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In the aftermath of the 1916 Rising,

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the British government
executed 16 men.

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Seven of them left behind
wives and children,

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many of them still very young.

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And in the decade of centenaries,
much has been said about these men.

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But how many of us know about

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the women and children
that they left behind?

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The women were Agnes Mallin,
the wife of Michael Mallin.

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Lily Connolly,
the wife of James Connolly.

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Grace Plunkett,
wife of Joseph Mary Plunkett.

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Grace's sister, Muriel MacDonagh,
wife of Thomas MacDonagh.

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Kathleen Clarke, wife of Tom Clarke.

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Aine Ceannt, wife of Eamonn Ceannt.

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And Maud Gonne,
the wife of Jon MacBride.

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These seven women were from a variety

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of class, ideological
and educational backgrounds

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spanning the breadth of Irish society
at the time.

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And yet, they had several things
in common.

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They all lived through
the hell of Easter Week

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and were widowed at the same time,
left to pick up the pieces.

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In his last hour on Earth, Eamonn
Ceannt wrote to his wife Aine,

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to tell her, "Men and women
will vie with one another

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to shake your dear hand.

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You will be, you are the wife of one
of the leaders of the revolution."

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But the reality for these women
would be radically different.

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Much about their stories
isn't unusual.

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Theirs is the social and political
history of many women

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as Ireland moved from revolution
into the new Free State.

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The widows of Easter 1916
didn't die for Ireland.

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They had to keep on living
for Ireland.

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What would this new free Ireland
be like for them, and for all women?

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Would it actually have
a real place for them in it?

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In many respects, the 1916 Rising
represented a high point

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of the idea of equality
for Irish women.

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And nowhere is this more evident than
in the proclamation of the republic.

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A truly radical document that
addressed Irishmen and Irishwomen.

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Insisting on equality of the sexes,
freedom of religious expression

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and equal economic opportunity.

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To quote it, "The Republic guarantees
religious and civil liberty,

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equal rights and equal opportunities
of all citizens."

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This was the proclamation
that these women's husbands

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had given their lives for.

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This and the republic that it
declared Ireland to be

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would become a touchstone for the
widows for the rest of their lives.

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Time and time again,
they would hark back to it

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and remind others of it too.

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But following the executions,

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the women also had other things
on their minds.

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Can you just tell me, Sinead,
about the immediate aftermath?

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They're still in this
very fluid situation,

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their husbands have been executed
and many have small children.

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I mean, it was absolute chaos.

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I mean, Dublin is destroyed.

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The gas to the city
had been cut off.

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There was that whole reaction
to what had happened.

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It all plunged into a public realm.

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Their houses had been raided
in most cases.

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There's mass arrests.

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(EARNER―BYRNE)
Immediately after the Rising,

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many of the widows were plunged
into s struggle for survival.

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All of them, with the exception
of Grace Plunkett,

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had small children to feed.

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And only Maud Gonne had independent
wealth to fall back upon.

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The family of Lily Connolly,
for example,

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wife of executed leader
James Connolly, was left destitute.

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A letter survives written
by Lily Connolly's daughter,

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Nora Connolly, in which she recalls
their circumstances at the time.

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"We were in dire straits," she wrote.

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"We had no money whatsoever
and no means of getting any.

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Daddy never had any money to spare.

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The last few pounds he'd had in his
wallet were taken from him

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after his arrest."

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You know, many of them didn't have
the opportunity to earn money

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because of the nature
of Irish society at that time.

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But even for those who did,

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for example, Aine Ceannt,
who ran a private fee-paying school,

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she came back to her home
after the Easter Rising,

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her husband had been executed.
She had dependents to look after,

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including a child.

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And that school had been ransacked
and destroyed.

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So her source of income was gone.
Her husband was gone.

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And she was left with no support
in the immediate aftermath

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to try and deal with that reality,
with her own grief, her own loss,

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and also, the lack
of any financial support.

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Widows, as with other single
mothers,

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had very little access
to the workplace,

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they had issues of childcare.

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Many of them had to rely upon
charity and philanthropy

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as there wasn't any welfare.

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(EARNER―BYRNE) Just how harsh life
could be for widows at the time

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and how limited their options
sometimes were

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is illustrated by the holdings found
in the National Archives of Ireland.

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The National Archive preserves
the memory of the state.

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So, we hold all of the records that
relate to the modern Irish state

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bin terms of government records
from 1921 onwards.

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But we also still do have holdings
relating to the period

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when Ireland was under British
administration.

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So, really the holdings
tell a range of stories

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in terms of the political stories,
the social stories,

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the economic stories,
the cultural stories,

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that shaped and framed the nation.

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So, really, Orlaith, before 1922
and the foundation of the Irish State

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apart from charity,
what would a widow rely on

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in terms of relief or welfare?

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Very little really. The workhouse.

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(EARNER―BYRNE) At the time,

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workhouses were the only official
help available to the destitute.

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In the workhouses, families were
separated from each other,

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and conditions were often grim.

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As a result, only the most desperate,

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those who had no other choice
would go there.

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We have ledgers here in the National
Archives from the workhouses.

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They clearly show that it's widows
who are turning up.

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In each line, you've got "widow,
widow, widow, widow, widow."

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Pretty bleak.

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(EARNER-BYRNE) Many widows faced
destitution and the workhouse

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following the loss of their husbands
who were often

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the sole or main breadwinners.

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The families of the men involved
in 1916 were no exception

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and an immediate charity drive
was started to help them.

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There's initially fundraising
to provide assistance

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for the widows of those killed
in the Rising,

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also for those who were jailed.

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And this becomes the Irish National
Aid and Volunteer Dependence Fund.

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And it's really fronted
and initially administered

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by the widows, particularly
Kathleen Clark

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and Aine Ceannt.

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They start fundraising, appealing
to the people of Ireland

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to raise money to support
the prisoners and the families

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of men who were killed
during the Rising itself.

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This rose into a really successful

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charitable welfare-driven
organisation

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that raises money all over Ireland,
across the Irish Diaspora,

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and the money that's
raised in Ireland

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is dwarfed by huge amounts that come
in from America, in particular.

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And in that fundraising initiative,

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is the story of the widows
part of the propaganda used?

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The widows are, sort of,
front and centre, and the children,

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in this propaganda
to raise the money.

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The story of the widows of 1916
and their children

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became a powerful tool for raising
public sympathy and money

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for their families.

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But it had another effect
on them too.

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The widows, despite their own
intense personal grief

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and financial struggles

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had to get used to the glare
of the public spotlight.

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In the wake of the 1916 Rising
and the execution of their husbands,

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there was significant international
and national interest

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in them and their children.

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Indeed, the nationalist movement
had to exploit that interest

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in order to both change the initially
hostile reaction to the Rising

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but also to bring in
much needed funds

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so that the movement
could regroup and continue.

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As a result, the women found
themselves at the forefront

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of the nationalist publicity effort.

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Remember, this is during
the First World War,

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so, the British state
has very heavy censorship.

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You've got the
Defence of the Realm Act, DORA,

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so the newspapers are heavily
censored.

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You can do anything political
in them.

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What you can do
is much more emotional.

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And appealing to the emotions,

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talking about the lives of the men
or the lives of their widows.

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An example of this is
the 1916 Christmas edition

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of the Catholic Bulletin,

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that featured pictures of many of
the 1916 widows and their children.

