1 00:00:02,279 --> 00:00:06,320 Speaker 1: Hello, and Happy Saturday. Constance Markovitch was born a hundred 2 00:00:06,320 --> 00:00:09,800 Speaker 1: and fifty five years ago on February four, eight sixty eight. 3 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:13,039 Speaker 1: She was an Irish political activist and the first woman 4 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:15,840 Speaker 1: elected to the British Parliament and played a role in 5 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:20,320 Speaker 1: the Easter Rising of nineteen sixteen. When we originally aired 6 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:23,360 Speaker 1: this episode, we've re aired our prior episode on the 7 00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:27,160 Speaker 1: Easter Rising as a Saturday Classics shortly beforehand. We are 8 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:29,880 Speaker 1: not doing that this time around, since at least so far, 9 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 1: we haven't really been repeating Saturday Classics, but just for 10 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:35,680 Speaker 1: folks who are interested in more on that part of 11 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:38,000 Speaker 1: her story, it is still in our feed. It originally 12 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:43,320 Speaker 1: aired on April. This episode originally aired on March nineteen 13 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:50,920 Speaker 1: Enjoy Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class a 14 00:00:51,000 --> 00:01:01,400 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. Hello and Welcome to the podcast. 15 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:05,160 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy be Wilson and I'm Holly fry So. Back 16 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:08,959 Speaker 1: in and also as our most recent Saturday Classic, we 17 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 1: did an episode on the Easter Rising, that was an 18 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 1: armed rebellion that struck Ireland in nineteen sixteen, and in 19 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:19,240 Speaker 1: that episode we made a couple of brief mentions of 20 00:01:19,319 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: Constance Markavitch, and I made an aside that she was 21 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: one of the most fascinating characters that I learned about 22 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:27,760 Speaker 1: while we're searching that episode, and that if I had 23 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:30,840 Speaker 1: found out about her earlier, the episode might have been 24 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:35,280 Speaker 1: all about her of about the Easter Rising in general. 25 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:38,280 Speaker 1: So she's been on my short list ever since then, 26 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:40,960 Speaker 1: which probably gives you a sense of how long my 27 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:43,520 Speaker 1: short list is, since that was two years ago and 28 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: we are just now getting around to it. We've also 29 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 1: gotten a few requests for a show on her recently, 30 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 1: so I thought it was finally time for her to 31 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:53,320 Speaker 1: make it up to the top of that list. There 32 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: was a lot of conflict in Ireland during this period 33 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 1: of history, and Constance Markovitch was involved in a lot 34 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:06,280 Speaker 1: of it. So we're not going to get back into 35 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:09,839 Speaker 1: the details of the Easter Rising again. That is why 36 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:12,680 Speaker 1: we had it as our most recent Saturday Classic for 37 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:14,760 Speaker 1: maybe folks who are newer to the show or don't 38 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:16,960 Speaker 1: really remember, so that is easy to find in the 39 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:20,680 Speaker 1: archive um for that part of the story, but there's 40 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:22,800 Speaker 1: a lot more to talk about, so we're not going 41 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:26,960 Speaker 1: to get into the Easter Rizing so much today. Constance 42 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:32,440 Speaker 1: Markovitch was born Constance Georgine gore Booth on February four eight. 43 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:35,800 Speaker 1: Her father was Henry gore Booth and her mother was 44 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 1: Georgina may Hill. Constance was their oldest child, and she 45 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 1: was born in a townhouse that the family kept near 46 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:46,360 Speaker 1: Buckingham Palace in London. She'd eventually have four younger siblings, 47 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: so she was always closest to her sister Ava, who 48 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:53,400 Speaker 1: was two years younger. Constance grew up and was educated 49 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:57,120 Speaker 1: at Lisadell House. Although her mother was from Yorkshire. On 50 00:02:57,200 --> 00:03:00,160 Speaker 1: her father's side, the family had lived in this of 51 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:04,080 Speaker 1: Ireland since sixty one. That was when Paul Gore was 52 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: made a baronet and granted part of the land that 53 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:10,320 Speaker 1: would become Lisadella State. The house itself that she was 54 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:12,880 Speaker 1: raised in was a lot newer than that, though it 55 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: was only about thirty years old when Constance was born. 56 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:19,440 Speaker 1: This was a forty eight room country house decorated with 57 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 1: paintings by the old masters, and there the young Constance 58 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:27,880 Speaker 1: was educated by governesses and tutors. She was described as 59 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:32,079 Speaker 1: a happy child, high spirited, and excellent on horseback. Her 60 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 1: father made repeated expeditions to the Arctic, almost as a hobby, 61 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:37,960 Speaker 1: and he seemed to raise his oldest daughter with the 62 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:41,560 Speaker 1: same eye for adventure. She was also tomboyish, and she 63 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:44,520 Speaker 1: didn't like most of the activities that were considered feminine. 64 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:47,280 Speaker 1: She did like to draw into sketch, and she was 65 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:49,960 Speaker 1: considered to be quite good at it, and she got older, 66 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:52,760 Speaker 1: she also learned to shoot, and she developed a fondness 67 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:58,120 Speaker 1: for playing pranks on people. This is a very affluent family. 