Louie Bennett was an Irish suffragette, trade unionist, journalist and writer.
20 Facts About Louie Bennett
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Louie Bennett was a joint editor and contributor to the Irish Citizen newspaper.
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Louie Bennett wrote two books, The Proving of Priscilla and A Prisoner of His Word, and continued to contribute to newspapers as a freelance journalist.
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Louie Bennett played a significant role in the Irish Women Workers' Union, and was the first woman president of the Irish Trade Union Congress.
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Louisa "Louie" Elizabeth Bennett was born on 7 January 1870 in Temple Road, in the new upper-class suburb of Rathmines in Dublin, into a Church of Ireland family.
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Louie Bennett was initially educated at home with her brothers and sisters, but later went to a boarding school in England, and for a time, to Alexandra College in Dublin.
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Louie Bennett published two novels, The Proving of Priscilla and A Prisoner of His Word.
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In 1920, Louie Bennett took over financial and editorial control of the Irish Women's Franchise League's paper, the Irish Citizen.
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Louie Bennett had been outspoken against the policy of the Irish Citizen in the past and had actually withdrawn her subscription to the paper the previous year.
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In 1920 Louie Bennett told Sheehy Skeffington that she would like to take over control of the paper and turn it into a feminist Labour paper.
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Louie Bennett was left in control of the paper until its demise a few months later.
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Helena Molony had approached Louie Bennett to become involved and they, along with Helen Chenevix and Rosie Hackett, became key figures in a re-organised IWWU after 1916.
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On 20 November 1935, the IWWU, under Louie Bennett, staged street protests against discriminatory sections of Sean Lemass's Conditions of Employment bill.
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Louie Bennett continued to be involved in a leadership role until 1955.
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Louie Bennett was a member of the national executive of the Irish Trades Union Congress from 1927 to 1932, and from 1944 to 1950.
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In 1932, Louie Bennett became its first woman president and was elected to the position again in 1948.
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Louie Bennett was a pacifist and in later life she campaigned against nuclear power.
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Louie Bennett lived with her long-time romantic partner Helen Chenevix in Killiney, County Dublin.
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Louie Bennett's funeral was attended by many trade union and Labour figures including William Norton.
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Louie Bennett is buried at Deans Grange Cemetery, sharing a grave with her mother, father and brother Lionel Vaughan Bennett.