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(WARD) The photographs,
in particular,

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that are included
in the Catholic Bulletin

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subvert the censorship

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because people take the photos
afterwards

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and use them as part of the
fundraising drive

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and use them as pamphlets
about the rising.

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It must have been very tough to have
been so much in the spotlight

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at a time of such intense grief.

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While many of the widows
threw themselves wholeheartedly

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into raising awareness of the cause
their husbands had died for,

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some of them reacted to the intense
scrutiny in unexpected ways.

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The American newspapers pick up the
stories of the widows of 1916,

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particularly the romantic story

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of Grace Gifford
and Joseph Plunkett.

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Grace and Joe had been married
in a last minute ceremony

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in Kilmainham Gaol.

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Within hours, he was executed
and she never saw him again.

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It was a story that gripped
the public imagination.

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An American newspaper reporter came
to interview Grace,

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the grieving widow
and got a bit of a surprise.

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If you can imagine walking through
Ireland in this period

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and you would see a lot of women
wearing black

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and what were known
as "widow's weeds,"

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which you wore
for a period of time,

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so it was a very public
demonstration of your grief

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and your widowhood.

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And then when this American
reporter, Irish-American reporter

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Eileen Moore comes to interview her,

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she's already telling her readers
that

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I was expecting to have this woman

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who was going to sob her way
through our meeting and interview

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and out she emerges in this white
outfit holding a kitten.

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She's wearing all these rings
on her fingers

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and she's got bushy red hair and
she's wearing the dress of the day

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but she's just vibrant.

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And she's an artist, she's trained
with William Orpen

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so she's very aware
of what she looks like

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and she's deliberately
playing to the journalist who comes.

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She doesn't want to be seen
through this filter

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because she's reacting,
because she's already becoming

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a caricature of herself.

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Some of the widows
were also uncomfortable

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with the public spotlight.

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In the years after the Rising,

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Lily Connolly tried
to keep her life private,

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leaving the public activism
to her children,

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especially Ina, Nora,
and Roddy Connolly.

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Maud Gonne was also often left out of
the publicity around the widows,

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but for very different reasons.

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She was set apart from the other
widows in so far as

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she was not living with her husband
at the time of the Easter Rising.

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They had separated
some 10-11 years previously

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in acrimonious circumstances
and she was living in France.

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John MacBride, by the early 1900s,
was a hero of the Boer War,

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having commanded the Irish Brigade
during the Boer War.

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He after the war ended,
couldn't get back to Ireland,

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so he came to Paris which was a
centre for exiles and Irish emigres

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through the 19th century
and into the 20th century.

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And they met, Maud Gonne
and John MacBride,

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married in a whirlwind romance.

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Things quickly went wrong.

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And they were told by many of their
friends,

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Arthur Griffiths said,
"Don't do this, please!" Yeah.

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Maud Gonne sought a divorce
from her husband

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citing complaints of cruelty
against her,

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of physical abuse while
she was pregnant, of drunkenness.

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And as it turned out, there was
an explosive allegation made

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that John MacBride
had sexually abused

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her ten-year-old daughter, Iseult.

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It wasn't clear at all
that a divorce could be granted.

240
00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:58,040
These people were not married
under British law

241
00:13:58,040 --> 00:14:00,000
or Irish law at the time.

242
00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:03,040
The question of their citizenship
was also quite complex.

243
00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:06,400
John MacBride had been stripped
of his citizenship

244
00:14:06,400 --> 00:14:09,120
by having taken up arms
against the Crown.

245
00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:12,519
And in the end, they weren't able
to be fully divorced

246
00:14:12,519 --> 00:14:15,279
so it was a judicial separation,
in the end.

247
00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:20,120
Maud Gonne was afraid
to go back to Ireland.

248
00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:23,319
She was worried that her husband
would reopen proceedings,

249
00:14:23,319 --> 00:14:24,720
would take her son away,

250
00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:28,360
and so, John MacBride's name
in Maud Gonne's household

251
00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:30,400
was a name to be scared of.

252
00:14:31,319 --> 00:14:35,160
And then in 1916, after the Rising,
all that changed completely.

253
00:14:35,199 --> 00:14:38,239
John MacBride became a name
to be honoured,

254
00:14:38,239 --> 00:14:40,720
he was a martyr,
he died for Ireland,

255
00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:43,440
"He has given my son
a name he can be proud of,"

256
00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:45,160
that was something she wrote.

257
00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:47,239
And she took the name back on.
Yeah.

258
00:14:47,239 --> 00:14:51,519
Embraced widow's weeds, wore black
for the rest of her life.

259
00:14:51,519 --> 00:14:54,360
Very... You know, full mourning
for the rest of her life.

260
00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:57,879
Despite fully embracing
her dead husband's legacy,

261
00:14:57,879 --> 00:15:01,160
a sense of moral taint clung
to Maud Gonne MacBride,

262
00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:03,760
a result of her attempt
to divorce him.

263
00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:07,360
This was an era where a woman could
not claim either charitable help

264
00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:09,519
or the moral high ground
if she was seen

265
00:15:09,519 --> 00:15:12,160
as anything other than respectable.

266
00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:15,239
As a result, Maud was often
not included in publicity

267
00:15:15,239 --> 00:15:16,879
with the other widows.

268
00:15:17,639 --> 00:15:19,639
.

269
00:15:30,239 --> 00:15:34,800
The publicity generated by the widows
and their children was crucial

270
00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:39,559
in bringing public opinion
around behind the 1916 Rising.

271
00:15:39,559 --> 00:15:42,279
But women actually played
a much bigger role

272
00:15:42,279 --> 00:15:44,959
in sustaining the nationalist
movement itself.

273
00:15:46,639 --> 00:15:48,760
(BORGONOV) So, after the executions,

274
00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:51,680
the movement has been essentially
decapitated.

275
00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:55,000
There's martial law
and there's censorship.

276
00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,199
Things are really in disarray.

277
00:15:57,199 --> 00:16:00,160
The widows really step in.

278
00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:04,839
Kathleen Clark had been really given
a succession plan

279
00:16:04,839 --> 00:16:06,400
by her husband who was head

280
00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:09,000
of the Irish Republican Brotherhood
military council.

281
00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:12,720
She had a pot of around three
or four thousand pounds,

282
00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:15,199
and she really
starts the ball rolling.

283
00:16:16,319 --> 00:16:20,800
The key to all this was the Irish
Volunteer Dependence Fund

284
00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:23,599
was really the only public face

285
00:16:23,599 --> 00:16:26,400
of what becomes
the independence movement.

286
00:16:26,440 --> 00:16:31,319
It really becomes a parish by parish
national organisation

287
00:16:31,319 --> 00:16:35,000
at a time when there
is no Sinn Fein political party,

288
00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:36,760
when there is no other ways

289
00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:39,279
of getting involved
in the independence movement.

290
00:16:39,319 --> 00:16:41,639
And everywhere across the country

291
00:16:41,639 --> 00:16:44,639
where you have these activists
gathering

292
00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:48,440
they eventually become the first
branches of Sinn Fein.

293
00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:50,239
They're predominantly led
by women.

294
00:16:50,279 --> 00:16:55,360
And the widows are really at
the coalface of this organisation.

295
00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:57,680
Which is really important because
you've got a moment

296
00:16:57,680 --> 00:16:59,279
where things could have died.

297
00:16:59,279 --> 00:17:02,519
It could have been successful,
the executions and imprisonments,

298
00:17:02,519 --> 00:17:04,800
they could have decapitated
this movement.

