Margaret Buckley (née Goulding; ga, Maighréad Uí Bhuachalla (née Ní Ghabhláin); July 1879 – 24 July 1962) was an Irish republican and

president of Sinn Féin The president of Sinn Féin ( ga, Uachtarán Shinn Féin) is the most senior politician within the Sinn Féin political party in Ireland. Since 10 February 2018, the office has been held by Mary Lou McDonald, following the decision of Gerry Adams ...

from 1937 to 1950. She was the first female leader of Sinn Féin and was the first Irishwoman to lead a political party.

Early life

Born in Cork, the daughter of James Goulding and Ellen Foyle, Margaret joined

Inghinidhe na hÉireann Inghinidhe na hÉireann (; "Daughters of Ireland") was a radical Irish nationalist women's organisation led and founded by Maud Gonne from 1900 to 1914, when it merged with the new Cumann na mBan. Patriotic Children's Treat The Inghinidhe origi ...

, which was founded in 1900, taking an active role in the women's movement. She was involved in anti-British royal visit protests in 1903 and 1907 and was among the group that founded An Dún in Cork in 1910. In 1906, she married Patrick Buckley, described as "a typical rugby-playing British civil servant". After his death she moved into a house in Marguerite Road,

Glasnevin Glasnevin (, also known as ''Glas Naedhe'', meaning "stream of O'Naeidhe" after a local stream and an ancient chieftain) is a neighbourhood of Dublin, Ireland, situated on the River Tolka. While primarily residential, Glasnevin is also home t ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

. Later, she returned to Cork to care for her elderly father.

Revolutionary

Arrested in the aftermath of Easter Rising she was released in the amnesty of June 1917 and played a prominent role in the reorganisation of

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 G ...

. She was involved in the

War of Independence This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence. List See also * Lists of active separatist movements * List of civil wars * List o ...

in Cork.Sinn Féin A Hundred Turbulent Years by Brian Feeney p178 After the death of her father, she returned to Dublin. In 1920, she became a Dáil Court (also known as Republican Courts) judge in the North city circuit, appointed by

Austin Stack Augustine Mary Moore Stack (7 December 1879 – 27 April 1929) was an Irish republican and politician who served as Minister for Home Affairs from 1921 to 1922. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1918 to 1927. Early life Stack was born in Ball ...

, the

Minister for Home Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergenc ...

of the

Irish Republic The Irish Republic ( ga, Poblacht na hÉireann or ) was an unrecognised revolutionary state that declared its independence from the United Kingdom in January 1919. The Republic claimed jurisdiction over the whole island of Ireland, but by ...

. She opposed the

Anglo-Irish Treaty The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...

and was interned in Mountjoy and

Kilmainham Kilmainham (, meaning " St Maighneann's church") is a south inner suburb of Dublin, Ireland, south of the River Liffey and west of the city centre. It is in the city's Dublin 8 postal district. The area was once known as Kilmanum. History In t ...

, where she went on a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

. She was released in October 1923. During her imprisonment, she was elected

Officer Commanding The officer commanding (OC), also known as the officer in command or officer in charge (OiC), is the commander of a sub-unit or minor unit (smaller than battalion size), principally used in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. In other countries, t ...

(OC) of the republican prisoners in Mountjoy,

Quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In ...

(QM) in the North Dublin Union and OC of B-Wing in Kilmainham. She was an active member of the Women Prisoners' Defence League, founded by

Maud Gonne Maud Gonne MacBride ( ga, Maud Nic Ghoinn Bean Mhic Giolla Bhríghde; 21 December 1866 – 27 April 1953) was an English-born Irish republican revolutionary, suffragette and actress. Of Anglo-Irish descent, she was won over to Irish nationalism ...

and

Charlotte Despard Charlotte Despard (née French; 15 June 1844 – 10 November 1939) was an Anglo-Irish suffragist, socialist, pacifist, Sinn Féin activist, and novelist. She was a founding member of the Women's Freedom League, Women's Peace Crusade, and the ...

in 1922. In 1929, she served as a member of

Comhairle na Poblachta Comhairle na Poblachta was an Irish republican organisation established in 1929. The organisation had the support of the IRA, which had agreed to its formation at its General Army Convention in January 1929. The IRA envisaged it as a co-ordinat ...

which unsuccessfully attempted to resolve the differences between Sinn Féin and the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief th ...

. Buckley was also an organiser for the

Irish Women Workers' Union The Irish Women Workers' Union was a trade union which was set up at a meeting on 5 September 1911 in Dublin, Ireland. The meeting had been organized by Delia Larkin. The union was created because other trade unions of the time excluded women work ...

President of Sinn Féin

At the October 1934 Sinn Féin ardfheis, she was elected one of the party's vice-presidents. Three years later in 1937 she succeeded Cathal Ó Murchadha who was a former TD of the second Dáil Éireann as President of Sinn Féin, at an ardfheis attended by only forty delegates, making her the first Irishwoman to lead a political party. When she assumed the leadership of Sinn Féin, the party was not supported by the

(IRA), which had severed its links with the party in 1925. When she left the office in 1950, relations with the IRA had been resolved. As President she began the lawsuit ''Buckley v. Attorney-General'', the Sinn Féin Funds case, in which the party sought unsuccessfully to be recognised as owners of money raised by Sinn Féin before 1922 and held in trust in the High Court since 1924. In 1938, she published her book ''The Jangle of the Keys'' about the experiences of Irish Republican women prisoners interned by the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...

. In 1956, her book ''Short History of Sinn Féin'' was published. She was active in the cause of Sinn Fein well into her late seventies.Thorne, Kathleen, (2014) Echoes of Their Footsteps, The Irish Civil War 1922-1924, Generation Organization, Newberg, OR, pg 226, ISBN 978-0-692-245-13-2 She served as honorary vice-president of

from 1950 until her death in 1962. She was the only member of the ardchomairle of the party not to be arrested during a police raid in July 1957. She died on 24 July 1962 and is buried in

St. Finbarr's Cemetery St. Finbarr's Cemetery () in Cork, Ireland, is the city's largest and one of the oldest cemeteries in Ireland which is still in use. Located on the Glasheen Road, it was first opened in the 1860s. The entrance gateway was erected circa 1865, and ...

, Cork.

References

Sources

"Margaret Buckley, president of Sinn Féin"
'' Saoirse Irish Freedom'', July 1998. {{DEFAULTSORT:Buckley, Margaret 1879 births 1962 deaths 20th-century Irish women politicians Cumann na mBan members Early Sinn Féin politicians Irish feminists Irish republicans interned without trial Leaders of Sinn Féin People of the Irish Civil War (Anti-Treaty side) Politicians from County Cork People from Glasnevin