68 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 1: Constance and her family were part of the Protestant Ascendancy, 69 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:03,600 Speaker 1: and this was a term that was coined in the 70 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 1: eighteenth century to describe the domination of majority Catholic Ireland 71 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:11,720 Speaker 1: by a Protestant and mostly English minority. It was also 72 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:16,400 Speaker 1: used to describe the members of the Protestant aristocracy that 73 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:19,760 Speaker 1: were part of this domination as well. So even though 74 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:22,680 Speaker 1: this term came into use in the eighteenth century, the 75 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:26,440 Speaker 1: practices involved with it went back much farther. They were 76 00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:30,520 Speaker 1: largely associated with Oliver Cromwell's conquest of Ireland and with 77 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: the period following the Glorious Revolution in six eight The 78 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:39,760 Speaker 1: Protestant Ascendancy turned former Irish Catholic landowners into tenant farmers 79 00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:43,960 Speaker 1: working for Protestant landlords, many of whom were English, and 80 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:47,960 Speaker 1: generations later these landlords were not viewed as properly Irish 81 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 1: and were instead described as Anglo Irish. Constance's father had 82 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:56,360 Speaker 1: at least a thousand families as tenants, although some of 83 00:04:56,400 --> 00:05:00,560 Speaker 1: his tenants managed huge acreages that they subdi bided and 84 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:04,400 Speaker 1: then least two other tenants, so he had these direct 85 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:07,520 Speaker 1: tenants and then sort of an indirect pool of tenants 86 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 1: that some of his tenants are managing. A lot of 87 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:13,039 Speaker 1: this property was adjoining Litadel, but some of it was 88 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:17,240 Speaker 1: in Manchester. To be clear, this entire system of Protestant 89 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:20,800 Speaker 1: landowners managing land that had previously been owned by Irish 90 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:25,440 Speaker 1: Catholics directly was exploited and unjust, and it contributed to 91 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:29,760 Speaker 1: a lot of problems in Irish history. But as landlords went, 92 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 1: Henry gore Booth had a reputation for being fair and reasonable. 93 00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:38,680 Speaker 1: Many Protestant landlords were basically absentee landlords, but the gore 94 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:41,800 Speaker 1: Booth family was in residence at Lisadel for at least 95 00:05:41,839 --> 00:05:45,839 Speaker 1: part of every year. Henry gore Booth also charged lower 96 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:48,160 Speaker 1: rents than the market value, and he ran the whole 97 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:52,400 Speaker 1: enterprise in a very organized thoroughly documented way with orderly, 98 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:56,640 Speaker 1: up to date bookkeeping. If this seems like a really 99 00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:01,800 Speaker 1: low bar kind of is is, but it's also indicative 100 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 1: of like how messed up this whole system was. That 101 00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:07,599 Speaker 1: like that was the blar that made a person just 102 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:11,119 Speaker 1: be seen as a good landlord. He also did seem 103 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:16,159 Speaker 1: to treat his tenants pretty compassionately, if also paternalistically. In 104 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:19,120 Speaker 1: the late eighteen seventies, just a couple of decades after 105 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:24,279 Speaker 1: the Great Famine in Ireland, heavy rains crossed widespread crop failures, 106 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:26,799 Speaker 1: and for a lot of Irish tenants this meant going 107 00:06:26,839 --> 00:06:29,600 Speaker 1: to a workhouse and losing their homes and their land. 108 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:34,240 Speaker 1: Many of Henry gore Booth's tenants still wound up in workhouses, 109 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:36,440 Speaker 1: but he arranged for them to go to one that 110 00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:41,000 Speaker 1: he personally oversaw without having to forfeit their lands or 111 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:43,680 Speaker 1: their homes to do it. So still a bad situation, 112 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 1: but not as bad as it could have been. The 113 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:49,320 Speaker 1: rest of the family was part of this approach as well. 114 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:53,680 Speaker 1: During this same time, Lady gore Booths, Constance and the 115 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 1: older children set up a food distribution system for the tenants, 116 00:06:57,440 --> 00:06:59,919 Speaker 1: and they arranged delivery of straw to homes where they 117 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:03,800 Speaker 1: weren't any beds. Both Constance and Eva tried to be 118 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:07,280 Speaker 1: benevolently helpful, and apparently they were genuine enough about it 119 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:10,320 Speaker 1: that they really endeared themselves to the tenants, who they 120 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:15,120 Speaker 1: referred to as country people. In eighteen eighty six, when 121 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 1: Constance turned eighteen, she spent six months in Italy with 122 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:22,200 Speaker 1: a governess before making her formal debut. She was presented 123 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:25,400 Speaker 1: to Queen Victoria as a debutante on March seventeenth, eighteen 124 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:28,360 Speaker 1: eighty seven, which was during the Queen's Golden Jubilee. Year 125 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 1: After her debut, Constant spent several seasons in London, where 126 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:35,920 Speaker 1: she was always described as the life of the party. 127 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 1: Although she was popular, her behavior wasn't considered very ladylike. 128 00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 1: While the other young women in London tended to be 129 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:47,960 Speaker 1: coy and demure, Constance was vivacious and direct. Those pranks 130 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:50,480 Speaker 1: that she liked to play on people could also be 131 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:53,200 Speaker 1: kind of mocking and mean spirited, which may have turned 132 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:57,440 Speaker 1: off some suitors. She could also be very daring. One night, 133 00:07:57,520 --> 00:08:00,520 Speaker 1: she actually jumped out of her carriage to physically get 134 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:02,800 Speaker 1: in between two men who were fighting on the street, 135 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:05,880 Speaker 1: calling for other passers by to come help her break 136 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:10,120 Speaker 1: up the fight. In one oft repeated story from this 137 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:13,520 Speaker 1: time in Constances life, one night a male guest at 138 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:17,160 Speaker 1: Lisadel was making a number of unwanted advances toward her, 139 00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:19,280 Speaker 1: and then he was seated next to her at dinner. 