299
00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:06,119
Do they bring in new people?

300
00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:11,480
One thing that Kathleen Clark does
is she hires an administrator.

301
00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:14,199
And Aine Ceannt is also involved in
this decision.

302
00:17:14,199 --> 00:17:16,559
And the person they choose
is Michael Collins.

303
00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:21,879
Michael Collins had been released
from prison at Christmas.

304
00:17:21,879 --> 00:17:23,800
He has IRB backgrounds.

305
00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:26,519
The decision to hire Michael Collins
is really key

306
00:17:26,559 --> 00:17:28,800
to his development
as a national figure.

307
00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:31,279
It's the first time he really lives
and works in Dublin

308
00:17:31,319 --> 00:17:34,720
and really gets access
to this independence movement.

309
00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:37,319
Had Kathleen Clark not wanted
to hire him,

310
00:17:37,359 --> 00:17:39,239
he would not have gotten
that position

311
00:17:39,239 --> 00:17:41,720
and we don't know
how he would have ended up.

312
00:17:51,279 --> 00:17:54,040
(EARNER-BYRNE) Kathleen was to pay
a further personal price

313
00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:57,638
for the huge workload she took on
in the wake of the Rising.

314
00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:02,239
Years later when she was asked what
was the first thing you did

315
00:18:02,239 --> 00:18:03,839
after the 1916 Rising,

316
00:18:03,839 --> 00:18:07,000
Kathleen Clark answered simply,
"I lost a child."

317
00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:13,638
She already had three small boys
by 1916

318
00:18:13,638 --> 00:18:16,680
and in August of that year,
quite late in her pregnancy,

319
00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:19,839
she miscarried the child that she
hadn't told her husband about.

320
00:18:19,839 --> 00:18:23,839
She simply said, "I didn't want
to add to his burden or worry."

321
00:18:23,839 --> 00:18:26,279
It's interesting that that is what
stayed with her,

322
00:18:26,279 --> 00:18:30,160
it wasn't the fundraising
that she threw herself into,

323
00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:32,279
it wasn't the drive to survive.

324
00:18:32,279 --> 00:18:35,359
It wasn't the role she played
in the really important task

325
00:18:35,359 --> 00:18:37,559
of rebuilding the nationalist
movement,

326
00:18:37,599 --> 00:18:39,879
it was the fact
that she'd lost a child.

327
00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:46,239
(EARNER―BYRNE) Someone else who may
have lost a child

328
00:18:46,239 --> 00:18:48,599
in the aftermath of the Rising
was Grace Plunkett.

329
00:18:49,559 --> 00:18:52,000
(O'KEEFFE) Grace Plunkett's
sister-in-law alleged

330
00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:54,239
that she suffered a miscarriage
at Larkfield,

331
00:18:54,239 --> 00:18:57,119
the Plunkett family home
in Kimmage after the 1916 Rising.

332
00:18:57,160 --> 00:19:00,080
Grace and Joe had only been married
for a couple of hours

333
00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:01,680
before he was executed.

334
00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:04,080
There was no unsupervised
opportunity

335
00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:05,400
to consummate the marriage

336
00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:08,760
so if she was pregnant,
it was before the 1916 Rising,

337
00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:10,319
and before they were married.

338
00:19:17,519 --> 00:19:21,040
I don't think that it's possible
to substantiate that rumour

339
00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:24,638
that Grace was pregnant. The only
source was Geraldine Plunkett.

340
00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:29,160
I don't think there was very much
love lost between those two women.

341
00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:33,119
But if it was true, it would have
had significant ramifications

342
00:19:33,119 --> 00:19:35,638
for Grace's moral standing
in the community.

343
00:19:35,638 --> 00:19:38,239
It would have meant the
relationship was consummated

344
00:19:38,239 --> 00:19:39,919
before the wedding.

345
00:19:39,919 --> 00:19:42,839
But it would have also meant
that that marriage

346
00:19:42,839 --> 00:19:45,760
had much greater significance
for both of them.

347
00:19:46,638 --> 00:19:49,480
It would have meant that it was vital
for Grace to get married

348
00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:51,080
before Joseph's execution

349
00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:55,160
as unmarried mothers in those days
were particularly vulnerable.

350
00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:57,680
They often lost the support
of their families,

351
00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:01,000
their claim to being respectable
and their social status,

352
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:04,319
making it even harder
to survive on their own.

353
00:20:04,319 --> 00:20:06,919
A last minute wedding
in Kilmainham on the eve

354
00:20:06,919 --> 00:20:10,839
of Joseph's execution could have been
a way for Grace to avoid such a fate.

355
00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:28,599
(SEAGULLS CRY)

356
00:20:28,599 --> 00:20:31,279
In 1917, the National Aid Committee

357
00:20:31,279 --> 00:20:34,638
paid for a holiday in Skerries
for several of the 1916 widows

358
00:20:34,638 --> 00:20:36,040
and their families.

359
00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:38,599
Present were Agnes Mallin
and her children,

360
00:20:38,599 --> 00:20:42,720
Lily Connolly and her children,
Aine Ceannt and her son,

361
00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:47,080
Muriel MacDonagh and her daughter,
as well as Grace Plunkett.

362
00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:50,040
While there, tragedy struck Muriel.

363
00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:56,319
(MCCOOLE) She went swimming.

364
00:20:56,319 --> 00:20:58,720
Although Muriel is a really,
really strong swimmer,

365
00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:01,080
had won awards for long distance
swimming,

366
00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:05,119
the area of Skerries is notorious
for currents

367
00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:07,319
and she was trying to get out
to the island,

368
00:21:07,319 --> 00:21:10,080
she'd been told by others
not to go to the island.

369
00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:12,839
Grace raised the alarm very quickly
because one of the children

370
00:21:12,839 --> 00:21:15,199
Seamus Mallin had run back
to the house.

371
00:21:15,199 --> 00:21:19,040
So it was very immediate and they
were very alarmed from the outset.

372
00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:21,119
But unfortunately,
when the boat went

373
00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:24,040
there was no sign of her,
and tragically,

374
00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:26,319
her body was washed up
the next morning

375
00:21:26,319 --> 00:21:28,559
and obviously, she had drowned.

376
00:21:28,559 --> 00:21:29,959
It all happened so quickly.

377
00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:31,839
Even with all the families there,

378
00:21:31,839 --> 00:21:33,919
it must have had such an impact
on them all,

379
00:21:33,919 --> 00:21:36,559
but most of all, of course,
Barbara, her little daughter,

380
00:21:36,559 --> 00:21:39,080
and Donagh, her son who was
in hospital at the time.

381
00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:40,800
What happened to them afterwards?

382
00:21:40,839 --> 00:21:43,839
The story I recall first
and foremost

383
00:21:43,839 --> 00:21:48,919
is that Don was lifted up
to the window in the hospital

384
00:21:48,919 --> 00:21:51,160
and he remembers looking
out of the window

385
00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:55,800
and seeing horses with the black
plumes dancing on their head.

386
00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:57,879
Years later it came back to him

387
00:21:57,879 --> 00:22:00,400
that he was watching
his mother's funeral.

388
00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:05,239
After the MacDonagh children
were orphaned

389
00:22:05,239 --> 00:22:07,359
due to the execution
of their father

390
00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:09,519
and the subsequent drowning
of their mother

391
00:22:09,519 --> 00:22:12,720
the National Aid Committee became
involved in their welfare.

