Born to George and Susan Goodfellow (née Nicholson), Goodfellow is raised in a Quaker family. Her father and uncle are builders who construct a row of houses on Morehampton Road, Donnybrook, where she lives for the rest of her life. She is educated at Alexandra College and graduates with an Arts degree from Trinity College Dublin (TCD).
Under the pseudonym Michael Scot, Goodfellow publishes Three Tales of the Times in 1921, a work about life in Ireland under the Black and Tans. She also writes poetry and translates French poetry, notably the works of 15th-century poet François Villon, publishing these translations in The Dublin Magazine between 1924 and 1928.
Goodfellow is independently wealthy, inheriting property in Ireland and England after her mother’s death in 1932. She is a generous patron of the arts, supporting The Dublin Magazine, a literary journal owned by her friend Seumas O’Sullivan, to which she contributes articles, poems, and reviews. She also supports children’s charities and serves on the Board of Governors of the Royal Hospital in Donnybrook.
Her philanthropy extends to securing funding for The Dublin Magazine (1926–1958) and gifting a bird sanctuary, The Grove, in Donnybrook to An Taisce. Despite her influence, she remains modest and private about her contributions, and her own photographic collection is destroyed after her death.
In 1939, Goodfellow falls while getting off a tram and breaks her leg badly, which leaves her with a limp. She dies at the aged of 89 on May 20, 1980, and is buried with her parents in Mount Jerome Cemetery in Dublin.
A plaque is erected in memory of Goodfellow’s donation at The Grove, a woodland area at the corner of Morehampton Road and Wellington Place, on October 19, 2022. A plaque commemorating Estella Solomons is placed on the opposite gatepost. Goodfellow’s diaries, poems and literary manuscripts are held in the Trinity College Dublin archives.
Goodfellow’s work and life reflect the intersection of Irish literary culture, nationalist history, and cultural patronage in early-to-mid 20th-century Ireland.
Delivered at the Irish National Convention in Chicago on August 18, 1886, John E. Redmond’s address is a defining moment in his political career and in the broader Irish nationalist movement. The convention, organized by the Irish National League of America, brings together Irish Americans to rally support for Irish self-government and to affirm their loyalty to the United States while maintaining ties to Ireland.
The key themes of Redmond’s speech include:
Irish Americans’ Commitment to Ireland: Redmond emphasizes that regardless of their economic status—soldier, businessman, or laborer—Irish Americans have never forgotten their homeland. He notes that even in prosperity, they set aside time to “tell her story” and work toward Ireland’s “redemption.”
The Principle of the Irish Movement: Redmond frames the Irish struggle as rooted in the principle of rebellion against the rule of strangers, a principle upheld for centuries by figures like Owen Roe O’Neill, Thomas Emmet, and Robert Emmet. He stresses that this is not “race hatred” but a call for justice for the future, not revenge for past wrongs.
Brotherhood of Nations: Despite the bitterness of past injustices, Redmond affirms belief in the brotherhood of nations. He argues that the Irish movement’s core is not hatred of England, but a demand for fair treatment and self-determination.
The Role of the Convention: Standing as “ambassadors sent here to represent the Irish nation at home,” Redmond calls the convention a “supreme honour” and a vital link between Ireland and its diaspora. He urges Americans to recognize the Irish people’s enduring connection to their heritage and to support their cause.
The 1886 convention is part of a wave of Irish American activism during the Home Rule movement. Redmond, then a rising figure in Irish politics, is positioning himself as a unifying voice for both Irish Americans and the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP). His speech helps solidify his reputation as a skilled orator and a moderate yet principled leader.
Lord Russell of Killowen later cites this speech as evidence that the Irish Parliamentary Party is not aligned with the more radical physical force movement, highlighting its emphasis on justice and unity over sectarianism. The address remains a key example of Redmond’s ability to balance nationalist sentiment with appeals to shared human values.
Oliver Cromwell, English statesman, farmer and soldier, sets sail from Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, Wales, on August 13, 1649, with a fleet of about 35 ships, accompanied by a second and third flotilla that arrives days later. The invasion marks the beginning of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, a brutal four-year campaign (1649–1653) that reshapes the island’s political and demographic landscape.