140 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:22,400 Speaker 1: While they were eating, he put his hand on her 141 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:25,440 Speaker 1: knee and her response was to pick it up, hold 142 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:28,800 Speaker 1: it up for everyone to see, and exclaim, just look 143 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:32,959 Speaker 1: what I have found in my lap. That's a pretty 144 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:37,160 Speaker 1: good story. By the time she turned twenty five, tensions 145 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:40,800 Speaker 1: were high between Constants and her parents. She was basically 146 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:43,120 Speaker 1: a spinster at that point, and she was seen as 147 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:46,800 Speaker 1: an annoyance and a burden as they were all increasingly 148 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:50,000 Speaker 1: at odds with each other at home. Constance started asking 149 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:52,360 Speaker 1: to go away to art school, and she spent more 150 00:08:52,400 --> 00:08:56,679 Speaker 1: time on art than socializing during her eight season in London. 151 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:00,600 Speaker 1: They finally gave her permission to go to the Slade 152 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:03,000 Speaker 1: School in London, which we will get to After a 153 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:15,240 Speaker 1: quick sponsor break, Constant started studying art at the Slade 154 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:18,400 Speaker 1: School in London in eightee. She still spent a lot 155 00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:22,040 Speaker 1: of time back home in Sligo, but just being able 156 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:25,600 Speaker 1: to have some measure of independence helped to ease some 157 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:29,000 Speaker 1: of the tension between her and her parents. Constance and 158 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:32,960 Speaker 1: her sister Ava started socializing with lots of artists and writers, 159 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:36,840 Speaker 1: including William Butler Yates, who had ongoing connections with the 160 00:09:36,840 --> 00:09:39,600 Speaker 1: gore Booth family and with the part of Ireland that 161 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:44,640 Speaker 1: they were living in. In Constance, Ava and their sister 162 00:09:44,800 --> 00:09:48,960 Speaker 1: Mabel became focused on the issue of women's suffrage. Together 163 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:52,440 Speaker 1: they started a Votes for Women organization in County Sligo, 164 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:56,640 Speaker 1: with Constance serving as president, Ava as secretary, and Mabel 165 00:09:56,760 --> 00:09:59,959 Speaker 1: as treasurer. And a speech at one of their meeting 166 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:04,199 Speaker 1: Constants posed the question of why, if women were so incompetent, 167 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:08,600 Speaker 1: had there been no enormous uprising against Queen Victoria. She 168 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:13,760 Speaker 1: also argued against organizations having separate auxiliary units just for women, 169 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:16,840 Speaker 1: because doing so set up women as a separate class 170 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:21,800 Speaker 1: from men. In eight Constance continued her study of art 171 00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:24,400 Speaker 1: by moving to Paris to study at a studio run 172 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:28,559 Speaker 1: by Rodolph Julienne. She was at this point completely dedicated 173 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:31,760 Speaker 1: to this study, even wearing a wedding ring to symbolize 174 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:35,200 Speaker 1: that she was married to art. But not long after 175 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:38,559 Speaker 1: arriving in Paris, she met Polish playwright and artist Count 176 00:10:38,679 --> 00:10:44,480 Speaker 1: Casimir Markovic. Constance and Casimir were immediately taken with each other. 177 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:47,800 Speaker 1: He was tall and handsome and six years younger than 178 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:51,360 Speaker 1: she was. He was also a very good painter. He was, 179 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:54,760 Speaker 1: being from Poland, very unlike most of the people that 180 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:58,079 Speaker 1: she had known in her life. He was also married, 181 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:00,680 Speaker 1: although his wife died in eight ninety nine, just a 182 00:11:00,679 --> 00:11:03,960 Speaker 1: few weeks after he and Constance met. By the time 183 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:07,520 Speaker 1: Kasimir's wife died, he and Constance were already quite close. 184 00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:11,160 Speaker 1: They had a passionate romance that involved lots of bicycling 185 00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:13,960 Speaker 1: and at one point, a duel that Casimir fought to 186 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:18,160 Speaker 1: defend Constance's honor after someone insulted her at a costume ball. 187 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:24,320 Speaker 1: On September hundred, they got married. Constance's younger sister, Mabel, 188 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:27,360 Speaker 1: who had been engaged for years, also got married not 189 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:30,960 Speaker 1: long after, suggesting that the family was traditional enough to 190 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:34,240 Speaker 1: insist that the oldest daughter get married before the younger ones. 191 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:38,920 Speaker 1: Although Kasimir styled himself as a count, it is not 192 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:43,480 Speaker 1: completely clear whether he actually was one. If he did 193 00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:45,920 Speaker 1: have some kind of title, he did not have a 194 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:49,040 Speaker 1: lot of money, and even though Constance came from quite 195 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:51,559 Speaker 1: a lot of money. Her father had died in January 196 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:55,280 Speaker 1: of nineteen hundred and virtually the entire estate was settled 197 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:59,079 Speaker 1: on her brother. So as the newlywed couple divided their 198 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:02,640 Speaker 1: time among pair riss Lisadel and the Markovic family estates 199 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:05,400 Speaker 1: in Poland, they mostly did it with the financial help 200 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:09,679 Speaker 1: of the family. On November nineteen o one, they had 201 00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:13,840 Speaker 1: a daughter named Mayev. In nineteen o three, the Markovic 202 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:16,480 Speaker 1: family moved to a home in wrath Guar, which was 203 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:18,760 Speaker 1: at the time its own village but today is a 204 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:22,720 Speaker 1: suburb of Dublin. Constance's mother had secured the house for 205 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:27,160 Speaker 1: them and was also largely raising young Mave. Stanislaus, the 206 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:30,000 Speaker 1: count's son by his first marriage, moved into the wrath 207 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:32,760 Speaker 1: car home and may have visited from time to time. 208 00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:37,560 Speaker 1: While living in Ireland, Constance and Casimir started spending more 209 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:41,400 Speaker 1: and more time among artistic and literary circles, and they 210 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:45,560 Speaker 1: joined an art society with William Butler Yates and George A. E. Russell, 211 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:51,080 Speaker 1: and Constance became increasingly interested in Irish nationalism. She met 212 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:54,079 Speaker 1: Maud Gonne, who was the founder of the Irish Nationalist 213 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:58,080 Speaker 1: Women's organization Daughters of Ireland, and started becoming involved in 214 00:12:58,120 --> 00:13:04,880 Speaker 1: other nationalist organizations. At first, Constance's involvement in Irish nationalism 215 