392
00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:15,359
Largely as a result of something
that Thomas MacDonagh

393
00:22:15,359 --> 00:22:17,279
had written when he declared,

394
00:22:17,279 --> 00:22:20,400
"My beloved Muriel
and my beloved children,

395
00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:24,080
my country then will treat them
as wards. I hope."

396
00:22:25,319 --> 00:22:29,119
The National Aid Committee was
the same fundraising organisation

397
00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:32,760
that was set up to look after the
families of those who fought in 1916.

398
00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:37,480
It decided to take a very literal
approach to MacDonagh's words.

399
00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:39,359
(MCCOOLE) In his last letter,

400
00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:42,599
Thomas MacDonagh has used the term
"wards of the nation."

401
00:22:42,638 --> 00:22:47,359
And this phrase that he uses because
he's using it the context

402
00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:50,160
that he hasn't made much money
and so he's making the case

403
00:22:50,199 --> 00:22:56,239
for them to be looked after
by the wider nationalist community.

404
00:22:56,279 --> 00:22:59,720
But instead, the National Aid
set up a committee

405
00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:03,680
to look into who's going
to look after these children.

406
00:23:05,279 --> 00:23:08,440
The issue of who the MacDonagh
children should live with

407
00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:09,959
was complicated by religion.

408
00:23:09,959 --> 00:23:13,319
Muriel's family was Protestant,
while the MacDonaghs were Catholic.

409
00:23:13,319 --> 00:23:15,720
At the time, sending Catholic
children,

410
00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:18,279
especially the children
of a dead nationalist hero

411
00:23:18,319 --> 00:23:21,559
to Protestant families
was highly disapproved of.

412
00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:26,720
And then it becomes a pull and push
between both sides of the family.

413
00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:30,319
And the children are moved
from place to place, you know?

414
00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:33,319
Their lives are turned upside-down

415
00:23:33,319 --> 00:23:36,680
by almost the possession of them
by the nation.

416
00:23:39,199 --> 00:23:42,080
This was during a period when
religion was assuming

417
00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:44,000
an ever increasing importance.

418
00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:45,720
This is illustrated by the fact

419
00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:47,638
that every single one
of the Easter widows

420
00:23:47,638 --> 00:23:49,519
ended up Roman Catholic.

421
00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:53,080
Four of the Easter widows
were initially Protestant

422
00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:55,680
and all four converted
to Catholicism.

423
00:23:56,359 --> 00:23:58,599
Maud Gonne MacBride converted
in 1903,

424
00:23:58,599 --> 00:24:01,239
just prior to her marriage
to John MacBride.

425
00:24:01,279 --> 00:24:04,080
And she wrote to WB Yeats about
that time describing herself

426
00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:05,440
as an "Irishwoman."

427
00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:08,480
She said, "I want to look at the
truth through the same prism

428
00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:11,239
as my country people. I wanted
to convert to Catholicism."

429
00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:13,879
In the case of Grace Gifford,

430
00:24:13,879 --> 00:24:17,000
from the unionist/loyalist
Gifford family,

431
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:19,400
her conversion happened
just prior to her wedding

432
00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:21,000
to Joe Plunkett in 1916.

433
00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:24,720
Lily Connolly converted
to Catholicism in August 1916.

434
00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:29,359
In her case, she was fulfilling
the deathbed wish of her husband.

435
00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:32,959
The last of the widows who converted
to Catholicism was Muriel MacDonagh.

436
00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:35,599
In her case it was May 1917,

437
00:24:35,638 --> 00:24:39,239
poignantly, the first anniversary
of her husband's execution.

438
00:24:39,239 --> 00:24:43,119
In many ways, they were embracing
the faith of their executed husbands

439
00:24:43,119 --> 00:24:47,199
but more than that, it underlined
the increasing association,

440
00:24:47,199 --> 00:24:51,199
intertwining of nationalism
and Catholicism around this time.

441
00:25:02,959 --> 00:25:06,040
(EARNER―BYRNE) In 1917, things
changed for many of the women

442
00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:10,279
involved in the nationalist movement,
including some of the 1916 widows.

443
00:25:10,279 --> 00:25:12,519
Many of the men who had been
imprisoned in England

444
00:25:12,519 --> 00:25:16,879
after the Rising began to return home
changing the status quo.

445
00:25:19,239 --> 00:25:24,000
So while the Proclamation in 1916
had the promise of equality,

446
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:26,800
and gender equality for women
and men in it,

447
00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:31,000
after many of the men begin
returning home in 1917,

448
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:33,400
it becomes apparent to a lot
of the women

449
00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:36,480
that they're going to have
to advocate for themselves.

450
00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:39,279
The men of the political movement
are coming back

451
00:25:39,279 --> 00:25:42,080
and the women are fighting really
hard to say

452
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:44,800
we're also part
of the political movement.

453
00:25:46,519 --> 00:25:48,760
(MCAULIFFE) In the General Election
of 1918,

454
00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:51,239
the first election
with women voters,

455
00:25:51,239 --> 00:25:55,638
albeit over 30 with
certain property qualifications,

456
00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:59,599
Kathleen Clark really wanted
to run as a Sinn Fein candidate.

457
00:25:59,599 --> 00:26:02,359
But she is stymied by the men.

458
00:26:02,359 --> 00:26:06,800
The men wanted to put in the men
that are still in prison

459
00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:10,359
and the male heroes of 1916
into those seats

460
00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:13,440
and Kathleen was side-lined.

461
00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:16,400
And you begin to see this
is happening again and again

462
00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:18,040
that side-lining of the women.

463
00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:20,279
And so even a widow,
like Kathleen Clark

464
00:26:20,279 --> 00:26:22,519
has to battle for her position.

465
00:26:25,839 --> 00:26:28,480
(EARNER-BYRNE) This pushing out of
women from the public sphere

466
00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:32,040
was a theme that would continue
into the new Irish Free State.

467
00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:35,720
But first, Ireland had to win
her independence from Britain.

468
00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:43,319
In 1919, the War of Independence
broke out in Ireland.

469
00:26:43,319 --> 00:26:48,800
The Republican forces were determined
to carry on what was begun in 1916

470
00:26:48,839 --> 00:26:53,319
and strike a decisive blow against
the British Crown forces in Ireland.

471
00:26:55,359 --> 00:26:59,559
During the War of Independence
what happened to these families,

472
00:26:59,559 --> 00:27:02,440
to the women, to Kathleen Clark
and her children

473
00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:04,919
and the other widows
during this period?

474
00:27:04,919 --> 00:27:08,519
How active were they and how
difficult was that period for them?

475
00:27:08,559 --> 00:27:13,599
It's women who've come
from a more political background

476
00:27:13,638 --> 00:27:17,199
that are the ones that have
become more involved.

477
00:27:18,119 --> 00:27:20,879
Like Kathleen Clark, who's a justice

478
00:27:20,879 --> 00:27:23,440
in the Republican Court,
for example.

479
00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:25,919
She's also a member
of the second Dail.

480
00:27:25,959 --> 00:27:30,919
You've got Aine Ceannt
living with her sister Lily.

481
00:27:30,959 --> 00:27:35,599
Their house in Oakley Road
must have put up half the men,

482
00:27:35,599 --> 00:27:39,800
the prominent men in the movement,
they gave safe houses all the time.

483
00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:44,559
And they, of course, are well
known for having done that.