Cromwell’s landing at Dublin is swift but not without hardship—seasickness plagues him during the voyage. He lands with around 9,000–20,000 troops, stores, and £20,000 in cash. His early actions include the Siege of Drogheda (September 10, 1649) where, following a prolonged cannonade, his forces breach the town’s defenses. On September 11, the entire garrison—about 8,000 men, including English troops, Irish soldiers, and civilians—is massacred, including commander Sir Arthur Aston. Early actions also include the Sack of Wexford (October 1649). Despite Cromwell’s public justification for the slaughter, Wexford’s garrison and civilians are killed in a similar manner.
Over the next four years, Cromwell’s forces defeat the Irish Confederacy by late 1650, engage in widespread plunder, executions, and displacement of Catholic populations, confiscate large tracts of Catholic land for Protestant settlers under the Cromwellian Plantation, and introduce the Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652, barring Catholics from most public offices and redistributing land.
Modern estimates suggest 15–40% of Ireland’s pre-1641 population perishes due to warfare, famine, and disease. The campaign entrenches Protestant dominance in Ireland and leaves deep scars in Irish memory.
Cromwell’s invasion is remembered in Ireland as a symbol of English conquest and sectarian violence. While some historians argue his actions are within contemporary military norms, many see them as part of a broader pattern of colonial subjugation. The detailed land surveys he orders—mapping every parish and barony—become a tool for land redistribution, shaping Ireland’s political and economic structure for centuries.
In short, August 13, 1649, is the start of a campaign that not only ends Irish Catholic political power but also alters the island’s demographic and cultural fabric for generations.
The killing is widely seen as a political act, with Dunne and O’Sullivan claiming to have acted in defence of Irish nationalist principles, blaming Wilson for the “Orange Terror” and the deployment of the Ulster Special Constabulary (USC). Some historians suggest the assassination may have been intended to pressure Michael Collins to attack the Four Courts garrison, though no conclusive evidence of orders was ever established.
After the shooting, Dunne escapes but O’Sullivan is captured by a hostile crowd. Dunne attempts to rescue him but is himself arrested after wounding two police officers and a passerby. Both are tried quickly, found guilty after just three minutes of deliberation, and sentenced to death by Justice Montague Shearman.
Despite petitions from 45,000 people and appeals from figures like George Bernard Shaw, both men are executed on August 10, 1922, and buried within the prison grounds.
The executions are a major political flashpoint. It is only after the abolition of hanging that the law is changed and Joseph’s brother, with the assistance of the Irish National Graves Association, is able to arrange for the bodies of the two men to be repatriated to Ireland.
Dunne’s trial speech, reprinted in the Irish Independent, remains a notable piece of republican political rhetoric, framing the act as a necessary stand for Irish rights.
(Pictured: Joseph O’Sullivan (left) and Reginald Dunne (right))
Mitchel, a writer for The Nation and founder of his own journal, United Irishman, openly preaches rebellion against England. Convicted of treason in 1848, he is sentenced to fourteen years transportation in Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania). In 1853, he escapes to the United States, where he publishes his Jail Journal. While in the United States, he is editor of the Richmond Examiner and a strong advocate of Confederate rights and champions slavery. He is imprisoned for several months following the end of the American Civil War.
Mitchel’s return visit to Ireland is prompted by political developments in the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP), which has nominated him for seats in Cork City and Tipperary without informing him. His well-known skepticism toward constitutional “moral force” agitation makes it uncertain whether he will accept the nomination, but the nomination proceeds anyway.
Mitchel’s return is unexpected, yet is met with public acclaim. Upon arriving in Queenstown (now Cobh, County Cork), he is met by a large crowd, and when he reaches Cork, a procession of ten thousand people escorts him to his hotel. This demonstrates the respect and support he still commands among Irish nationalists, despite his exile in the United States since 1853.
Mitchel then goes to Newry, his native town, where he stays for a few months to recuperate his health and await any opportunity to be elected to Parliament. However, no parliamentary vacancy arises during his stay, and he eventually returns to New York City in October 1872.
