Mabel Washington Fitzgerald (4 July 1884 – 24 April 1958) was an Irish republican, suffragette, and socialist. She took part in the 1916
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the a ...
and the
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...
. She was the mother of
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...
Garret FitzGerald
Garret Desmond FitzGerald (9 February 192619 May 2011) was an Irish Fine Gael politician, economist and barrister who served twice as Taoiseach, serving from 1981 to 1982 and 1982 to 1987. He served as Leader of Fine Gael from 1977 to 1987, and ...
and wife of
Desmond FitzGerald.
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. McConnell received her early education at
Victoria College in Belfast, and went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts from
Queen's University Belfast
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in 1906. At Queen's, she developed her positions on republicanism, women's rights and her socialist politics along with her sister Eilis. She had a strong interest in the
Irish language
Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...
. She was a member of the
Women's Social and Political Union
The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and ...
,
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...
and the
Gaelic League
(; historically known in English as the Gaelic League) is a social and cultural organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as its first president, when it emer ...
.
After graduating, McConnell 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
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...
. She worked for a time as a school teacher in
Ilford. In 1909, she was a secretary to
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
for several months while his permanent secretary, Judy Gilmore, was ill. She continued to remain friends with Shaw and his wife, maintaining a correspondence for a number of years.
Family
McConnell 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 see her, FitzGerald attended political meetings and soon became as active. In March 1911 she did secretarial work for George Moore. In later years FitzGerald wrote to Shaw to urge him to support Irish separatism.
She and FitzGerald eloped in 1911 when she discovered she was pregnant; they lived in France until moving to
Dingle
Dingle (Irish language, Irish: ''An Daingean'' or ''Daingean Uí Chúis'', meaning "fort of Ó Cúis") is a town in County Kerry, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The only town on the Dingle Peninsula, it sits on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coas ...
, County Kerry in March 1913. They were later expelled from Kerry by the British as they were suspected of signalling the Germans. The couple then moved to
Bray. They had four children:
Desmond (1911–1987), Pierce (1914–1986), Fergus (1920–1983) and Garret (1926–2011). Her son Garret followed his father into Irish politics, becoming
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...
twice.
Easter Rising and War of Independence
McConnell Fitzgerald was in the
General Post Office
The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Before the Acts of Union 1707, it was the postal system of the Kingdom of England, established by Charles II in 1660. ...
, 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.
She was the organiser of her husband's election campaign in 1918 with the phrase "''Put Him In To Get Him Out''", since at the time he was in fact in gaol in
Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...
as a result of his nationalist activities. He was duly elected and joined the
Irish Dáil, refusing to take up his seat in Westminster.
Civil War and after
McConnell Fitzgerald had been on the executive council of
Cumann na mBan
Cumann na mBan (; literally "The Women's Council" but calling themselves The Irishwomen's Council in English), abbreviated C na mB, is an Irish republican women's paramilitary organisation formed in Dublin on 2 April 1914, merging with and di ...
from 1918 until 1921, when she resigned. 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
Ernest Bernard Malley ( ga, Earnán Ó Máille; 26 May 1897 – 25 March 1957) was an IRA officer during the Irish War of Independence. Subsequently, he became assistant chief of staff of the Anti-Treaty IRA during the Irish Civil War. O'Malley ...
, suggest that while her husband was
Minister for External Affairs in the government during the
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...
, she remained opposed to the Treaty. Later she came to agree more with her husband's point of view, especially after the assassination of
Kevin O'Higgins
Kevin Christopher O'Higgins ( ga, Caoimhghín Críostóir Ó hUigín; 7 June 1892 – 10 July 1927) was an Irish politician who served as Vice-President of the Executive Council and Minister for Justice from 1922 to 1927, Minister for External ...
. She converted to Catholicism in 1943. She also became more conservative as she got older, less impressed with the results of universal suffrage.
She also taught in the school started and run by
Louise Gavan Duffy. While she retired from political life to raise her family, her husband went on to be
Minister for Defence
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
and a
Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Mabel McConnell
1884 births
1958 deaths
Alumni of Queen's University Belfast
Mothers of Taoisigh
Paramilitaries from Belfast
People of the Easter Rising
People of the Irish War of Independence
Women in war 1900–1945
Women in war in Ireland
Irish suffragettes
People educated at Victoria College, Belfast