484
00:27:44,559 --> 00:27:47,879
Grace Plunkett is much more somebody

485
00:27:47,879 --> 00:27:50,720
who hasn't been particularly active,
but what she is

486
00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:53,480
is a very skilled artist
and cartoonist.

487
00:27:53,519 --> 00:27:57,040
And that's her talent, and that's
what she's used

488
00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:00,559
during the War of Independence
to great effect.

489
00:28:00,559 --> 00:28:02,199
In terms of propaganda.

490
00:28:02,199 --> 00:28:04,680
As part of the propaganda movement.

491
00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:10,519
Lily Connolly is elected in the
local government elections in 1920

492
00:28:10,519 --> 00:28:14,400
and becomes a local government
councillor for a period of time,

493
00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:18,959
but really, is never involved
in the movement.

494
00:28:18,959 --> 00:28:21,599
She's got young children
to look after,

495
00:28:21,599 --> 00:28:25,638
and I think a lot of her time
is based on survival.

496
00:28:25,638 --> 00:28:28,638
She gets money and hopes
to set up a boarding house

497
00:28:28,638 --> 00:28:31,359
in order to keep her and her family.

498
00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:33,440
And that's really important.

499
00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:36,800
That's quite a common thing
for widows, boarding houses.

500
00:28:36,839 --> 00:28:39,400
It's something that you can do
where you live

501
00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:42,279
and look after your children.

502
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:52,760
A major feature
of the War of Independence

503
00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:55,319
were violent raids
by the British Crown forces

504
00:28:55,319 --> 00:28:57,400
on the homes of women and children.

505
00:28:58,919 --> 00:29:01,080
The first thing the family
would hear

506
00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:03,319
would be a loud bang on the door

507
00:29:03,319 --> 00:29:07,599
and that would quickly be followed
by armed men entering the home

508
00:29:07,599 --> 00:29:10,639
pushing and physically assaulting
the people inside,

509
00:29:10,639 --> 00:29:13,319
who invariably were women
and children.

510
00:29:13,319 --> 00:29:17,040
Smashing up the house.
Highly personalised attacks.

511
00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:20,720
Mementoes of their husbands
being taken.

512
00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:23,480
So every time the loud bang
came on the door,

513
00:29:23,519 --> 00:29:26,400
there was of course the anxiety,
there was of course the worry.

514
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:28,760
Is that the time you're
going to get killed yourself

515
00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:32,760
and your children left without you,
having already lost their father.

516
00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:35,199
The Crown forces knew
who they were raiding.

517
00:29:35,239 --> 00:29:39,760
They knew these were the widows
of the Easter Rising's leaders.

518
00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:43,559
And that was played out in the way
in which these attacks happened.

519
00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:46,599
(COLEMAN) The home of Eamonn
Ceannt's widow

520
00:29:46,599 --> 00:29:50,160
was raided by the Auxiliaries
in February 1921.

521
00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:52,199
They took away Sinn Fein flags,

522
00:29:52,199 --> 00:29:55,519
they took away what they described
as seditious literature.

523
00:29:55,559 --> 00:29:57,839
They also took away what were
described in a report

524
00:29:57,839 --> 00:30:01,639
as musical pipes. I take that to be
Eamonn Ceannt's uilleann pipes.

525
00:30:01,639 --> 00:30:04,680
But it must have been quite
emotionally traumatic for her

526
00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:07,400
to have these belongings, these,
I suppose,

527
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:10,040
relics she had of her husband
taken from her

528
00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:12,440
by the Crown forces for no reason.

529
00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:16,319
What did they think these were?
Some sort of weapon or something?

530
00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:21,839
Even women like Agnes Mallin
who isn't involved

531
00:30:21,839 --> 00:30:23,959
is raided several times.

532
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:26,720
And the fact that she has the
memorabilia

533
00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:29,279
from Michael Mallin's time
in the British Army

534
00:30:29,279 --> 00:30:31,599
like his ceremonial sword.

535
00:30:31,639 --> 00:30:37,080
Things that they're trying to hide,
things they don't want taken away

536
00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:40,160
because they're keepsakes
and mementoes,

537
00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:43,879
so just because you're not involved
doesn't mean...

538
00:30:43,919 --> 00:30:46,599
You're not targeted.
...you're not going to be harassed.

539
00:30:46,639 --> 00:30:49,400
Because you're a name.

540
00:30:50,239 --> 00:30:54,800
You know for the widows
who had young teenage sons

541
00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:58,120
there was, of course, the danger
that they would be killed.

542
00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:01,480
People had been killed during raids
on multiple occasions.

543
00:31:01,519 --> 00:31:05,879
Sometimes, ten times in the one
week, there would be violent raids

544
00:31:05,879 --> 00:31:07,160
on these homes.

545
00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:11,400
So it was this almost inexorable
punishment for the widows

546
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:14,120
of the Easter Rising leaders
and their families

547
00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:17,440
that really continued throughout
the whole War of Independence.

548
00:31:21,639 --> 00:31:23,639
.

549
00:31:28,919 --> 00:31:30,959
(EARNER-BYRNE) The War of
Independence ended

550
00:31:30,959 --> 00:31:34,599
with an offer of a treaty
by the British in December 1921.

551
00:31:34,639 --> 00:31:37,839
This treaty offered Ireland the
status of self-governing dominion

552
00:31:37,839 --> 00:31:41,480
but not a full republic
as declared in 1916.

553
00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:45,080
Immediately, this treaty caused
outrage among many nationalists

554
00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:47,319
including the widows of 1916.

555
00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:56,680
The attitude of the widows of 1916
was one of horror and rejection

556
00:31:56,680 --> 00:32:00,919
and disbelief. They had fought
so hard to get so far

557
00:32:00,959 --> 00:32:03,279
and now, as far
as they were concerned,

558
00:32:03,279 --> 00:32:06,239
their leaders, who were all men,
were selling them out.

559
00:32:06,279 --> 00:32:09,760
I think that they were very much
dedicated to upholding the ideas

560
00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:12,680
of the Easter Rising
and the Proclamation.

561
00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:16,160
All of their husbands had gone out
to fight for those ideals.

562
00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:18,319
Many of them had been executed

563
00:32:18,319 --> 00:32:21,239
after putting their names
onto the proclamation

564
00:32:21,239 --> 00:32:23,839
which promised full sovereign
independence

565
00:32:23,839 --> 00:32:28,000
and equality, basically,
across religion and gender lines.

566
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:32,000
And so I think that they took
those ideals very seriously.

567
00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:37,360
All of the women say that they were
not fighting for dominion status

568
00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:40,639
they weren't fighting to be part
of the British empire.

569
00:32:40,639 --> 00:32:43,000
They were fighting for a republic

570
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:45,440
that was going to give them
equal rights,

571
00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:49,199
equal opportunities, equal suffrage

572
00:32:49,199 --> 00:32:51,760
and that was what was
so important to them.

573
00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:57,319
Pro-treaty political leaders,
basically, tried to pigeonhole

574
00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:01,639
the women as hysterical,
as bloodthirsty,

575
00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:03,120
as demanding vengeance.

576
00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:07,000
Essentially being irrational,
that's how they explain it.

577
00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:11,000
Here's a quote from PS O'Hegarty
who's a real prominent supporter

578
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:14,080
of the pro-treaty side. He said,

579
00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:16,480
"They have become practically
unsexed,

580
00:33:16,519 --> 00:33:20,360
their mothers' milk blackened
to make gunpowder.

581
00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:24,319
Their minds working on nothing
save hate and blood."