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:07,800 Speaker 1: was viewed with suspicion. It didn't make a lot of 216 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:11,040 Speaker 1: sense that the oldest daughter of an ascendancy family would 217 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:14,960 Speaker 1: take the side of Irish nationalists at all. After all, 218 00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:17,360 Speaker 1: she was part of a minority ruling class that was 219 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:20,320 Speaker 1: almost the exact opposite of the idea of a free, 220 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:24,920 Speaker 1: independent Ireland. Aside from Ava, her relatives didn't approve of 221 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:28,800 Speaker 1: the connections she was making, and those connections suspected she 222 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:32,680 Speaker 1: was really a spy. She stuck with it, though, even 223 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:36,360 Speaker 1: as she and Kasimir started to drift apart. When they met, 224 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:39,720 Speaker 1: they had both had a tremendous passion for art in common, 225 00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:44,920 Speaker 1: and now Constance's passion was becoming Irish nationalism and fighting 226 00:13:44,960 --> 00:13:47,120 Speaker 1: for a free Ireland. And this was a passion that 227 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:51,559 Speaker 1: Kasimir just didn't share. You wouldn't necessarily think he would 228 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:55,520 Speaker 1: share it, he was not Irish. Earlier in their marriage, 229 00:13:55,600 --> 00:13:58,839 Speaker 1: Constance had styled herself as a countess because she had 230 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:02,040 Speaker 1: married account but as they grew apart, she started calling 231 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:05,640 Speaker 1: herself madam, which was a fashionable thing to do among 232 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:09,800 Speaker 1: women in the movement. In the early nineteen hundreds, there 233 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:14,319 Speaker 1: were several different nationalists and separatist organizations operating in Ireland 234 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:17,720 Speaker 1: who wanted Ireland to be independent from the British Empire. 235 00:14:18,559 --> 00:14:22,120 Speaker 1: In nineteen o five, Arthur Griffith established shin Fayne meaning 236 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:26,920 Speaker 1: We Ourselves or Ourselves Alone, which absorbed some of these organizations. 237 00:14:27,680 --> 00:14:31,440 Speaker 1: Constance began attending chin Fayn meetings in nineteen o eight 238 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:35,080 Speaker 1: and she joined its council in nineteen o nine. Also 239 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:38,760 Speaker 1: in nineteen o nine, she co founded Nafenna Aaron also 240 00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:42,000 Speaker 1: known as just the Fienna, which was an Irish nationalist 241 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:46,560 Speaker 1: scouting organization for boys. Part of its purpose was paramilitary. 242 00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:49,840 Speaker 1: They were training boys and marksmanship and drilling and basically 243 00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:53,840 Speaker 1: preparing them to join nationalist and republican militia as they 244 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:56,640 Speaker 1: got older. A lot of these boys were living in 245 00:14:56,680 --> 00:15:00,480 Speaker 1: extreme poverty and thinking that a country life would help them. 246 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:04,560 Speaker 1: Constance least a large country house and basically operated it 247 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:08,640 Speaker 1: as a commune for them. Sometimes, the Fianna was known 248 00:15:08,680 --> 00:15:12,040 Speaker 1: to pick fights with some of the more affluent Anglo 249 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:15,080 Speaker 1: Irish boys and more wealthy neighborhoods, which was something that 250 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:20,600 Speaker 1: Constance tacitly allowed. Throughout all of this, Constance also became 251 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:24,320 Speaker 1: more serious about feminism, but she didn't see this issue 252 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:27,880 Speaker 1: as separate from Irish nationalism. From her point of view, 253 00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:29,640 Speaker 1: it would do no good for women to have the 254 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:32,240 Speaker 1: right to vote if Ireland did not have its own 255 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:35,520 Speaker 1: parliament to represent them, and it wasn't just about having 256 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:38,040 Speaker 1: the right to vote, because that was the right men had. 257 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:40,760 Speaker 1: Every person who had the right to vote needed to 258 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:44,360 Speaker 1: be making an active and positive contribution to the society 259 00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:48,160 Speaker 1: they were living in. So she thought Ireland needed to 260 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:52,000 Speaker 1: be its own free nation, and that a free Ireland 261 00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:55,720 Speaker 1: also needed to incorporate equal rights for women as its 262 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:59,560 Speaker 1: core identity as a nation. She also felt that a 263 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:02,480 Speaker 1: free Ireland needed to be free of the kinds of 264 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:06,040 Speaker 1: wealth disparities that she had personally benefited from for her 265 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:12,120 Speaker 1: whole life. So in reality, Constance's political views united feminism, socialism, 266 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:16,200 Speaker 1: and Irish nationalism all into one package. And in this 267 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:20,280 Speaker 1: work Constance gave speeches she wrote and edited for a 268 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:24,880 Speaker 1: feminist journal in En She demonstrated against a visit of 269 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:28,400 Speaker 1: King George the Fifth and Queen Mary, avoiding arrest herself 270 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:30,800 Speaker 1: but having to bail out one of her friends and 271 00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:34,360 Speaker 1: later testify that she, not the man on trial, was 272 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:37,320 Speaker 1: the one who had burned a flag in protest. This, 273 00:16:37,400 --> 00:16:39,280 Speaker 1: by the way, did not sway the court, and the 274 00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:43,240 Speaker 1: man in question went to prison. In nineteen twelve, Constants 275 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:45,760 Speaker 1: and some of her friends started serving Irish stew to 276 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:48,640 Speaker 1: school children, both to feed them because they were living 277 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:51,480 Speaker 1: in poverty, and also to draw attention to the fact 278 00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:55,000 Speaker 1: that a law that was allowing local authorities to provide 279 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:59,040 Speaker 1: school lunches had been written not to include Ireland, where 280 00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:02,400 Speaker 1: a disproportioned a number of school children were living in poverty. 