An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir March 2016 www.dfmagazine.ie 18 | The by LIZ GILLIS Anna Fahy. Photo: Capuchin Archives Countess Markievicz in Irish Citizen Army uniform (Photographer Keogh Bros. Ltd). Photo: Military Archives/BMH Photo series T he Easter Rising was no doubt the most important event to happen in our recent history, not just in relation to our sense of nationhood but also in relation to the role of women in our society. It has been said time and again that the women involved in the Rising only played support- ive roles; that they didn't 'fight'. but what exactly does it mean to 'fight' in a war. An army is made up of many different elements. There are those who 'fight' in the traditional sense of wielding weapons and there are those who feed, nurse, gather intelligence, etc. Today, regardless of gender, all members of an army are deemed soldiers and are vital in ensuring a cohesive, efficient force. The same can certainly be said of the women who fought in 1916. At the time of the Rising there were four Cumann na mBan branches in Dublin. The Árd Crao- bh (Central), Fairview and Colmcille branches were attached to the 1st and 2nd battalions of the Irish Volunteers and operated on the north side of the city. The Inghinidhe Branch, the only one on the south side, was attached to the 3rd and 4th bat- talions. There was also a women's section within the Irish Citizen Army (who would fight alongside the Inghinidhe Branch as a unit). On Easter Sunday the women of Cumann na mBan mobilised at their designated locations around the city. (The women of the ICA were already at their headquarters in Liberty Hall from the previous week.) Like their male comrades, on receiving MacNeill's countermanding order they were dismissed, but the order soon came that they were to mobilise again the next day. On Easter Monday morning they made their way to their various meet- ing points. The Inghinidhe branch was split in two as it was attached to the two south city Volunteer battalions. Twenty-five women, under the command of Rose McNamara, met at Weaver Hall near Cork Street and proceeded to Emerald Square where they fell in with Éamonn Ceannt's 4th Battalion; moving on to Marrowbone Lane Distillery, an outpost of Ceannt's South Dublin Union (SDU) headquarters. Members of Central Branch mobilised at Broadstone Railway Station and the Black Church, St Mary's Place, and remained there for the day. Some, including Máire (Meg) Carron and Ellen Ennis were sent to deliver dispatches around the city. MacNeill's countermanding order had caused terrible confusion and discovering that the Rising had begun many women took it upon themselves to take action and went to whatever outpost they could get in to. When the Headquarters garrison marched off from Liberty Hall that morn- ing they were accompanied by only one woman, Winifred Carney. A member of about the author: Liz Gillis, a historian and a Curato- rial Assistant in RTÉ, has written four books on the Irish Revolution, including Women of the Irish Revolu- tion: A Photographic History and has two further publications coming out this year, We Were There: The Seventy-Seven Women Imprisoned in Richmond Barracks 1916 (co-written with Dr Mary McAuliffe in conjunction with Dublin City Council), and The Hales Brothers and the Irish Revolution, published by Mercier Press.

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