582
00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:28,599
Wow. So it really gives you a flavour
of this visceral reaction

583
00:33:28,599 --> 00:33:33,199
to the women and this idea
that somehow it's their gender

584
00:33:33,199 --> 00:33:34,440
which is irrational.

585
00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:37,639
But what's actually going on,
do you think there?

586
00:33:37,639 --> 00:33:42,000
What they're doing is they're taking
their status as widows

587
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:45,800
and basically saying that they can't
possibly be rational

588
00:33:45,839 --> 00:33:48,040
because of this loss
they've suffered.

589
00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:51,040
It's a real neat political trick

590
00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:54,120
to take your opponent's
greatest strength

591
00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:57,199
and turn it into
their greatest weakness.

592
00:34:02,559 --> 00:34:05,040
(EARNER-BYRNE)
Civil war broke out in 1922

593
00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:07,360
between the pro-treaty Free State
forces

594
00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:09,518
and anti-treaty Republicans.

595
00:34:09,518 --> 00:34:12,760
All the widows of the men executed
in 1916

596
00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:15,279
took the anti-treaty Republican side.

597
00:34:15,279 --> 00:34:18,360
And immediately began
to pay the price for it.

598
00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:25,680
(O'KEEFFE) Maud Gonne MacBride,
Kathleen Clark

599
00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:30,040
and Grace Plunkett were all arrested
at various stages in 1923.

600
00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:32,879
Maud Gonne famously went on
a 20-day hunger strike.

601
00:34:32,879 --> 00:34:35,959
And Grace Plunkett, who was arrested
in February 1923,

602
00:34:35,959 --> 00:34:37,800
was lodged in Kilmainham Gaol,

603
00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:40,839
the very place where she'd been
married seven years before,

604
00:34:40,839 --> 00:34:44,080
the very place her husband had faced
an execution squad.

605
00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:49,000
Many of the children of the 1916
widows were by this stage

606
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:51,440
old enough to take part
in the anti-treaty side

607
00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:53,000
against the Free State.

608
00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:56,199
They too were arrested at a time
when the Free State

609
00:34:56,199 --> 00:34:57,879
was starting to execute prisoners

610
00:34:57,879 --> 00:35:01,160
in reprisal for attacks
on their forces.

611
00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:03,639
Seamus Mallin is
the son of Michael Mallin.

612
00:35:03,639 --> 00:35:05,518
He's the son of Agnes Mallin.

613
00:35:05,559 --> 00:35:06,959
He's arrested.

614
00:35:06,959 --> 00:35:09,199
Sean MacBride is the son
of Major John MacBride,

615
00:35:09,199 --> 00:35:11,760
the son of Maud Gonne.
He's arrested.

616
00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:15,120
Ina Connolly, Nora Connolly,
Roddy Connolly,

617
00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:19,400
the children of James Connolly
and Lily Connolly, they're arrested.

618
00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:23,639
And all of those people are subject
to potential execution.

619
00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:29,120
We know that Sean MacBride
could have been executed

620
00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:33,360
but for a decision by the Free State
that it would backfire on them

621
00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:36,080
to execute the son
of an Easter Rising leader.

622
00:35:36,080 --> 00:35:37,879
The same with Seamus Mallin.

623
00:35:37,879 --> 00:35:40,680
But that didn't do anything
to allay the fears

624
00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:43,080
of their mothers during that time.

625
00:35:43,080 --> 00:35:45,239
So there's a tremendous irony
in the experience

626
00:35:45,279 --> 00:35:48,719
of the widows of 1916 across
the entire revolutionary period

627
00:35:48,719 --> 00:35:51,360
because all of the widows
of the 1916 leaders

628
00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:54,120
take an anti-treaty position.

629
00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:57,120
It is remarkable how quick
the pivot comes

630
00:35:57,160 --> 00:36:00,120
and they now become
enemies of the state.

631
00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:03,160
They become enemies of the state
that, in many ways,

632
00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:06,239
was born out of the sacrifices
of their husbands.

633
00:36:06,239 --> 00:36:10,000
They become enemies of the state
that continues to invoke

634
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:12,400
the names and the memories
of their husbands

635
00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:15,120
while viciously attacking
their widows.

636
00:36:23,959 --> 00:36:26,839
(EARNER-BYRNE) The Civil War ended
in 1923

637
00:36:26,839 --> 00:36:28,760
with the Free State forces winning.

638
00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:33,639
However, they now faced the challenge
of building a new state.

639
00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:38,559
The new Irish state like many others
struggled with a real increase

640
00:36:38,559 --> 00:36:42,040
in widows and orphans after almost
a decade of conflict.

641
00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:45,400
Indeed, many Irish contemporaries
saw how the state

642
00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:48,680
was going to treat widows as a test
of what kind of country it was to be.

643
00:36:48,719 --> 00:36:51,480
As one official commented towards
the end of the 1920,

644
00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:54,000
it was a real source of shame
to see Irish widows

645
00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:56,919
parading their poverty.
Forced to beg from charities

646
00:36:56,919 --> 00:37:00,360
and various sources
to scrape together an income.

647
00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:03,160
We know that widows were the single
biggest category in need

648
00:37:03,199 --> 00:37:05,080
in the new Irish state.

649
00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:07,639
But we also know that the assistance
they received

650
00:37:07,639 --> 00:37:10,919
was rarely enough and often
ungenerously given.

651
00:37:13,319 --> 00:37:16,480
The evidence for the new Free State's
first attempts

652
00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:18,559
to deal with the problem are found

653
00:37:18,559 --> 00:37:20,879
in the Military Service Pensions
collection

654
00:37:20,879 --> 00:37:23,440
in the Military Archives in Dublin.

655
00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:25,919
The Military Service Pension
collection is an archive

656
00:37:25,919 --> 00:37:28,800
of interrelated administrative
file series

657
00:37:28,839 --> 00:37:32,518
recognising the service
of those who fought

658
00:37:32,518 --> 00:37:34,760
during the Irish Revolutionary
period.

659
00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:37,199
It is the biggest collection
in existence

660
00:37:37,199 --> 00:37:39,400
covering that period of time.

661
00:37:40,879 --> 00:37:45,639
Starting in 1923, the Irish Free
State enacted a series of legislation

662
00:37:45,639 --> 00:37:48,959
that granted pensions to certain
people who were wounded

663
00:37:48,959 --> 00:37:52,800
and the dependents of people who were
killed during the Irish Revolution.

664
00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:56,000
Qualifying for a pension
was often quite difficult.

665
00:37:57,680 --> 00:38:00,239
The difficulty in getting pensions
is really set

666
00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:03,199
by the restrictive nature
of the legislation.

667
00:38:03,239 --> 00:38:06,000
There's not a lot of money
to go around.

668
00:38:06,040 --> 00:38:08,800
You know, the Irish Free State
starts poor.

669
00:38:08,839 --> 00:38:13,199
You can see that had a pension
been given to everyone,

670
00:38:13,199 --> 00:38:16,518
the spending would have been
completely out of control.

671
00:38:16,559 --> 00:38:18,760
We were, and I quote here,
these are not my words,

672
00:38:18,760 --> 00:38:22,480
"If we were to give a pension
to everyone who served a cup of tea

673
00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:25,599
during the War of Independence
it would be untenable."

674
00:38:25,599 --> 00:38:27,199
So they are restricted.

