Constance Gore-Booth, the third child of Sir Henry Gore-Booth, was born at Lissadell in County Sligo, on 4th February, 1868.

Sir Henry Gore-Booth always attempted to act as a good landlord, like providing free food for his tenants during the 1879-80 famine for example. It was probably acts of goodwill like this, that helped develop in his two daughters, Constance and Eva Gore-Booth, a deep concern for the poor.

In 1893 Constance moved to London to study art at the Slade. It was at this time she joined the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. Later she moved to France where she continued her studies at the Julian School in Paris.

While in France, Constance met and married Count Casimir Markiewicz from Poland, they settled in Dublin where Constance developed a reputation as a talented landscape artist. She also acted in several plays at the Abbey Theatre and joined Maud Gonne as a member of the revolutionary group, the Daughters of Erin.

Constance Markiewicz continued her interest in the struggle for women's rights and in the 1908 joined Eva Gore-Booth and Esther Roper in the campaign against Winston Churchill in the parliamentary election in Manchester.

In 1908 Constance joined Sinn Fein, an organization formed by Arthur Griffith six years earlier. The following year she founded Fianna Eireann, the youth movement of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. In 1911 Constance Markiewicz was arrested with Helena Moloney when they took part in a demonstration against the visit of George V to Ireland.

Constance Markiewicz also joined James Connolly, James Larkin and Maud Gonne in the campaign to force the authorities to extend the 1906 Provision of School Meals Act to Ireland. She also started a scheme to feed poor children in Dublin where she provided a soup kitchen in Liberty Hall during the lockout of unionized workers in 1913. Later that year she was elected Honorary Treasurer to the Irish Citizen Army.

During the Easter Rising in April 1916, Constance Markiewicz was appointed second in command to Michael Mallin in St Stephen's Green. She took part in the fighting and after her arrest was charged with treason. Initially sentenced to death, this was commuted to penal servitude for life because the authorities were unwilling to execute a woman.

Released in the General Amnesty of 1917, she was immediately elected to the executive of Sinn Fein. Soon afterwards she was imprisoned again for her part in the campaign against the conscription of Irish men into the British Army.

After the passing of the passing of the Qualification of Women Act, Constance stood as the Sinn Fein candidate for the St. Patrick's division of Dublin. Constance Markiewicz was the only woman who was successful in the 1918 General Election. However, like the seventy two Sinn Fein MPs, she did not attend the House of Commons in London and instead joined the parliament in Dublin. In the new Irish government, Constance became Minister of Labour.

Constance Markiewicz was against the Irish Peace Treaty and as a result she lost her parliamentary seat. During the Civil War she took part in the fighting before touring the United States in an attempt to raise funds for the cause.

In 1923 she was elected to The Dail (the Irish equivelent of the British Houses of Parliament . After a short illness Constance Markiewicz died in Sir Patrick Dunn's Hospital in Dublin on 15th July 1927.

Last Modified Thursday, 20-Dec-2007 21:56:36 GMT.