Countess Markievicz

Born Constance Gore-Booth, Constance became Countess Markievicz when she married a Polish count named Casimir Markievicz in 1899. Constance has played a major part of Irish history and Irish independence. She was part of Inghinide na hEireann (Daughters of Ireland) and she set up Cumann na mBan (an army branch for women), the Irish Citizen Army and Fianna Éireann (a boy scout like youth organisation). Constance also advocated for women's right to vote and was elected as the first woman to the UK House of Commons after she fought in the 1916 Easter Rising and avoided being executed for her gender alongside Eamonn de Valera who also avoided execution as he had an American passport. Constance abstained from her seat alongside other Sinn Fein members in favour of becoming the first Minister for Labour in the First Dáil. Constance opposed of the Anglo Irish Treaty which gave Ireland dominion status and having have an oath of Allegiance to the British monarch (who at that time was King George V) instead of being given total independence and she left Sinn Fein in 1926 and joined Fianna Fáil. Constance died of appendicitis in 1927 and is now interred in Dublin's Glasnevin Cemetery.