281 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:07,200 Speaker 1: She did similar work during the nineteen Dublin lockout. This 282 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:10,520 Speaker 1: was a massive labor dispute in which companies responded to 283 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:14,800 Speaker 1: growing efforts to unionize by locking employees out of their jobs. 284 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:18,919 Speaker 1: This dispute started at the Dublin United Tramway Company and 285 00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:23,840 Speaker 1: then spread out through other industries. Eventually, about twenty workers 286 00:17:23,840 --> 00:17:26,359 Speaker 1: in Dublin had been locked out of their jobs, and 287 00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:31,480 Speaker 1: violent clashes between workers and police were ongoing. Constance Markovich 288 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:34,720 Speaker 1: and Delia Larkin, who was the sister of labor organizer 289 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:38,080 Speaker 1: James Larkin, ran a soup kitchen during this lockout that 290 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:43,000 Speaker 1: fed about three thousand people a day. By August thirteen, 291 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:46,600 Speaker 1: James Larkin was a wanted man. He stayed at the 292 00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:50,040 Speaker 1: Markovitch home on August that year, and then the next 293 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:53,439 Speaker 1: day Constance and some others helps to smuggle him past 294 00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:57,040 Speaker 1: police presence so that he could make a promised public appearance. 295 00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:01,080 Speaker 1: That appearance did not last long. The he got onto 296 00:18:01,119 --> 00:18:04,880 Speaker 1: a balcony at the Imperial Hotel, where police promptly spotted 297 00:18:04,960 --> 00:18:08,600 Speaker 1: him and arrested him. When Larkin was being escorted to 298 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:11,800 Speaker 1: a police car, Constance went to tell him goodbye and 299 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:14,560 Speaker 1: good luck, and a police officer struck her in the 300 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:18,760 Speaker 1: face with the baton. This sparked a melee between police 301 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:21,439 Speaker 1: and workers in which two men were killed with police 302 00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:25,160 Speaker 1: batons and more than four hundred people, including both workers 303 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:28,840 Speaker 1: and police, were injured. This incident became one of several 304 00:18:28,920 --> 00:18:34,040 Speaker 1: days in history known as Bloody Sunday. Anytime somebody sends 305 00:18:34,119 --> 00:18:36,080 Speaker 1: us a message asking if we will do a podcast 306 00:18:36,119 --> 00:18:38,880 Speaker 1: on Bloody Sunday, I have to ask which one. There 307 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:40,720 Speaker 1: are so many that there are in fact two in 308 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:45,800 Speaker 1: this episode. The Doublin Lockout is often cited as one 309 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:49,120 Speaker 1: of the precursors to the nineteen sixteen Easter Rising, which 310 00:18:49,119 --> 00:19:00,520 Speaker 1: we're going to touch on. After a sponsor break, Constance 311 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:03,720 Speaker 1: Markovitch continued her work with the Soup Kitchen during the 312 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:07,680 Speaker 1: remainder of the Dublin Lockout, which ended unsuccessfully at least 313 00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:10,640 Speaker 1: from the workers point of view, in nineteen fourteen. Basically 314 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:13,680 Speaker 1: at that point everyone was returning for work having gotten 315 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:17,080 Speaker 1: none of the improvements that they were trying to campaign for. 316 00:19:18,119 --> 00:19:21,840 Speaker 1: By then, her marriage to Casimir Markovitch was basically over. 317 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:25,600 Speaker 1: Their split was amicable, though, and he left Ireland in 318 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:28,760 Speaker 1: nineteen thirteen to take a position as a war correspondent. 319 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:33,960 Speaker 1: Tensions in Ireland were continuing to escalate. The Government of 320 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:38,320 Speaker 1: Ireland Act was given Royal assent on September eighteenth, nineteen fourteen, 321 00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:41,399 Speaker 1: which was intended to give Ireland home rule within the 322 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:45,240 Speaker 1: United Kingdom, but on the same day the Suspensary Act 323 00:19:45,280 --> 00:19:49,000 Speaker 1: of nineteen fourteen delayed the Government of Ireland Act from 324 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:52,399 Speaker 1: being put into effect because of World War One. No 325 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:56,239 Speaker 1: one in Ireland was happy with this situation. Unionists who 326 00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:59,199 Speaker 1: wanted to remain part of Great Britain objected to the 327 00:19:59,240 --> 00:20:02,479 Speaker 1: Government of Land Act in general, as did the Radical 328 00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:06,840 Speaker 1: Republicans who wanted Ireland to be independent, and the moderate faction, 329 00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:08,960 Speaker 1: who were happy for Ireland to be part of the 330 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:12,120 Speaker 1: UK as long as they had home rule, were angry 331 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:16,760 Speaker 1: that the Government of Ireland Act had been delayed. This conflict, 332 00:20:17,119 --> 00:20:20,439 Speaker 1: which I mean this had been building for years, eventually 333 00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:23,360 Speaker 1: led to the nineteen sixteen Easter Rising, which was an 334 00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:28,359 Speaker 1: armed uprising against British rule in Ireland. Our previous episode 335 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:33,119 Speaker 1: has more detail on the rising itself. Constance Markovitch joined 336 00:20:33,280 --> 00:20:36,719 Speaker 1: the Irish Citizen Army and acted as a liaison officer 337 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:40,240 Speaker 1: during the Easter Rising. She also acted as a sniper, 338 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:43,280 Speaker 1: and when she was finally arrested, she famously kissed her 339 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:47,680 Speaker 1: pistol before surrendering it. Markovitch was one of many women 340 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:50,000 Speaker 1: who took part in the Easter Rising, but she was 341 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:53,240 Speaker 1: the only one who was court martialed. Afterward, she was 342 00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:55,280 Speaker 1: kept in a cell by herself, and while she was 343 00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:59,000 Speaker 1: awaiting sentence, she and all the other prisoners could hear 344 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:01,680 Speaker 1: the executions of those who had been sentenced to death 345 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:05,040 Speaker 1: being carried out every morning. In the end, she was 346 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:07,760 Speaker 1: found guilty and sentenced to death, but her sentence was 347 00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:11,119 Speaker 1: commuted to life in prison with hard labor on account 348 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:13,919 Speaker 1: of her gender. When she was given the news, she 349 00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:18,600 Speaker 1: said she'd wish they'd had the decency to shoot her. Eventually, 350 00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:21,520 Speaker 1: she was moved to Mountjoy Jail, where she could no 351 00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:25,600 Speaker 1: longer hear her compatriots being executed every morning, and where 352 00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:29,080 Speaker 1: her family could visit her. When her sister brought her 353 00:21:29,119 --> 00:21:31,480 Speaker 1: the news that James Connolly, who was one of the 354 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:34,199 Speaker 1: most prominent figures in the Rising, somebody she had been 355 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:38,080 Speaker 1: working with for a long time, had been executed, Constance asked, 356 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:42,040 Speaker 1: why didn't they let me die with my friends. Authorities 357 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:45,000 Speaker 1: were worried that Constance would develop a following if she 358 00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:47,879 Speaker 1: was kept in a prison in Ireland, so she was 359 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:50,320 Speaker 1: transferred to a prison in England, where she was placed 360 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:54,400 Speaker 1: in the general prison population. She and the other incarcerated 361 00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:57,760 Speaker 1: women were housed in squalor, only allowed to write one 362 00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:00,880 Speaker 1: letter a month, and fed barely enough to keep them alive. 