On this day in 1961, Clonoulty/Rossmore’s Nora O’Keeffe,revolutionary and feminist who has largely been written out of history, died at the age of 76.
O’Keeffe was a regional organiser of Cumann na mBan, a dispatch courier in the War of Independence and an anti-Treaty propagandist during the Civil War.
She featured in a 2023 TG4 documentary called CroitheRadacacha (Radical Hearts) which explored the hidden stories of eight female couples who were at the core of the Irish Revolution but who have been largely written out of history. O’Keeffe was the lifelong partner of Margaret Skinnider,a sniper who had been injured during the 1916 Rising.
After spending a decade in the United States, O’Keeffe returned to Ireland in 1919, shortly after the War of Independence had begun.O’Keeffe and Skinnider set up home in Fairview, Dublin and joined the localCumann na mBan branch. From their home in Fairview, they stored arms for the IRA and helped combatants who were on the run, including her cousin Sean Treacy. O’Keeffe’s skills as a typist and stenographer made her an effective dispatch courier. She travelled between Dublin, Tipperary and other parts of Munster on Cumann na mBan work. The War Office in London described her as ‘one of the most notorious dispatch riders’ in Ireland.
During the Civil War, O’Keeffe took the anti-Treaty side.She was appointed anti-Treaty publicity agent in Tipperary for Cumann na mBan and the Third Tipperary Brigade. She co-edited the anti-Treaty Chun an Lae from 192 to 1923. She was arrested by Free State forces in February 1923 and spent time in Cork and Kilmainham gaols. O’Keeffe along with hundreds of other Cumannna mBan members were arrested and tried by military courts. Taoiseach W.T.Cosgrave said it was ‘not possible to consider these women as ordinary females.’ O’Keeffe wouldn’t be released until September 1923, months after the conflict had ended.
After the war, O’Keeffe and Skinnider together continued their activism as feminists, trade unionists and republicans. They found that the ‘equality with men’ promised to women in the 1916 proclamation had not materialised in the 1922 Constitution. The 1925 Civil Service Bill limited the ability of women like O’Keeffe to take the Senior Civil Service Exam and when the military service pension acts were introduced in 1924, members of Cumann na mBan were not eligible. O’Keeffe and Skinnider also campaigned unsuccessfully against articles in the 1937 Constitution which positioned women in the home.
Nora O’Keeffe died on this day in 1961. She was buried in Kilpatrick cemetery near Annacarty. Her obituary mentioned her involvement withCumann na mBan and the Third Tipperary Brigade but omitted Skinnider, herpartner of more than 40 years.
Sources:
Mary McAuliffe, ‘Margaret Skinnider’ (2020)
https://www.ucdpress.ie/resources/pdfs/dec%202021/skin%20review.pdf
http://thewildgees.com/creating-nora-a-reflection-on-womens-history-month/
https://www.wikitree.com/photo.php/d/dd/O_Keeffe-252.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nora_O%27Keeffe
