Maud Gonne (1866-1953) worked tirelessly to free Ireland from British rule and inspired some of the world’s most celebrated poetry along the way.
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Hello, from Wonder Media Network I’m Jenny Kaplan and this is Encyclopedia Womannica.
Today’s Activist worked tirelessly to free Ireland from British rule and inspired some of the world’s most celebrated poetry along the way.
We’re talking about Maud Gonne.
Maude Gonne was born near Surrey, England on December 21, 1866. She was the eldest daughter of Captain Thomas Gonne and his wife, Edith Frith Gonne. When Maude was just four years old, her mother died of tuberculosis. From then on, Maude and her sister Kathleen were raised by a governess. When Maude was 16, her father was stationed in Ireland and the family resettled in Kildare.
After suffering through her own bout of tuberculosis, Maude was sent to France to recuperate. During this time, she met and began an affair with a married right-wing politician and journalist named Lucien Millevoye [Lucy-en Mill-eh-vv-wa]. They shared a passion for the Irish liberation movement and had two children together. Their first, a son, died at 18 months from meningitis. Maud carried a pair of his booties with her until her death, when they were laid beside her in her coffin. Maud and Lucien’s affair ended with the birth of their second child, a daughter.
After her split from Lucien, Maud returned to Ireland and threw herself into the Irish-nationalist movement. She led protests that secured the release of political prisoners from British jails and managed to earn the respect of a fellow revolutionary, Arthur Griffith. And although rarely credited as such, Maud was instrumental in the creation of Sinn Fein [shin fain] -- the strongest nationlist party of Ireland -- alongside Arthur Griffin.
In 1889, Maud met the famed poet William Butler Yeats, more often referred to as W.B. Yeats. Yeats fell passionately in love with Maud, but the sentiment was not shared. Maud, and the unrequited love between them, became Yeates’ inspiration for much of his work. Maud was the muse for many of Yeats’ characters including Countess Cathleen, Cathleen Ni [nih] Houlihan, Rose, Helen of Troy and Deirdre. While Yeats is better known for his poetry, many of his plays, such as Cathleen Ni Houlihan, premiered at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and featured Maud in the titular role.
Over the course of their lives, W.B. Yeates would propose to Maud on several occasions. She rejected him each time.
Maud’s attention was consumed by her activism. In 1900, frustrated by the resistance she experienced from male Irish nationalists who did not wish for a woman to join their ranks, Maud formed the “Daughters of Ireland” group. The group’s aim was to secure independence for Ireland and revive the Irish language and customs. One of the group’s first acts was referred to as the “Patriotic Treat” -- which involved a huge children’s party that upstaged the government-sponsored events for Queen Victoria’s visit to Ireland.
The Daughters of Ireland created a school dinner system to help the poor and malnourished children of Dublin. The group also created the first-ever women’s newspaper to be published in Ireland. Eventually the Daughters of Ireland consolidated under an increasingly radical group of Irish women revolutionaries called Cumann na mBan or “The Women’s Council”.
In 1903, Maud married a veteran of the Boer War, Major John MacBride. Together they had one son, Sean, before dissolving their marriage after just two years. Sean went on to become the Chief of Staff for the Irish Revolutionary Army and later became a founding member of Amnesty International.
In April of 1916, while the British were preoccupied with the first World War, Republicans in Ireland rebelled. Over several days, thousands of Irishman, including several hundred women of Cumann na mBam, stormed government buildings and declared an independent Ireland. The insurrection became known as the Easter Rising, and one of its leaders was Maud Gonne’s former husband, John MacBride. John was executed in the British retaliation. Maud was in France during the Easter Rising but upon hearing of John’s death, returned to Ireland to continue her support with the Irish republicans.
In 1918, Maud was arrested and imprisoned on suspicion of conspiring with the Germans against the British.
When Civil War broke out in Ireland in 1922, Maud founded another group, the Women Prisoners’ Defense League, to help secure the release of Republican prisoners.
In 1923, Maude was arrested again and, along with 91 of her fellow inmates, started a hunger strike that went on for 20 days. She was eventually released due to poor health.
In the years that followed, Maud continued to support the Republican side and pressure British authorities for the release of Irish political prisoners.
Her 1938 autobiography entitled, A Servant to the Queen, is a vivid recounting of her life.
Maud died on April 27, 1953. She was 87 years old.
She remains immortalized in the words of her great admirer, W.B. Yeats.
Why should I blame her that she filled my days
With misery, or that she would of late
Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways,
Or hurled the little streets upon the great.
Had they but courage equal to desire?
What could have made her peaceful with a mind
That nobleness made simple as a fire,
With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind
That is not natural in an age like this,
Being high and solitary and most stern?
Why, what could she have done, being what she is?
Was there another Troy for her to burn?
[“No Second Troy” WB Yeats]
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