363 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:06,760 Speaker 1: While imprisoned, she converted to Catholicism. Most of the surviving 364 00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:09,720 Speaker 1: participants in the Easter Rising were released from prison in 365 00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:13,399 Speaker 1: the spring of nineteen seventeen. Constance was released on June 366 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:16,720 Speaker 1: eighteenth of that year. She returned to Dublin to a 367 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:20,240 Speaker 1: hero's welcome and was formally received into the Catholic Church 368 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:24,159 Speaker 1: a week later. Though she was being treated as a celebrity. 369 00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:27,560 Speaker 1: Markovic picked right up where she had left off. She 370 00:22:27,600 --> 00:22:31,240 Speaker 1: continued to be involved in numerous organizations, including being president 371 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:34,720 Speaker 1: of kuman Aman, chief scout of the Fiena, a major 372 00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:38,760 Speaker 1: of the Irish Citizen Army, on and on. She was 373 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:42,320 Speaker 1: also elected to the Shenfean Executive Council and soon she 374 00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:46,000 Speaker 1: and other members were back in prison, partly because of 375 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:49,280 Speaker 1: anti conscription activities. Again this was during World War One, 376 00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:52,359 Speaker 1: and partly because the British government just didn't think it 377 00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:55,480 Speaker 1: was possible to both fight World War One and fight 378 00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:59,040 Speaker 1: Irish nationalists at the same time, so they imprisoned all 379 00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:02,359 Speaker 1: the movements leaders. This time, though, she was treated as 380 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:05,919 Speaker 1: a political prisoner rather than being in the general prison population. 381 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:10,280 Speaker 1: A general election was called in the United Kingdom immediately 382 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:13,200 Speaker 1: after the end of World War One. It was held 383 00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:18,400 Speaker 1: on December fourteenth, nineteen eighteen. Shin Fayn ran Constance Markovic 384 00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:21,320 Speaker 1: as its candidate for the St Patrick division of Dublin. 385 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:25,119 Speaker 1: She won by a wide margin, defeating an incumbent of 386 00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:27,919 Speaker 1: twenty six years and becoming the first woman to be 387 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:31,199 Speaker 1: elected as a member of Parliament. She was at the 388 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:35,439 Speaker 1: time in prison. In spite of half of its candidates 389 00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:38,920 Speaker 1: being incarcerated at the time, seventy three members of shin 390 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:42,880 Speaker 1: Fain were elected in nineteen eighteen. They defeated candidates from 391 00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:46,679 Speaker 1: the Irish Parliamentary Party in almost all of Ireland. This 392 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:50,840 Speaker 1: was a huge upset. Those who were free, which was 393 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:53,840 Speaker 1: the portion of them were not in prison at the time, 394 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:58,920 Speaker 1: didn't take their their seats in Westminster, though in Parliament convened. Instead, 395 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:03,080 Speaker 1: they formed the First Doyle, which was basically a parliament 396 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:06,399 Speaker 1: for the Irish Republic. Aimon de Valera, who had been 397 00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:09,480 Speaker 1: a leader in the Easter Rising, had been spared execution 398 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:12,679 Speaker 1: because he was an American citizen, meaning that he wasn't 399 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:16,280 Speaker 1: guilty of treason. He was elected President of the Doyle 400 00:24:16,359 --> 00:24:18,800 Speaker 1: and he made Markovic, who is still in prison, his 401 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:22,600 Speaker 1: Minister of Labor. She was finally released from prison in 402 00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:27,320 Speaker 1: March of nineteen nineteen. She and the other She and 403 00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:29,720 Speaker 1: the other members of the movement who were imprisoned were 404 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:34,200 Speaker 1: basically released out of the fear of the ongoing flu pandemic. 405 00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:37,960 Speaker 1: Officials were worried that if they contracted influenza and died 406 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:41,160 Speaker 1: in prison, they would all become martyrs. By this point, 407 00:24:41,359 --> 00:24:45,119 Speaker 1: guerrilla warfare had been underway for months and what became 408 00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:48,080 Speaker 1: known as the Irish War of Independence or the Anglo 409 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:53,720 Speaker 1: Irish War. As Minister of Labor, Constance kept strict security procedures, 410 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:57,720 Speaker 1: instituted a labor court to resolve disputes, and basically tried 411 00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:01,040 Speaker 1: to mediate between shin Faine and the Labor Party. Her 412 00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:03,359 Speaker 1: Department of Labor worked out of a building that claimed 413 00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:07,560 Speaker 1: to be an apartment leasing office and also contained several pianos, 414 00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:10,560 Speaker 1: so people working there could pretend to be giving piano 415 00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:14,320 Speaker 1: lessons if there was a police raid. Does make it 416 00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:20,359 Speaker 1: super clear what was going on. Uh. Rather than joining 417 00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:23,120 Speaker 1: the rest of the members of parliament in the regular 418 00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:26,600 Speaker 1: British Parliament, they had founded their own parliament, which they 419 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:29,679 Speaker 1: were having to operate in secret because it wasn't actually 420 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:31,760 Speaker 1: legal for them to be doing it, and at some 421 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:34,840 Speaker 1: points various members of that parliament were doing so from prison. 