Elizabeth Bloxham

Elizabeth Bloxham (8 July 1877 – 23 January 1962) was an Irish feminist and suffragist, serving as the national organizer for Cumann na mBan in the lead up to the 1916 Easter Rising and up through the Irish War of Independence.

Elizabeth Bloxham
Born8 July 1877
Claremorris, Ireland
Died23 January 1962(1962-01-23) (aged 84)
Dublin, Ireland
NationalityIrish
Known forNational Organiser for Cumann na mBan

Life and work

Known as Bessie to her friends, Bloxham was born in Claremorris, County Mayo, the daughter of John Bloxham and Bridget McGreal.[1] Her father was a Royal Irish Constabulary officer and she was raised in a Protestant household in Westport, County Mayo.[2] She qualified as a Domestic Economy Instructress and initially worked in the north of Ireland.[3][4]

Political life

In her late teenage years she began to read and then later contribute to Arthur Griffith's United Irishman afterwards writing for Sinn Féin. She usually signed her contributions as 'Eilís' (Irish for Elizabeth) or 'E.B.'.[3]</ref>[4][5]

Bloxham was well known in Ireland as a suffragette. She was a supporter of the Irish Women's Franchise League.[6] She was a Gaelic League member.[7] Bloxham was one of the founding members of the women's paramilitary organisation Cumann na mBan in April 1914.[8][9] She was selected as a national organiser. As a teacher she was free during her holidays and spent them travelling around Ireland founding local branches. Her selection for this role was due to her background as a public speaker at literary and suffragette meetings.[10] She was working in Newtownards during the Easter Rising itself and could only get reports of events.[3][11]

In the summer of 1916, after the Rising and executions were over Bloxham was dismissed from her position in Newtownards. In previous years she had been asked to stay and given enticements to do so. She believed that it was her outspoken support of the Volunteers while working in such a strongly unionist area that prompted her dismissal. She was given a reference which bore testimony to her ability as a teacher and her power of organization.[3]

Of her family's response to her politics:[3]

My brother's reply was, "Hasn't she as good a right to her own opinions as we have". That was the general attitude of the family.

After the rising she continued working with Cumann na mBan and was a signatory to the letter addressed to the President and the Houses of Congress of the United States of America asking for recognition of the Irish Republic.[3][12] She didn't remain in Newtownards and worked in Wexford as a teacher for most of her life, continuing to be vocal about feminism and nationalism.[13][14][15]

Legacy

Bloxham's statements, reports and writings about the era give an insight into the views of the people involved, Protestant and Catholic, Northern and Southern.[16][17][18] She retired from teaching in 1944.[19] Once retired she moved to Dublin and was living there when she documented her participation in the nationalist movement. She died in January 1962 and is buried in St Andrews Church Malahide.[20]

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References
  1. "General Registrar's Office". IrishGenealogy.ie. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  2. "Census return for Bloxham".
  3. "Bureau of Military History" (PDF).
  4. Senia Pašeta. Irish Nationalist Women, 1900-1918. Cambridge University Press.
  5. "Centenary Speech" (PDF).
  6. Senia Pašeta. Irish Nationalist Women, 1900-1918. Cambridge University Press. p. 14,108.
  7. Senia Pašeta. Irish Nationalist Women, 1900-1918. Cambridge University Press. p. 25.
  8. "RTE 1916".
  9. Senia Pašeta. Irish Nationalist Women, 1900-1918. Cambridge University Press. p. 14.
  10. "Maynooth University" (PDF).
  11. ANNIE RYAN (2013). Comrades: Inside the War of Independence. Liberties Press.
  12. "National Library of Ireland".
  13. Frances Flanagan (2015). Remembering the Irish Revolution: Dissent, Culture, and Nationalism in the Irish Free State. Oxford University Press. p. 103.
  14. Myrtle Hill (2003). Women in Ireland: A Century of Change. Blackstaff.
  15. John LoganA. & A. Farmar (1999). Teachers' union: the TUI and its forerunners in Irish education, 1899-1994.
  16. Diarmaid Ferriter (2010). The Transformation Of Ireland 1900-2000. Profile Books.
  17. Fearghal McGarry (2016). The Rising: Ireland: Easter 1916. Oxford University Press.
  18. D. Hoctor (1971). The department's story: a history of the Department of Agriculture. Institute of Public Administration.
  19. "Minutes of County COuncil meeting" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-08.
  20. "Grave stone and inscription".

Further reading

The Irish Republic: A Documented Chronicle of the Anglo-Irish Conflict and the Partitioning of Ireland, with a Detailed Account of the Period 1916-1923, Dorothy Macardle, Farrar, 1965

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