Mabel McConnell Fitzgerald

Mabel McConnell Fitzgerald
Born	Mabel McConnell 4 July 1884 Belfast, Ireland
Died	24 April 1958 (aged 73) Dublin, Ireland
Nationality	Irish

Mabel Washington McConnell Fitzgerald (4 July 1884 – 24 April 1958) was an Irish republican, suffragette and socialist. She took part in the 1916 Easter Rising and the Irish War of Independence.

Background

Born Mabel Washington McConnell on 4 July 1884, she was the daughter of John McConnell, a whiskey salesman from Belfast, and his wife Margaret Neill. She was the granddaughter of a Presbyterian farmer near the city. Educated initially in Victoria College in Belfast, she went on to get a Bachelor of Arts from Queen's University Belfast in 1906. At Queen's she had developed her positions on republicanism, women's rights and her socialist politics along with her sister Eilis (born Elizabeth). She had a strong interest in the Irish language. She was a member of the Women's Social and Political Union, Sinn Féin and the Gaelic League.^[1]

After graduating she was secretary to the President of Queen's University before moving to London in 1908 to complete a postgraduate teaching certificate in Saint Mary’s Training College, Paddington. She worked for a time as a school teacher in Ilford.^[2] In 1909 she was a secretary to George Bernard Shaw for several months while his permanent secretary, Judy Gilmore was ill.^[3] She continued to remain friends with Shaw and his wife, maintaining a correspondence for numerous years.^[4]

Family

She met her husband Desmond FitzGerald in London in 1910 at a language seminar run by the Gaelic League, of which she was a committee member. She was the more passionate radical, but to meet her, FitzGerald attended political meetings and soon became as radical.^[5][6] In March 1911 she did secretarial work for George Moore. In later years FitzGerald wrote to Shaw to urge him to support Irish separatism.^[7][5][8]

She and FitzGerald eloped in 1911 when she discovered she was pregnant; they lived in France until moving to Dingle, Co. Kerry in March 1913.^[1] They were later expelled from Kerry by the British as they were suspected of signalling the Germans. They then moved to Bray. They had four children: Desmond (1912–1987), Pierce (1914–1986), Fergus (1920–1983) and Garret (1926–2011).^[5][8] Her son Garret followed his father into Irish politics becoming Taoiseach twice.^[9]

Easter Rising and War of Independence

McConnell Fitzgerald was in the General Post Office, the rebellion headquarters during the 1916 Rising. However, after the first days of the Rising, Pearse objected to having both parents of small children taking part and told McConnell Fitzgerald to go home.^[5]

She was the organiser of her husband's election campaign in 1918^[10][11] with the phrase "Put Him In To Get Him Out",^[12] since at the time he was in fact in gaol in Gloucester as a result of his nationalist activities. He was duly elected and joined the Irish Dáil, refusing to take up his seat in Westminster.^[11]

Civil War and after

McConnell Fitzgerald had been on the executive council of Cumann na mBan from 1918 until 1921 when she resigned.^[10][13] McConnell Fitzgerald was not in favour of the Treaty; however, her husband was on the Pro-Treaty side. Her letters, such as those with hunger-striker Ernie O'Malley suggest that while her husband was Minister for External Affairs in the government during the civil war she still held her original perspective.^[5][8] Later she came to agree more with her husband's point of view, especially after the assassination of Kevin O'Higgins.^[14] She converted to Catholicism in 1943. She also became more conservative in her views as she got older, less impressed with the results of universal suffrage.^[15] She also taught in the school started and run by Louise Gavan Duffy.^[16] While she retired from political life to raise her family, her husband went on to be Minister for Defence and a Senator^[10][17]

References

Citations

1. Foster 2014, p. 141.
2. University College Dublin 1993, p. 372.
3. University College Dublin 1993, pp. 372-373.
4. University College Dublin 1993, pp. 391-392.
5. The Irish Echo 2011.
6. Bourke 2002, p. 1428.
7. Foster 2014, p. 38.
8. History Hub 2016.
9. Cowell 2011.
10. Foster 2014, p. 45.
11. Vulliamy 2016.
12. Mansergh 1969, p. 18.
13. University College Dublin 1993, p. 388.
14. Breen 2001.
15. Foster 2014, p. xxvi.
16. Ricorso Online Biography 2011.
17. Houses of the Oireachtas 2016.

Bibliography

• Bourke, Angela (2002). The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing. Irish Women's Writing and Traditions V. Washington Square, New York: NYU Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-9907-9.
• Breen, Suzanne (30 April 2001). "`IRA war' brought Dublin, London closer". Dublin, Ireland: The Irish Times.
• Cowell, Alan (19 May 2011). "Garret FitzGerald, Ex-Irish Premier, Dies at 85". New York City, New York: The New York Times.
• Foster, Robert Fitzroy (2014). Vivid Faces: The Revolutionary Generation in Ireland, 1890-1923. London England: Penguin Books Limited. ISBN 978-0-14-196956-5.
• Mansergh, Nicholas (23 January 1969). "The Memoirs of Desmond Fitzgerald 1913- 1916 (Routledge and Kegan". London, England: The Spectator. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
• Vulliamy, Ed (27 March 2016). "My family’s link to the 1916 Easter Rising". London, England: The Guardian. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
• "Garret Fitzgerald". Ricorso Online Biography. 27 May 2011.
• "Mabel FitzGerald Correspondence". History Hub. 2016.
• "One family’s Rising: Interview with Garret FitzGerald in 2006". New York City, New York: The Irish Echo. 22 May 2011.
• "Papers of Desmond and Mabel FitzGerald: UCD Archives" (PDF). University College Dublin. 1993.
• "Seanad Members' Directory: Mr. Desmond FitzGerald". Houses of the Oireachtas. 2016.