Mitchel’s return is part of a pattern of political activity in his later years. In 1875, he is again nominated for Tipperary, elected without opposition, and declared an abstentionistMP — but his election is overturned by the British government on the grounds of his previous felony conviction. He dies in March 1875 in Dromolane, County Down, in the same house where he was born.
In summary, July 25, 1872, marks the beginning of a brief but politically charged visit to Ireland for John Mitchel, a figure remembered for his uncompromising republican stance and his role in the Young Ireland movement.
The conflict arises from a series of accusations FitzThomas makes in England. He claims that de Vescy has called Edward I “the most perverse knight of the kingdom” and has accused the king of cowardice during the siege of Kenilworth Castle in 1266. He also alleges that de Vescy is organizing an uprising against the king.
These allegations are part of a broader rivalry between the two nobles over claims to the Crown of Connaught and competing political influence in Ireland.
FitzThomas has previously brought the matter to the attention of the Irish commission of inquiry, but de Vescy sought redress before the Dublin council. The dispute escalates to the English court, where both men are summoned to Westminster for a formal hearing.
On the appointed date, July 24, 1294, de Vescy appears in full armor, but FitzThomas does not attend. De Vescy requests a judgment by default in his favor, but the court does not grant it. The matter is not resolved immediately but is later addressed during the Parliament of August 1295.
Although de Vescy technically loses the default judgment, the absence of FitzThomas and the political context likely weakens the case. De Vescy has already been removed from the Lord Justiciarship in October 1294 following a commission of inquiry into his governance in Ireland. He continues to serve the king in other capacities, including in Wales and Gascony, and is summoned to Parliament in 1295.
In summary, the July 24, 1294, event marks the formal accusation of defamation in Dublin, a legal and political clash between two powerful Irish barons, with the case ultimately decided in England’s court at Westminster, where FitzThomas’s non-appearance becomes a key factor in the proceedings.
Mathew’s family spends time abroad while his father manages business interests. He comes from a Roman Catholic family. His uncle is Theobald Mathew, the famous temperance campaigner. At the age of fifteen, he enters Trinity College Dublin (TCD), where he excels as a gold medalist and senior moderator, graduating in 1850. He then studies law at Lincoln’s Inn, London, and is called to the English Bar in 1851, building a strong foundation for a legal career despite a slow start at the junior bar.
Initially, Mathew’s legal career progresses slowly, though he is active in debating as a founding member of the Hardwicke Society. He handles numerous jury cases at the Guildhall sittings in London, where he gains experience in commercial law. He becomes treasury counsel during the Tichborne Claimant prosecution in 1873, noted for his composed handling of arguments without quarrel with opposing counsel. Despite opportunities, he refrains from applying for Queen’s Counsel due to a naturally weak voice, though his legal acumen and advocacy are highly respected.
In March 1881, Mathew is appointed to the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice and is knighted. He becomes known for his keen judgment, practical approach to legal issues, and eventual standing as one of the best nisi prius judges of his time. In 1895, he persuades fellow judges to establish a Commercial List, the precursor to today’s Commercial Court, and serves as the first judge presiding over it. He advances efficiency in commercial law by minimizing procedural delays, focusing on substantive issues, and producing concise judgments that inspire confidence in the mercantile community.
Mathew also chairs a 1892 royal commission on the evicted tenants in Ireland, despite challenges and disputes with landlords and Edward Carson. His recommendations influence the Wyndham Land Purchase Act (1903). In 1901, he is appointed to the Court of Appeal and continues to emphasize clarity and practicality in legal proceedings until a stroke in 1905 forces his resignation.
Mathew marries Elizabeth Biron in December 1861, with whom he has two sons and three daughters. His family includes notable figures, such as his daughter Elizabeth, who marries Irish MPJohn Dillon, and his grandson, James Matthew Dillon, a later politician. He has a deep cultural appreciation, enjoying music and literature, and maintains friendships across religious and political divides.