422 00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:40,600 Speaker 1: I find this whole thing fascinating. So Consence was arrested 423 00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:43,960 Speaker 1: again in October of nineteen nineteen. During all of this. 424 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:48,040 Speaker 1: By that point the Doyle and most of the organizations 425 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:51,320 Speaker 1: that she was involved with had all been outlawed. After 426 00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:54,000 Speaker 1: her release, she managed to run the Department of Labor 427 00:25:54,359 --> 00:25:58,000 Speaker 1: while in hiding for several months before being arrested once 428 00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:01,000 Speaker 1: again in September of nineteen e when the car that 429 00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:04,320 Speaker 1: she was riding in was pulled over by police. This time, 430 00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:08,320 Speaker 1: while in prison, she learned to speak Irish. This is 431 00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:11,400 Speaker 1: that moment I've had several, but it's that moment when 432 00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:14,760 Speaker 1: I was looking over this earlier where I'm like, she 433 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:20,240 Speaker 1: was born a rich, spoiled girl. Yes, we're gonna talk 434 00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:22,600 Speaker 1: about that a little bit more at the end. Yeah, 435 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:25,240 Speaker 1: It's just it's one of those times where you particularly 436 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,280 Speaker 1: these times in prison that clearly were very transformative for her. 437 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:31,760 Speaker 1: I'm always like, this is so far removed from probably 438 00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:34,320 Speaker 1: what anyone who knew her as a child thought her 439 00:26:34,359 --> 00:26:38,359 Speaker 1: life path would be. Throughout all of this violence was 440 00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:41,840 Speaker 1: going on in Ireland, including another Bloody Sunday, this one 441 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:46,080 Speaker 1: on November twenty one, which started with the assassination of 442 00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:49,879 Speaker 1: several British intelligence officers in Dublin and ended with the 443 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:54,199 Speaker 1: Royal Irish Constabulary and British Auxiliary Division Police killing at 444 00:26:54,240 --> 00:27:00,240 Speaker 1: least thirteen spectators during a Gaelic football match. On December ten, 445 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:04,320 Speaker 1: twenty Parliament passed the Government of Ireland Acts that attempted 446 00:27:04,359 --> 00:27:08,480 Speaker 1: to partition Ireland into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland, with 447 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:13,399 Speaker 1: two separate parliaments that each had two different home rule jurisdictions, 448 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:16,480 Speaker 1: but because of this ongoing violence and the Irish War 449 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:19,800 Speaker 1: of Independence, this never really went into effect in the 450 00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:24,040 Speaker 1: southern part of Ireland. Instead, just under a year later, 451 00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:28,080 Speaker 1: after lengthy negotiations, representatives of the British government and of 452 00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:33,159 Speaker 1: the Irish Republic signed the Anglo Irish Treaty, which established 453 00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:37,239 Speaker 1: what had formerly been designated as Southern Ireland as the 454 00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:42,879 Speaker 1: Irish Free State Constance. Markovic, Aimon de Valera and many 455 00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:46,840 Speaker 1: other Irish nationalists did not agree with this treaty. They 456 00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:50,800 Speaker 1: wanted Ireland to be its own self governing republic, but 457 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:53,720 Speaker 1: the Anglo Irish Treaty set up an Irish Free State 458 00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:57,600 Speaker 1: within the British Empire. Members of the Free States Parliament 459 00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:00,159 Speaker 1: were also required to take an oath of allegiance to 460 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:05,000 Speaker 1: the Crown, which its most nationalist members, including Markovitch, refused 461 00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:08,840 Speaker 1: to do. There was a walk out of like this. 462 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:12,560 Speaker 1: This treaty was ultimately passed on the Irish side by 463 00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:15,639 Speaker 1: a kind of narrow majority, and there was a mass 464 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:18,440 Speaker 1: walkout of the people who didn't agree with it after 465 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:22,920 Speaker 1: it had been signed. Markovitch left Ireland for a time 466 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:25,640 Speaker 1: after the signing of the Anglo Irish Treaty. She traveled 467 00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:28,160 Speaker 1: both to Paris and then to the United States, and 468 00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:31,320 Speaker 1: there she went on a lecture tour to support total 469 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:35,399 Speaker 1: Irish independence. When she got home, she found that Ireland 470 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:38,880 Speaker 1: once again was being struck by violence, now in the 471 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:43,800 Speaker 1: Irish Civil War, which was between Irish Republicans and Irish nationalists. 472 00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:46,560 Speaker 1: These are people that had previously been mostly on the 473 00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:51,480 Speaker 1: same side, now against one another. Markovitch, who was now 474 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:55,560 Speaker 1: fifty four, joined the nationalist cause once again, taking up 475 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:59,680 Speaker 1: arms as a sniper. In nine she was arrested and 476 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:04,080 Speaker 1: in prisoned again. Many of the Irish nationalists imprisoned at 477 00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:07,320 Speaker 1: the time had started a hunger strike, which Markovitch joined 478 00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:11,200 Speaker 1: as soon as she was incarcerated. She fasted for three days, 479 00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:13,680 Speaker 1: at which point the strike was called off because of 480 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:16,840 Speaker 1: the death of one of the participants. She was released 481 00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:22,320 Speaker 1: from her final incarceration on Christmas Eve. Out of prison. 482 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:26,160 Speaker 1: Constance Markovitch was really disappointed in what Ireland had become. 