On this day in 1886, Kathleen Cruise O Brien (née Sheehy), teacher, suffragist, author, playwright and Irish language enthusiast was born in Loughmore, Co. Tipperary.
Kathleen, daughter of nationalist MP David Sheehy, went to UCD where she studied Irish. She was devoted in a deep sense to Irish language and culture, spending time on the Aran Islands to perfect her linguistic skills, and scolded her parents’ generation for abandoning their national language. Under the name Caitlín Níc Shíothaigh, she wrote Irish grammar and textbooks in the 1920s and also developed an Irish language version of shorthand.
In 1908, she was a founding member of the Women’s Franchise League and was also an active member in the Young Ireland Branch (YIB) of the United Irish League which was the only branch of the UIL that admitted women to their ranks.
In 1911, she married the nationalist journalist Francis Cruise O’ Brien- a match frowned upon by most of her family. The only family members that supported her were her sister Hanna and Hanna’s husband, Francis Sheehy Skeffington. Kathleen and Francis Cruise O Brien had one child, Conor Cruise O’ Brien who would later become a politician, diplomat and man of letters.
In 1916, all three of Kathleen’s brothers-in-law died. Francis Sheehy Skeffington was executed by the British in the wake of the Easter Rising despite not being involved. Thomas Kettle, former nationalist MP, was killed at the battle of the Somme and Bernard Culhane died after a long illness.
Kathleen wrote several plays including ‘Apartments’ which was performed at the Abbey Theatre in 1923.
She died in her home in Dublin in 1938 after suffering a stroke.
Sources:
https://ballingearyhs.com/.../dao.../kathleen-cruise-obrien/