Mathew dies on November 9, 1908, at his London home, aged 78. He is buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Cork. His legacy is most strongly associated with founding the Commercial Court, reforming commercial law procedures, and demonstrating a balanced mixture of legal rigor and practical common sense that influenced generations of judges and barristers. His contributions remain a cornerstone in the evolution of modern English and Welsh commercial law.
Barry returns to Bandon in early 1919. He describes in his guerilla days in Ireland a Damascus-like conversion to Irish nationalism on hearing of the Easter Rising while with the Mesopotamian expeditionary force, but he is only accepted into the IRA with considerable caution. Initially tested in intelligence and training work, in mid-1920 he takes charge of the new brigade flying column, which is used both to train officers and to stage offensive actions.
Barry adapts his military experience successfully to the demands of guerrilla warfare, becoming the most famed of column leaders during the Irish War of Independence. In his memoirs, he pours scorn on the obsession of many with military titles and orthodox procedure, complaining of a “paper army.” He stresses the need for spontaneity, initiative, and knowledge of local conditions. “The reality,” he writes, “was a group of fellows, mostly in caps and not-too-expensive clothing, wondering how to tackle their job and where they would sleep that night or get their supper.” (The Reality of the Anglo–Irish War (1974)). He well realises that the war’s character does not permit any close control from the IRA’s GHQ in Dublin, hence increasing the importance of local leaders. His tactics put strong emphasis on speed of movement and on the need to attack the enemy at his weakest point. The column’s ambush successes are small in number but among the best-remembered of the war. He admits, however, that his own and his column’s lack of experience with mines frequently weakened their offensives.
The column’s first successful ambush is at Tooreen on October 22, 1920, followed on November 28 by the dramatic ambushing of a patrol of auxiliaries at Kilmichael while traveling from their Macroom base. A column of thirty-six men, divided into three sections, kill sixteen auxiliaries, with one captured and later shot, suffering two fatalities of their own. Controversy has raged since over whether a false surrender by the British force caused the brutality of some of the deaths. Together with the Bloody Sunday killings of a week earlier in Dublin, Kilmichael has a profound effect on the British military and political establishment, with the declaration in December of martial law for much of Munster and the implementation of wide-ranging internment, together with the authorisation of official reprisals.
After a short period in hospital with a heart condition, in early 1921 Barry leads unsuccessful attacks on Kilbrittain, Innishannon, Drimoleague, and Bandon barracks. The seizure of Burgatia House, outside Rosscarbery, in early February, and the successful resistance made there to British troops, wins much publicity but has little military significance. He is a leading figure in the brutal final stage of the war in the first six months of 1921, which sees widespread shooting of suspected spies and destruction of loyalist property. By March 1921, his flying column, with 104 men, is easily the largest in Ireland, and an explosives expert, Capt. McCarthy, has joined them.
The protracted engagement between Barry’s column and encircling British forces at Crossbarry on March 19, 1921, comes at a time when large-scale sweeps are making life increasingly difficult for the IRA. It consists of a daring and courageous breakout. Crossbarry is the largest action of the war, and Barry is to regard it as even more important than Kilmichael. Soon afterwards, Rosscarbery barracks is successfully attacked by a Barry-led party, representing one of the few successful such initiatives in 1921. Isolated triumphs, however, cannot hide the fact that pressure is increasing on the column, and he becomes increasingly critical of inactive regions. He is later to say that all County Kerry does during the war is to shoot one decent police inspector at Listowel Racecourse and a colleague of his. He is strongly critical also of the lack of assistance from GHQ and of the divisionalisation policy. He visits Dublin in May, travels around with Michael Collins, and is present when two American officers demonstrate the Thompson submachine gun. He is more aware than most of his 1st Southern Division colleagues of the scarcity of arms and ammunition at the war’s end.