483 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:30,200 Speaker 1: She had envisioned a free Ireland that would be a 484 00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:34,840 Speaker 1: radical workers democracy, and instead they add this Irish free 485 00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:37,920 Speaker 1: state that was still part of the British Empire, even 486 00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:39,560 Speaker 1: to the point of having to have an oath of 487 00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:41,800 Speaker 1: allegiance to the Crown if you were going to be 488 00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:45,600 Speaker 1: a member of its parliament. She was also disappointed that 489 00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:48,560 Speaker 1: a lot of the social hierarchies were in place now 490 00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:52,160 Speaker 1: as had been before. She started turning her attention to 491 00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:55,880 Speaker 1: local politics and service, including working with the Wrath Minds 492 00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:59,160 Speaker 1: Urban Council to build wash houses and public baths to 493 00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:02,080 Speaker 1: serve the four a hundred thousand residents who did not 494 00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:05,160 Speaker 1: have running water in their homes. In ninety six, she 495 00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:08,960 Speaker 1: joined Piena Foil, the newly established Irish Republican party, which 496 00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:12,280 Speaker 1: had split off from shin Fain. She continued to be 497 00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:15,200 Speaker 1: politically active for the rest of her life. She died 498 00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:19,160 Speaker 1: in Dublin on July fifteenth, nine seven, not long after 499 00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:23,560 Speaker 1: she had had an appendectomy. Casimir and Stanislaus were both 500 00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:26,000 Speaker 1: with her when she died, although at that point she 501 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:29,680 Speaker 1: was estranged from her daughter mayeve. Her sister Ava died 502 00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:32,400 Speaker 1: the year before, having spent most of her life dedicated 503 00:30:32,440 --> 00:30:36,000 Speaker 1: to social and political issues, working with her lifelong partner 504 00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:39,040 Speaker 1: Esther Roper, who she had been with since eighteen ninety six. 505 00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:43,240 Speaker 1: Constance's funeral was attended by thousands of people, with a 506 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:48,120 Speaker 1: procession that took hours to pass. After her death and 507 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:51,920 Speaker 1: really before, Frankly, people had a lot of disparaging comments 508 00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:57,080 Speaker 1: to make about Constance Markovich. Playwright Sean O'Casey, who was 509 00:30:57,200 --> 00:30:59,480 Speaker 1: in the Irish Citizen Army with her, called her a 510 00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:06,120 Speaker 1: quote Catherine Wheel of irresponsibility. Judge William Evelyn Wiley, who 511 00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:09,200 Speaker 1: was present at her court martial, later on wrote of it, 512 00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:12,160 Speaker 1: saying that she had curled up completely and cried a 513 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:14,440 Speaker 1: lot and said things like I'm only a woman and 514 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:17,680 Speaker 1: you cannot shoot a woman, basically moaning the whole time. 515 00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:21,560 Speaker 1: Official court records say the opposite. They say that she 516 00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:25,240 Speaker 1: actually stood up to the court. In her account, she 517 00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:28,320 Speaker 1: said in court that she had fought for Ireland's independence 518 00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:30,880 Speaker 1: during Easter Week and was as ready to die for 519 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:35,080 Speaker 1: it now as she had been then. Her correspondence during 520 00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:39,000 Speaker 1: her incarcerations, which were I mean this correspondence was consistently 521 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:43,440 Speaker 1: steadfast and resolute and sometimes even optimistic. Also suggests that 522 00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:46,200 Speaker 1: like a teary breakdown and a bunch of moaning and 523 00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:50,280 Speaker 1: court would have been completely out of character for her. Basically, 524 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:53,000 Speaker 1: in the years after her death, she was criticized as 525 00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:55,280 Speaker 1: being a rich dilettante who was just doing all of 526 00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:58,840 Speaker 1: this work for attention. There are, of course, some very 527 00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:02,520 Speaker 1: legitimate conversations to be had about her work, like whether 528 00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:05,240 Speaker 1: it is right to arm young boys and indoctrinate them 529 00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:09,800 Speaker 1: as a separatist paramilitary unit, or whether her unyielding insistence 530 00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:14,200 Speaker 1: on total independence for Ireland was ultimately divisive. I was 531 00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:16,600 Speaker 1: not what a lot of the criticism was about, though. 532 00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:20,600 Speaker 1: It was about, uh so, what she wore, That she 533 00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:23,360 Speaker 1: had my nice uniform made for herself, that she had 534 00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:26,400 Speaker 1: a portrait made of herself with her gun like. People 535 00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:28,480 Speaker 1: made a big deal out of things that she was 536 00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:30,640 Speaker 1: wearing and the way that she talked, and the fact 537 00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:34,200 Speaker 1: that she had come from rich affluence. Uh and the 538 00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:39,000 Speaker 1: whole only doing it for attention claim, I think is 539 00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:42,760 Speaker 1: one that you mainly hear about women and children, uh 540 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:47,400 Speaker 1: and also doesn't really jive with having gone to prison 541 00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:50,800 Speaker 1: repeatedly and been on hunger strikes and done hard labor. 542 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:54,400 Speaker 1: Like none of that really adds up to oh, just 543 00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:59,920 Speaker 1: doing if her attention, which is a gendered and dismissive 544 00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:03,479 Speaker 1: comment to make in the first place. Uh. Some of 545 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:08,440 Speaker 1: the criticisms along those lines have softened in the decades 546 00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:11,440 Speaker 1: since her death, and a portrait of her was presented 547 00:33:11,480 --> 00:33:15,200 Speaker 1: to the Speaker of the House of Commons on February. 548 00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:17,520 Speaker 1: At least it was announced that was going to happen. 549 00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:20,080 Speaker 1: I did not find an article saying that, yes, it 550 00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:23,960 Speaker 1: actually did. Um, it was part The presentation of that 551 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,640 Speaker 1: portrait was part of the year long celebration of the 552 00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:31,560 Speaker 1: Representation of the People Act of nineteen eighteen, which became 553 00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:34,840 Speaker 1: law on February sixth of that year and gave um 554 00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:38,080 Speaker 1: all men over twenty one and all women property owners 555 00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:41,000 Speaker 1: over the edge of thirty the right to vote. So 556 00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:50,600 Speaker 1: it was part of a suffrage celebration. Heay so much 557 00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:53,680 Speaker 1: for joining us on this Saturday. Since this episode is 558 00:33:53,720 --> 00:33:55,760 Speaker 1: out of the archive, if you heard an email address 559 00:33:55,840 --> 00:33:58,000 Speaker 1: or a Facebook U r L or something similar over 560 00:33:58,040 --> 00:34:00,680 Speaker 1: the course of the show, that could be obsolete. Now. 561 00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:05,320 Speaker 1: Our current email address is History Podcast at i heart 562 00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:09,040 Speaker 1: radio dot com. 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