675
00:38:30,599 --> 00:38:33,080
Many applicants had to go through
a difficult process

676
00:38:33,080 --> 00:38:36,680
to prove their military service,
their financial circumstances,

677
00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:39,239
and that they were
who they said they were.

678
00:38:39,239 --> 00:38:40,719
There were often long delays

679
00:38:40,719 --> 00:38:43,919
before an application was rejected
or approved.

680
00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:53,559
For the widows of the dead in 1916,

681
00:38:53,559 --> 00:38:57,319
they are set apart
from the very beginning.

682
00:38:57,360 --> 00:39:00,839
Yet there are still delays,
there are still frustrations.

683
00:39:00,839 --> 00:39:03,719
We have a letter
on the James Connolly file

684
00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:06,319
from General Mulcahy who was then
minister for defence,

685
00:39:06,319 --> 00:39:10,040
basically, why is it taking so long?

686
00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:12,319
And I quote,
"It shouldn't take one day

687
00:39:12,319 --> 00:39:14,680
to verify that James Connolly died
in 1916.

688
00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:17,440
And it shouldn't take one day to
verify that Lily Connolly

689
00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:20,239
is his widow."
What's the wait?

690
00:39:20,239 --> 00:39:23,599
So the frustration is there also
on their side.

691
00:39:23,599 --> 00:39:26,360
But it is a lot more
straightforward.

692
00:39:36,599 --> 00:39:39,959
The pension process was more
complicated for Agnes Mallin.

693
00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:42,839
Even though her husband Michael
Mallin was executed

694
00:39:42,839 --> 00:39:45,279
in the aftermath of the 1916 Rising,

695
00:39:45,279 --> 00:39:48,080
he hadn't actually signed
the Proclamation.

696
00:39:48,080 --> 00:39:50,919
As a result, Agnes and her family
were treated differently

697
00:39:50,919 --> 00:39:53,559
to the widows and families
of those who did sign

698
00:39:53,559 --> 00:39:55,760
and she got less money as a result.

699
00:39:58,760 --> 00:40:02,518
The signatories were ones
who were singled out

700
00:40:02,518 --> 00:40:06,199
as being the widows of the nation,
if you like,

701
00:40:06,199 --> 00:40:10,480
and the ones who got more
compensation

702
00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:12,719
for the death of their husbands.

703
00:40:12,760 --> 00:40:16,440
So it wasn't really based
necessarily on need,

704
00:40:16,440 --> 00:40:19,480
but on the, kind of, status.

705
00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:22,719
Agnes Mallin had
a really difficult time.

706
00:40:22,719 --> 00:40:24,440
She had very little money.

707
00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:27,719
Later on, she does work, you know,
she works as a night nurse,

708
00:40:27,719 --> 00:40:30,559
she works
as a school truancy officer

709
00:40:30,559 --> 00:40:34,160
but she's always, throughout her
later life,

710
00:40:34,160 --> 00:40:36,199
in difficulty for money.

711
00:40:38,518 --> 00:40:42,760
While we know quite a lot about what
happened to Lily, Grace, Aine,

712
00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:44,080
and the other widows

713
00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:46,680
because they were the widows
of the men executed

714
00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:49,040
after the 1916 Rising,

715
00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:51,080
what about the thousands
of other women

716
00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:53,000
who became widows
during this period?

717
00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:55,518
What were their experiences,
losing their breadwinner

718
00:40:55,559 --> 00:40:58,319
and possibly having small children
to raise.

719
00:40:58,319 --> 00:41:01,000
The widows ran the risk
if they asked for help

720
00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:02,919
of having their children
taken into care

721
00:41:02,919 --> 00:41:04,959
and possibly sent
to an industrial school.

722
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:07,518
In the end, we can't know
about all these stories

723
00:41:07,518 --> 00:41:11,639
but the stories of the 1916 widows
give us at least an insight

724
00:41:11,639 --> 00:41:15,518
into the human dimension of
bereavement during the early decades

725
00:41:15,518 --> 00:41:16,719
of the 20th century.

726
00:41:16,719 --> 00:41:19,360
(SOMBRE MUSIC)

727
00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:33,080
During its early years,
the new Free State

728
00:41:33,080 --> 00:41:35,518
had to grapple with
a lot of instability.

729
00:41:35,518 --> 00:41:38,279
It needed to restore order
as quickly as possible

730
00:41:38,279 --> 00:41:42,440
and it also need to assert what
its new identity was going to be.

731
00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:48,639
In terms of morality, for example,
and behaviour,

732
00:41:48,639 --> 00:41:54,120
what sort of sense do you get
about what people were expecting

733
00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:56,719
or hoping for from the Free State?

734
00:41:56,760 --> 00:42:00,879
The Free State had to reassure the
conservative elements in society,

735
00:42:00,879 --> 00:42:04,440
the church, the morality
you've traditionally upheld

736
00:42:04,440 --> 00:42:07,199
is our morality,
we're determined to do the same

737
00:42:07,199 --> 00:42:09,879
we'll be a lot better than the Brits
ever were at this.

738
00:42:09,919 --> 00:42:12,879
Like any nationality, the Irish
people thought they were better

739
00:42:12,879 --> 00:42:15,680
than anybody else, and certainly
better than the English.

740
00:42:15,719 --> 00:42:18,800
And the English, you know,
had this Anglo-Saxon materialism.

741
00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:23,279
And they were very corrupt,
they had very low morals.

742
00:42:23,279 --> 00:42:26,959
One of the ways the new Free State
differentiated itself

743
00:42:26,959 --> 00:42:29,959
was by leaning more
into Catholic ideology.

744
00:42:29,959 --> 00:42:32,120
This impacted in several ways.

745
00:42:33,400 --> 00:42:36,040
Increasingly, nationalist
and Catholic identities

746
00:42:36,080 --> 00:42:38,680
were becoming one and the same thing.

747
00:42:38,680 --> 00:42:41,040
And central to maintaining
this identity

748
00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:43,000
was a particular idea of the family.

749
00:42:44,040 --> 00:42:48,080
(BUCKLEY) The new Irish Free State
was very much centred on the family.

750
00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:50,559
And there was a particular
type of family

751
00:42:50,559 --> 00:42:52,400
where there's a male breadwinner

752
00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:54,879
and women are primarily
within the home.

753
00:42:54,879 --> 00:42:58,518
And the way that that is endorsed
is through legislation

754
00:42:58,518 --> 00:43:01,480
which is really influenced
by Catholic social teaching.

755
00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:05,040
So divorce is made illegal,
even though it had not really

756
00:43:05,040 --> 00:43:08,080
been an option for many women
and men prior to that.

757
00:43:08,080 --> 00:43:10,239
Women's bodies and their
reproductive rights

758
00:43:10,239 --> 00:43:11,800
are being curtailed.

759
00:43:11,800 --> 00:43:15,400
Laws are used to ban the sale
of contraceptives.

760
00:43:15,440 --> 00:43:19,559
What this is doing is curtailing
women and it's putting forward

761
00:43:19,599 --> 00:43:22,680
a very idealised version
of the Irish family.

762
00:43:24,199 --> 00:43:28,440
And so, the Free State that is setup
is very conservative,

763
00:43:28,480 --> 00:43:32,319
social values are predicated on
class and middle-class values.

764
00:43:32,319 --> 00:43:35,360
For the widows of 1916,

765
00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:37,959
and for all of the political women
who had campaigned

766
00:43:37,959 --> 00:43:42,879
through cultural nationalism,
feminism, militant nationalism,

767
00:43:42,879 --> 00:43:45,279
this Free State is not the state
they wanted.

