Print, Protest & the Polls: Suffrage Action Recorded in Print

Surviving contemporary photographs, newspapers, and print ephemera record a number of the many varied activities carried out by Irish suffragists in their efforts to win public and political support and achieve the right to vote. These records show brave and innovative forms of public protest, and their effective promotion and publicity of the cause.

The introduction and overview page for the Print, Protest & the Polls exhibition is here.
Print, Protest and the Polls exhibition, lead image
Irish Independent newspaper cutting, circa 1913; courtesy of private collector
Irish Independent newspaper cutting, circa 1913; courtesy of private collector

This press cutting was retained by suffragette Louisa (Isa) Lawler. Isa was the founding secretary/manager of Dublin’s Gate Theatre, and was married to Hector Hughes, a co-founder of the Irish Socialist Party. Isa was the founding secretary/manager of Dublin’s Gate Theatre, and was married to Hector Hughes, a co-founder of the Irish Socialist Party. Isa Lawler can  be  viewed  in  the  newspaper  clipping  on  the  second  from  the  left,  where  she  is  seen  campaigning  with  the  Irish  Women’s  Franchise  League  (IWFL)  on  the  streets  of  Dublin.  The  photograph  shows  how  the  suffragettes  worked  hard  to  display  an  alternative  image  of  their  campaign  to  the  public  in  contrast  to  the  negative  representations  showing  them  to  be  violent,  angry,  and  masculine.  The  newspaper  cutting  records  how  the  campaigners  sold  “fruit,  flowers  and  Suffragette  literature”,  and  played  “street  organs  in  aid  of  the  cause”.

Framed photograph of Isa Lawler c. 1913; courtesy of private collector
Framed photograph of Isa Lawler c. 1913; courtesy of private collector

The picture frame shows a portrait of suffragette Isa Lawler alongside a copy of a poem written by her husband Hector.  The opening letter of each line of the poem spells out Isa’s full name – Louisa – and the content speaks about her work as a suffragette.  It is likely that the poem was originally printed in a copy of the Irish Citizen.

WSPU letter, February 1912; courtesy of private collector
WSPU letter, February 1912; courtesy of private collector

This  letter,  owned  by suffragette Isa Lawler, gives  instructions  to  suffragette  volunteers  on  what  to  do  after  their  arrest  following  militant  activity  in  Westminster. It is signed by the WSPU  leader,  Emmeline  Pankhurst.  Isa  was  a  militant  suffragette  with  the  IWFL,  and  was  imprisoned  for  breaking  three  panes  of  glass  in  a  window  of  the  GPO  in  Dublin  in  1912.  In  the  early  stages  of  this  period  of  the  suffrage  campaign,  the  IWFL  suffragettes  were  in  close  contact  with  the  WSPU,  with  some  IWFL  suffragettes  participating  in  militant  activities  in  England  with  the  group.

Irish Womens Franchise League fundraising Suffrage Dance ticket; courtesy of private collector
Irish Womens Franchise League fundraising Suffrage Dance ticket; courtesy of private collector

Irish Womens Franchise League fundraising Suffrage Dance ticket. This advertised an event which would never have taken place due to its scheduling coinciding with the week of the Easter Rising in 1916.

Photograph from 1912 of IWFL suffragette Margaret (Meg) Connery attempting to pass a handbill to the politicians Bonar Law (on left) and Edward Carson (on right); courtesy of the National Library of Ireland
Photograph from 1912 of IWFL suffragette Margaret (Meg) Connery attempting to pass a handbill to the politicians Bonar Law (on left) and Edward Carson (on right); courtesy of the National Library of Ireland

In November 1912, Meg Connery and fellow suffragette Hanna Sheehy Skeffington were stationed at Lord Iveagh’s house in Stephen’s Green in an attempt to meet the politician Bonar Law, then leader of the British Conservative party. Law had refused to meet a group of suffrage delegates, and suffragists leafletted at all possible venues where he may have been in an attempt to doorstep him.

Meg seized the moment to confront the men and attempted to pass them a leaflet as they posed for press photographers. She was removed by the policeman seen on the right hand side of the photograph. Out of shot is Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, who was seized by a police sergeant, who shook her like “a terrier shaking a kitten”, before arresting her and charging her with assault.

Daily Sketch newspaper article (1914) showing IWFL suffragette Hanna Sheehy Skeffington addressing a protest meeting outside Mountjoy Prison, where suffragette Kathleen Houston was imprisoned at the time. Image courtesy of RTÉ Photographic Archive
Daily Sketch newspaper article (1914) showing IWFL suffragette Hanna Sheehy Skeffington addressing a protest meeting outside Mountjoy Prison, where suffragette Kathleen Houston was imprisoned at the time.||Image courtesy of RTÉ Photographic Archive
Arrest of a Suffragette (1914); courtesy of RTÉ Photographic Archive
Arrest of a Suffragette (1914)|| Image courtesy of RTÉ Photographic Archive

The daffodil was the official flower of the IWFL, who held a national “Daffodil Day” Fete in April 1914. The IWFL Daffodil Fete, known as Daffodil Day, brought participants and attendants from several nationalist and suffrage organisations. The highlight of the day was a pageant celebrating great women from history, which included a “Tableau Vivant” entitled the “Feminist Tableau”. The pageant included four presentations of Joan of Arc, which were deemed the most successful of the tableaux.

Two of these portrayals were played by the nationalist revolutionary Constance Markievicz. Joan of Arc was an international republican heroine, as well as a feminist and suffrage role model, and was well suited for use as part of the symbolism for Irish female nationalists. Markievicz played the role in a home-made suit of armour, made from either linoleum or cardboard which was “washed over with silver paint and on stage it looked just like a suit of armour”. These images above were popular fund-raising souvenirs (distributed in postcard form) sold by the suffrage campaign, and became a broader popular feminist image for the period.

Images of Countess Constance Markievicz playing the role of Joan of Arc at the IWFL Daffodil Fete in 1914. (L) Markievicz holds a sword aloft (R) Joan of Arc appears to an imprisoned suffragette (played by IWFL suffragette Kathleen Houston). Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland
Images of Countess Constance Markievicz playing the role of Joan of Arc at the IWFL Daffodil Fete in 1914||(L) Markievicz holds a sword aloft||(R) Joan of Arc appears to an imprisoned suffragette (played by IWFL suffragette Kathleen Houston).||Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland


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