed in the Ladies club in Eccles Place. She returned to Ireland to live along with her mother in the home of her uncle in Wexford, T. L. Esmonde, around 1915 her mother rented a house in Courtown, Co Wexford to set up a school.
She was in Dublin during the outbreak of the 1916 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...
in Dublin and volunteered to aid Countess Markievicz in St Stephen's Green, but was turned away and carried despatches for the GPO
General Post Office (Dublin)
The General Post Office ' in Dublin is the headquarters of the Irish postal service, An Post, and Dublin's principal post office...
garrison. She returned to Gorey after the rising and joined the local 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...
branch where she worked alongside Sean Etchingham
Seán Etchingham
Seán Redmond Etchingham was an Irish Sinn Féin politician. Etchingham was a member of the Irish Volunteers, Sinn Féin, the Gaelic League and the Irish Republican Brotherhood . Etchingham was first elected as a Sinn Féin candidate for Wicklow East at the 1918 general election...
.
She returned to Dublin shortly before the 1918 General election, where she worked on Roger Sweetman
Roger Sweetman
Roger Sweetman was an Irish Sinn Féin politician and barrister. His father was John Sweetman.He was elected as a Sinn Féin MP for the Wexford North constituency at the 1918 general election...
's election campaign. On 21 January 1919 she attended the Round room at the Mansion House, witnessing the creation of the First Dail
First Dáil
The First Dáil was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919–1921. In 1919 candidates who had been elected in the Westminster elections of 1918 refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled as a unicameral, revolutionary parliament called "Dáil Éireann"...
by the twenty-seven TD
Teachta Dála
A Teachta Dála , usually abbreviated as TD in English, is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas . It is the equivalent of terms such as "Member of Parliament" or "deputy" used in other states. The official translation of the term is "Deputy to the Dáil", though a more literal...
s present.
1916-1922
Comerford supported the prisoners taken in 1916 and the reordering of the Sinn FéinSinn 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...
party from 1917. It won a majority in the election of December 1918 and she was an observer when the First Dail
First Dáil
The First Dáil was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919–1921. In 1919 candidates who had been elected in the Westminster elections of 1918 refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled as a unicameral, revolutionary parliament called "Dáil Éireann"...
was inaugurated on 19 January 1919. Supporting the IRA
Irish Volunteers
The Irish Volunteers was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists. It was ostensibly formed in response to the formation of the Ulster Volunteers in 1912, and its declared primary aim was "to secure and maintain the rights and liberties common to the whole people of Ireland"...
in the Dublin area during the Irish War of Independence, she also helped to run the Irish White Cross, led by the Quaker James Douglas, which aimed to assist civilian war victims by raising money in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Civil War
Before the Irish Civil WarIrish 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....
of 1922-23, Cumann na mBan had voted by 419-63 against the terms of the Anglo-Irish 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...
and wanted to maintain the Irish Republic
Irish Republic
The Irish Republic was a revolutionary state that declared its independence from Great Britain in January 1919. It established a legislature , a government , a court system and a police force...
. However this vote was taken after the Treaty had been approved by the Dáil on 7 January. In June 1922 she managed to escape from the Four Courts
Four Courts
The Four Courts in Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's main courts building. The Four Courts are the location of the Supreme Court, the High Court and the Dublin Circuit Court. The building until 2010 also formerly was the location for the Central Criminal Court.-Gandon's Building:Work based on...
during the Battle of Dublin
Battle of Dublin
The Battle of Dublin, a week of street fighting in Dublin from 28 June to 5 July 1922, marked the beginning of the Irish Civil War. The fighting began with an assault by the Provisional Government of the proposed Irish Free State on the Four Courts building which had been occupied by a hard-line...
. The war further split the Sinn Féin movement, and in 1923 Comerford was arrested and held at the women's section of Mountjoy Prison
Mountjoy Prison
Mountjoy Prison , founded as Mountjoy Gaol, nicknamed The Joy, is a medium security prison located in Phibsboro in the centre of Dublin, Ireland. It has the largest prison population in Ireland.The current prison governor is Mr...
.
In later years she felt that 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...
's suggestion in America in 1919-20 that Ireland's future relationship to Britain would be about the same as that of Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
to the USA had started the mentality of compromise that had led on to the Treaty signed in 1921.
Republican politics
Following the civil war Comerford supported Éamon de ValeraÉamon 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...
and his abstentionist Republican candidates, but split with him (as did MacSwiney) when he entered the Dáil in 1927. In 1926 he had established the Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party , more commonly known as Fianna Fáil is a centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland, founded on 23 March 1926. Fianna Fáil's name is traditionally translated into English as Soldiers of Destiny, although a more accurate rendition would be Warriors of Fál...
party, which drew off a number of Cumann na mBan supporters and weakened it thereafter. She remained a member of what was from now on generally seen as a committed group which would not compromise in terms of everyday politics on constitutional matters. She never married.
In 1935-65, despite their political differences, she worked as a journalist at de Valera's newspaper the Irish Press. In 1967 she worked on the restoration of the Tailors' Hall in Dublin with the Irish Georgian Society
Irish Georgian Society
The Irish Georgian Society aims to encourage an interest in and to promote the conservation of distinguished examples of architecture and the allied arts of all periods in Ireland...
, which had housed Wolfe Tone's
Theobald Wolfe Tone
Theobald Wolfe Tone or Wolfe Tone , was a leading Irish revolutionary figure and one of the founding members of the United Irishmen and is regarded as the father of Irish Republicanism. He was captured by British forces at Lough Swilly in Donegal and taken prisoner...
nascent republican parliament in the 1790s. In 1969 her book 'The First Dáil' was published by Joe Clarke
Joe Clarke (Irish republican)
Joe Clarke was an Irish republican activist.Born in Rush, Dublin, Clarke worked for the Sinn Féin Bank, and was active in the Easter Rising. When captured, he was shot in the head, but survived, and was instead imprisoned in Liverpool Prison, Wakefield Prison and then Frongoch Internment Camp.On...
. In the 1970s and up to her death she supported the Provisional Irish Republican Army
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
war
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, in particular its hunger strike
1981 Irish hunger strike
The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during The Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special Category Status for convicted paramilitary prisoners...
campaign. In 1976 she was interviewed for the 'Curious Journey' television documentary with other survivors of the 1914-23 period, later published as a book.
Archive
Comerford's papers are held at two Dublin libraries:- NLINational Library of IrelandThe National Library of Ireland is Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The Minister for Arts, Sport & Tourism is the member of the Irish Government responsible for the library....
: Ms. 24896 - UCDUniversity College DublinUniversity 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...
: IE UCDA LA18
See also
- http://www.searcs-web.com/comer.html
- http://www.corkcity.ie/news/archivednews2006/mainbody,172,en.html
- Her opinion on the death of Michael Collins
- Info on the Tailors' Hall