During the truce, Barry becomes liaison officer for Munster, riling the British by insisting on his military rank, and criticising the IRA liaison men in Dublin for being overly deferential. He joins the overwhelming majority of the Cork IRA in opposing the Anglo–Irish Treaty but plays a characteristically maverick role throughout the treaty split. His independent attitude is heightened by his dislike of Liam Lynch, the republican IRA’s Chief of Staff, and his continuing respect for Michael Collins. He shows impatience at the long-drawn-out peace initiatives. In March 1922, therefore, he advocates armed confrontation with pro-treaty units over the occupation of barracks in Limerick, and on June 18 he submits a resolution, which only narrowly fails, at the army convention, giving British troops seventy-two hours to leave Dublin.
At the beginning of the Irish Civil War, Barry is arrested entering the Four Courts disguised as a woman. He escapes from an internment camp at Gormanston in early September 1922. For the rest of the war his actions mirror its confused nature. In late October 1922, he leads successful raids on the small towns of Ballineen and Enniskean, and later on Inchigeelagh and Ballyvourney. In December his column takes Carrick-on-Suir, demonstrating the weakness of the Free State army, but his talk of advancing on the Curragh and of large-scale actions does not materialise. There is no evidence that he is acting in accordance with any coordinated plan. By February 1923, he realises that the Republican IRA cause is hopeless and he is involved with Fr. Tom Duggan in efforts to get 1st Southern Division to declare a ceasefire. He journeys to Dublin to put pressure on the intransigent Lynch in this connection, telling Lynch, “I did more fighting in one week than you did in your whole life.”
Barry avoids capture in roundups after the war, remaining on the run until 1924. Unlike many republicans, he does not turn to constitutionalism, remaining strongly militaristic. He is always an unreconstructed republican, though by no means a naive one. In 1924 he becomes attached to Cleeves Milk Co., based in Limerick and Clonmel, and from 1927 to retirement in 1965 is general superintendent with the Cork harbour commissioners. He strongly advocates preserving the independence of the IRA army executive during the republican split of 1925–27. He is instrumental in continuing the drilling of IRA members and is a strong supporter of armed opposition to the Blueshirts.
During the 1930s Barry is arrested at various times for possession of arms and seditious utterances. He promotes an attack against a Freemasons’ meeting in Cork in 1936 and gives the orders for the killing on March 4 of that year of Vice-AdmiralHenry Boyle Somerville. He is opposed to the use by Frank Ryan of IRA volunteers to support the republican cause in the Spanish Civil War and to the proposals of Seán Russell for a bombing campaign in England. To maintain the link with traditional republicanism, he is elected IRA chief of staff in 1937. His plan, however, for the seizure of Armagh city, as part of a direct northern offensive, quickly collapses due to a leak of information, and he soon resigns his position. He forcefully attacks the bombing of English cities in 1938, regarding attacks on innocent civilians as immoral and counterproductive. He enlists in the National Army on July 12, 1940, only to be demobilised a month later. In 1946, he stands as an independent candidate in a by-election in the Cork Borough constituency, finishing at the bottom of the poll. He is more comfortable the following year touring the United States on an anti-partition platform.
In 1949 his Guerilla Days in Ireland is published. It proves a best-seller and has frequently been reprinted. It is well written in a forceful and direct style, one memoir needing no assistance from a ghost writer. Age does not mellow him: lawyers and bank managers are threatened by him over matters relating to his own column, and in 1974 he publishes a fierce pamphlet, angry at perceived slights in the Irish War of Independence memoir of Liam Deasy. He does strive to achieve a public reconciliation with Collins’s memory by unveiling the memorial to Collins at Sam’s Cross in 1966. On the outbreak of the Northern Ireland crisis in the late 1960s, he takes a militant line, castigating the argument that the Six Counties can be brought into the Republic by peaceful means, and asking when had peaceful means existed there. At the memorial meeting in Carrowkennedy, County Mayo, in 1971, he claims that there is a perfect right at the opportune time to take the Six Counties by force. He remains opposed to IRA bombing of civilian targets.
Barry dies in Cork on July 2, 1980. He is buried in St. Finbarr’s Cemetery, Cork. Early in the truce of 1921 he marries Leslie Price, one of the most active of Cumann na mBan members during and after the rising. They have no children.