768
00:43:45,279 --> 00:43:47,120
This is not the state
they had fought for.

769
00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:50,599
In many ways,
the state that came into being

770
00:43:50,599 --> 00:43:53,400
was a huge disappointment
to them.

771
00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:57,160
But a lot of them realised
that they have to continue fighting

772
00:43:57,160 --> 00:43:58,879
and they do that differently.

773
00:43:58,879 --> 00:44:03,040
They do it as social activism,
they do it through local politics.

774
00:44:03,080 --> 00:44:06,639
They do it through campaigns
on healthcare,

775
00:44:06,680 --> 00:44:08,360
on social housing.

776
00:44:08,360 --> 00:44:10,518
And then you have women
like Kathleen Clark

777
00:44:10,559 --> 00:44:13,000
who do it through national politics.

778
00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:16,879
Firstly as a TD,
and then in the Senate.

779
00:44:16,919 --> 00:44:20,959
And she consistently is a voice

780
00:44:20,959 --> 00:44:23,599
harking back
to the Proclamation of 1916.

781
00:44:23,599 --> 00:44:26,719
And I think for a lot of the women,
we come back to that again and again

782
00:44:26,719 --> 00:44:28,959
and that promise of equality,

783
00:44:28,959 --> 00:44:31,760
that promise
of a republic of equality.

784
00:44:42,599 --> 00:44:45,719
Despite the efforts to push them out
of the public sphere,

785
00:44:45,719 --> 00:44:48,000
and relegate all women to the home,

786
00:44:48,000 --> 00:44:52,440
many women campaigned on, especially
in the area of social care.

787
00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:54,800
Some of their efforts paid off,

788
00:44:54,800 --> 00:44:59,040
and in 1935, the Irish government
finally enacted legislation

789
00:44:59,080 --> 00:45:03,040
designed to provide financial
assistance to all qualifying widows.

790
00:45:08,959 --> 00:45:12,719
So, Orlaith, we have
the 1935 Pension Act there

791
00:45:12,719 --> 00:45:16,040
introduced by the Widows and Orphans
of Ireland.

792
00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:19,080
What difference did it make to them?
Was it a very generous scheme?

793
00:45:19,120 --> 00:45:22,080
It wasn't a very generous scheme,
it was 10 shillings a week,

794
00:45:22,120 --> 00:45:25,319
but in a way, it was,
for many women,

795
00:45:25,319 --> 00:45:29,800
a liberation from, you know,
the hard slog that it was

796
00:45:29,800 --> 00:45:33,400
when they had to go from charity to
charity, small job to small job

797
00:45:33,400 --> 00:45:34,719
to small job.

798
00:45:34,719 --> 00:45:37,959
It created a foundation whereby
it was never going to be enough,

799
00:45:37,959 --> 00:45:41,279
and I think it was such,
that it would never be enough

800
00:45:41,279 --> 00:45:43,199
and they'd have to supplement
their income.

801
00:45:43,199 --> 00:45:46,559
But in a way, it created some kind
of a solid basis

802
00:45:46,599 --> 00:45:48,400
whereby they could ensure

803
00:45:48,400 --> 00:45:51,199
that there was food on the table
for their children.

804
00:45:53,480 --> 00:45:57,719
This, in many ways, is the
culmination of those female voices

805
00:45:57,719 --> 00:46:01,000
and those female activists
after the revolutionary period

806
00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:06,279
who continued to be activists,
albeit in the realm of social care

807
00:46:06,279 --> 00:46:08,800
and social reform.

808
00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:11,400
This Act is the state's
demonstration

809
00:46:11,400 --> 00:46:14,120
of its recognition
of what went before

810
00:46:14,120 --> 00:46:16,919
but also of its responsibility
to what will come afterwards

811
00:46:16,919 --> 00:46:19,360
in terms of supporting
the most vulnerable

812
00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:23,000
but in particular, our widows
and orphans in Irish society.

813
00:46:36,080 --> 00:46:38,559
The executed leaders
of the Easter Rising

814
00:46:38,559 --> 00:46:41,400
will always be icons
of modern Irish history.

815
00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:45,080
But for the widows
of the Easter Rising,

816
00:46:45,080 --> 00:46:47,040
their execution was slow.

817
00:46:47,080 --> 00:46:49,360
Their execution went on for years.

818
00:46:49,360 --> 00:46:52,000
And they carried with them
through all of that

819
00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:54,279
their own personal grief and loss,

820
00:46:54,279 --> 00:46:57,919
their responsibility
as lone parents,

821
00:46:57,919 --> 00:47:00,919
their responsibility for
their own political commitment

822
00:47:00,919 --> 00:47:03,239
which was really important to them,
and then,

823
00:47:03,239 --> 00:47:07,000
this additional responsibility
of being almost surrogates

824
00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:10,239
for the symbolic presence
of their husbands.

825
00:47:17,839 --> 00:47:20,959
These women's names should be as
recognisable as their husbands'.

826
00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:23,319
Lily Connolly, Kathleen Clark,

827
00:47:23,319 --> 00:47:26,239
Maud Gonne, Agnes Mallin,
Aine Ceannt,

828
00:47:26,239 --> 00:47:28,800
Muriel MacDonagh and Grace Plunkett.

829
00:47:28,839 --> 00:47:34,199
They are hugely important figures
in Irish history in their own right.

830
00:47:36,279 --> 00:47:38,559
As the role of women
in the Irish Free State

831
00:47:38,559 --> 00:47:40,800
became increasingly contested,

832
00:47:40,800 --> 00:47:43,719
the not insignificant contribution
of the Easter widows

833
00:47:43,719 --> 00:47:47,319
and other women like them
was airbrushed out of history.

834
00:47:47,319 --> 00:47:50,959
The official record recording only
the activities of their husbands

835
00:47:50,959 --> 00:47:53,279
and the other men
who fought in the Rising.

836
00:47:55,440 --> 00:47:59,199
The new Ireland that their husbands'
deaths helped to create

837
00:47:59,199 --> 00:48:03,839
turned out to not really have a place
for the widows of 1916 after all.

838
00:48:03,839 --> 00:48:07,040
It didn't really have a place
for any other women either.

839
00:48:07,040 --> 00:48:11,400
The promise of equality as enshrined
in the 1916 Proclamation

840
00:48:11,400 --> 00:48:14,518
became an ongoing
and unfinished project

841
00:48:14,559 --> 00:48:16,719
that still continues to this day.

842
00:48:18,360 --> 00:48:20,919
When reflecting on her parents' role
in history,

843
00:48:20,919 --> 00:48:23,040
Agnes Mallin's daughter once wrote,

844
00:48:23,040 --> 00:48:26,719
"I've often thought it was my mother
who was the heroic one."

845
00:48:26,719 --> 00:48:30,120
A different definition of heroic
than that we've come to associate

846
00:48:30,120 --> 00:48:33,360
with the 1916 Rising,
but every bit as true

847
00:48:33,360 --> 00:48:36,279
when we consider the lives
that these women lived,

848
00:48:36,279 --> 00:48:40,319
their sacrifices, resilience
and courage.

849
00:48:40,319 --> 00:48:43,680
Perhaps it was every bit as brave
for the widows

850
00:48:43,680 --> 00:48:48,559
to keep on living for Ireland
as it was for the men to die for it.

851
00:49:03,080 --> 00:49:05,080
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