Winifred Carney: Family Photo, Courtesy of Joan Austin

My thanks to Joan Austin for providing this photo of Winifred, and her mother and two sisters. I just want to share it with The Wild Geese readers.

Hello Joan Austin, thank you so very much for that piece of information that eludes the history records. I will of course alter the article to your specification. I am thrilled to bits that I have connected with a relative of Winifred's. History records vary according to which book or reference's we use; I did honestly believe that I had got the balance right [forgive me}.

 

Views: 1076

Tags: 1916, Easter Rising, Feminism, Socialism, irish Freedom Struggle

Comment by Joan Austin on August 18, 2015 at 10:28am

I am delighted to be able to contribute.  Thank you for taking this this article upon yourself to bring women to the forefront of 1916 and their struggle, with the men, to become "a nation once again."  Well done!


Heritage Partner
Comment by That's Just How It Was on September 2, 2015 at 7:43am

A Nation once again ; A Nation one again ; I remember singing this is school all those years ago. It is about time that the Government of Ireland ; acknowledged that Cumaan na mBan and all the unknown and unsung woem hero's of 1916 were given their due status durin teh Centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising  

Comment by Jackie Mullen on October 16, 2015 at 5:17pm

Hi Joan, 

My name us Jackie Mullen.  I am participating in 77 women quilt project for the 1916 centenery celebrations.  77 women were arrested and jailed after the 1916 rising.  We wish to write these women back into history by making a quilt which will be unveiled at Richmind Barracks, Dublin on international women's day next March.  Each of the 77 women will have a twin.  My twin is Winifred Carney and I am trying to get as much infirmation about her as possible.  Is there a photograh of Winifred later in her life?

You can view this website to see what we are trying to do.  

http://www.richmondbarracks.ie/women-1916/commemoration-quilt/

I would be grateful for any further information about her life.


Heritage Partner
Comment by That's Just How It Was on October 17, 2015 at 6:21am

Hello Jackie Mullen ; I am absolutely delighted that all of these women will get some form of recognition .  I have tried researching any photos of her in her later life ; but have come up with  blank .

Joan Austin was kind enough to comment on my article [have you read it] on the Wild Geese . She said that my article was the most comprehensive that she has ever read about her Aunt Winnie .

However; she and her family would be the best people to ask for photos in her later years , and I see you have done that . 

I woudl absolutely love to be taking part in your project on these women ;;; So delighted that all these women are not going to be forgotten. 

Comment by Jackie Mullen on October 17, 2015 at 2:02pm
Thank you, I am new to this website and have just noticed I have sent you another request. Please ignore this. I am a mature student doing a women's study course and one of our lecturer's invited us to participated not the Quilt project. We are so delighted. These women were so brave and wanted a republic where women were going to be equal citizens. This is what the proclamation promised. I do think they were betrayed though and ended up with a Theocracy.

Heritage Partner
Comment by That's Just How It Was on October 18, 2015 at 11:26am

I agree with you 100% . They w ere betrayed; all of them- . The path to a Free State was born on the backs of all of the 1916 Easter Rising ; both women and men

If you woudl like to use my article ; please do . Someone  else in the USA has asked can they use it and  my other article on Cumann na mBan . All I woudl ask that you attribute you it to me and mention my Book   

By the way I was a mature student in UNI as well ; many, many moons ago , so good luck with your studies  

Watch my video bellow

Youtube: http://youtu.be/oT0oOa0jx28

Comment by Joan Austin on December 5, 2015 at 4:05pm

Hello Jackie Mullen,

I do not believe my grandaunt's main focus was the hope of a free state where men and women were equal. Her heart, and those of her commrades, was to keep Ireland intact.  She NEVER got over Ireland losing the six northern counties after the Rising.  Would she be candidate for a woman's suffrage movement?  You betcha. Yet, what she did and risked with James Connolly was for the whole of Ireland and not her feminism.  


Heritage Partner
Comment by That's Just How It Was on December 6, 2015 at 9:45am

Hello Joan Austin.......... I agree with you on this. Winifred Carney was in  Cumann na mBan movement, to enhance the prospects of a United Ireland. a risk that all of her peers within this movement totally believed in .. My understanding of the historical documents which I have read, leaves me to believe that  'if'' the 1916 Easter Rising had have went in their favor, [which of course we all know it did not ], I do honestly believe   that Winifred Carney woudl have had a  place in James Connolly's Government . She was a very important lady in this movement and everyone of her peers knew this. I just hope that the present Irish Government give all of the Cumann na mBann the credit and honor  them all in some way, come the 100th centenary April 2016  .

  

Comment by Joan Austin on December 6, 2015 at 4:06pm

Dear Mary, 

At the outset, thank you for your kind, affirming words regarding my aunt.  They are appreciated.  However…

Our perspectives undoubtedly differ given our relatives.  I can only speak on behalf of my aunt.  I can still tell you, almost unequivocally, my aunt wouldn’t have given a fiddler’s feck about any role in ‘Connolly’s’ government and that term would probably have had a very negative connotation with Connolly as well as my aunt.   I believe, with all my heart, there was no “I” in my aunt’s focus or Connolly’s.  They and, so many others, fought together to regain complete control of Ireland.  My aunt followed Connolly and supported him because HE GAVE IT HIS ALL without recompense or reward – like so many of that day.   

Are you presently involved in the preservation of Moore Street?

Warmly, Joan


Heritage Partner
Comment by That's Just How It Was on December 7, 2015 at 7:49am

No Joan I am not involved in the preservation of Moor Street , but I will look it up and add my name .

Having personal family knowledge of an loved Aunt I do understand that you have more insight into physic that any history book.  Connolly did give it his all , which is why he was the best man for the job . He did in fact threaten to go it alone , that is why the inner sanctum of the seven Military Leader , Patrick Pearse ; Tom Clarke et.al , were so determined to get him on their side.  ... In his prison cell Patrick Pearse wrote glowing about Connolly . That Winfred Carney was by his side taking dictation while he was in severe pain is testament  , not only to her strong character, but her allegiance to the cause for Irish Freedom. That she would have had a place in any Government or any High Office of Credence, that may have been formed by Connolly, as his confidant , I have no doubt, in my opinion anyway.

She was perceived as Connolly's shadow, always there ready to do whoever was asked of her, with a far superior mind than any other. She instinctively knew what needed to be done, she done many things without being asked, she was in fact a personification of Connolly , only she was a woman .... That Connolly knew all of this , is why she was perceived as was as an adjutant to Connolly [adjutant defined as a staff officer who assists the commanding officer in issuing orders] ... 

No such high office had been bestowed on any other woman during the 1916 Easter Rising . She earned it .

Slainte    

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