While Barry always remains an influential figure in republican circles, he will be remembered best as the pioneer of guerrilla warfare, the hero of Kilmichael and Crossbarry. His military flair, individualism, and ruthlessness are well suited to the 1919–21 conflict. After that, his strained relations with colleagues and his lack of flexibility reduce his importance. While his life after the revolutionary era appears anti-climactic, he retains much of his charisma. In later years, he is ever willing to remind politicians and historians how far Ireland has retreated from republican ideals. He is often prickly and autocratic yet could be generous to old colleagues of either side of the treaty split. He is arguably the most intelligent but also the most intolerant of the revolutionary leaders.
(From: “Barry, Thomas Bernadine (‘Tom’)” by M. A. Hopkinson, Dictionary of Irish Biography, http://www.dib.ie, October 2009)
O’Conor is an active member of parliament, an effective though not an eloquent speaker, and a leading exponent of Catholic opinion. He is deeply involved in the education question, being a critic of the queen’s colleges. In 1867 he introduces a measure to extend the industrial schools act to Ireland, which becomes law the following year. He opposes William Ewart Gladstone‘s university bill of 1873, is appointed to the intermediate education board in 1878, and in May 1879 proposes the transformation of St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, into a chartered Catholic university. He withdraws this in July, following a government bill creating the Royal University of Ireland. He is on the senate of the university for many years, and is conferred with the honorary degree of LL.D. in 1892. A leading exponent of the Irish language, in 1878 he proposes that it be introduced into secondary schools.
O’Conor is a supporter of Isaac Butt and a keen advocate of land law reform, which leads to his proposing in 1870 the extension of Ulster tenant right to the rest of the country. His brother Denis, MP for County Sligo 1868–83, is a home ruler, but Charles is only ever described as a camp follower. The Nation (October 18, 1873) observes that he “achieved the feat of speaking for two hours at a home rule meeting in Roscommon without telling his audience if he was a home ruler.” He has concrete criticisms such as the hostility of the northern counties, and wants to be allowed to take an independent stance, but Butt strongly deprecates his ambiguity. He does stand on the home rule platform in 1874 and 1880, but his tentative sympathy does nothing to protect him from the drive by Charles Stewart Parnell to establish the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP). In March 1880, Parnell goes to Roscommon to support his candidate James O’Kelly against O’Conor, who is a popular representative. Parnell calls him a “sample of West Britonism in Ireland . . . if you deprive him of the representation of Roscommon you strike the greatest blow that has been struck against English misgovernment in Ireland since Isaac Butt was elected for the city of Limerick,” which successfully leads to O’Conor’s being ousted. Ironically, he had briefly been Parnell’s landlord when in 1860 he rented a house near Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire) to the recently widowed Delia Parnell and her family, including the 13-year-old Charles Stewart.
Appointed to the Bessborough commission into the workings of the 1870 land act some months later, O’Conor answers Parnell by going even further than the commission’s proposal to reform land law on the basis of the “three Fs.” He supports outright peasant proprietorship as the only effective and lasting remedy. In 1883, he makes an attempt to return to parliament as a liberal candidate for Wexford Borough, but is defeated by the home ruler Willie Redmond. Always an inveterate committee member, he spends the last twenty-five years of his life on various committees, including the parliamentary committee of 1885 and the royal commission of 1894 on the financial relations between Great Britain and Ireland. He is elected to Roscommon County Council in 1899 and is Lord Lieutenant of Roscommon from 1888 until his death. In 1881 he is sworn to the Privy Council of Ireland.
An ancestor is Charles O’Conor, the noted antiquarian, and O’Conor has his own interest in this area. He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) from 1867 and joins the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (RSAI) in 1869, is a fellow in 1888, and president 1897–9. His antiquarian research is largely confined to his own family. In 1891, he publishes The O’Conors of Connaught, an historical memoir compiled from the manuscripts of John O’Donovan. He first marries Georgina Mary, daughter of Thomas Perry of Warwickshire, England, on April 21, 1868. Secondly he marries Ellen, daughter of John Lewis More O’Ferrall of County Longford, on September 16, 1879. He has four sons by his first marriage.
O’Conor dies at Clonalis, Castlerea, County Roscommon, on June 30, 1906. He is buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Castlerea.
(From: “O’Conor, Charles Owen” by Bridget Hourican, Dictionary of Irish Biography, http://www.dib.ie, October 2009)
Born Helen Ruth Gifford on November 9, 1880, in Phibsborough, Dublin, to Frederick Gifford, a solicitor, and Isabella Julia Gifford (née Burton), Gifford is the fifth child and second eldest daughter of the family of six daughters and six sons. Her father is a Catholic while her mother, a niece of the painter Frederic Burton, is rigorously Protestant. All the children are brought up in the Church of Ireland. The men, emigrate and remain unionist while the women are active nationalists. Most famous are the two youngest, the artistGrace Gifford, and the journalist and broadcaster Sidney Czira.
Gifford grows up in Rathmines and goes to school at Alexandra College. She trains as a domestic economy teacher and works for seven years at a series of positions in County Meath.
Gifford experiences the living conditions of the landless rural poor while lodging in labourers’ cottages during this time. As a result, she becomes a supporter of the campaigns of the land agitator and nationalist MPLaurence Ginnell.
During the 1913 Dublin lock-out Gifford assists James Larkin enter the Imperial Hotel, on August 31 to address the crowd. He enters in disguise, that of an elderly and infirm clergyman. She poses as his niece. She speaks to the hotel staff to prevent Larkin’s strong Liverpool accent giving away his identify. This is the speech which precipitates the “Bloody Sunday” police baton charge. Gifford goes on to be a founding member of the Irish Citizen Army (ICA). This group is attractive to many women due to the feminist beliefs of James Connolly.
Gifford gives lessons on camp cookery in Liberty Hall and finds jobs for recruits coming in from abroad. As a result of this work she, very fatefully, introduces Michael Collins to her future brother-in-law Joseph Plunkett who go on to serve together in the 1916 Easter Rising. Collins is Plunkett’s aide-de-camp.
Gifford is the only one of her sisters to actively participate in the rising itself. She is with the ICA’s St. Stephen’s Green contingent alongside Countess Markievicz. Throughout the week she supervises the garrison’s provisions in the Royal College of Surgeons building, commandeering food from shops and bread vans, and by courier from other garrisons. She also ensures the delivery of provisions to troops both in the college with her and in outlying posts. She is one of the women arrested at the surrender and jailed in Kilmainham Gaol. At the same time, in the same prison her sister Grace marries Joseph Plunkett hours before his execution. Only twelve women are detained after the main release of women prisoners on May 8, 1916. Gifford is one of those transferred to Mountjoy Prison until her release on June 4, 1916. Afterward she continues to be as involved in the campaigns.
After her time in prison, Gifford travels through England to the United States where she and other women veterans of Easter week lecture throughout America. While there she marries Joseph Donnelly, of Omagh, County Tyrone in 1918. In 1921 she and their year-old daughter Maeve leave him to return to Ireland.
Frederick Gifford dies in September 1917 and leaves Gifford £800. However, she is was not well off. She becomes a broadcaster and journalist for the national radio and the Irish press. Holding to her upbringing, she remains a staunch Protestant, unlike four of her sisters, who had married Catholics.
Gifford becomes devoted to preserving the historical record of the independence movement. Noticing the huge number of visitors for the 1932 Eucharistic Congress, she organises a small exhibition there of 1916 memorabilia for the National Museum of Ireland. She is irritated by the display of Catholic religious artifacts there. She campaigns for a permanent exhibition of recent Irish nationalist history. She coordinates a substantial body of material pertinent to nationalist organisations, the Easter Rising, and the Irish War of Independence, which now forms the core of the present collection.
Over the years Gifford is secretary of the Old IRA Association, a member of the Old Dublin Society, and a founder of the Kilmainham Gaol Restoration Society. She also looks after stray and neglected dogs and cats. She dies at the age of 90 on June 23, 1971, at the Gascoigne nursing home in Rathmines, Dublin.
(Pictured: Irish nationalist Nellie Gifford taken in Boston in 1917)
seamus dubhghaill 