23 Facts About Margaret Skinnider

Margaret Frances Skinnider was a revolutionary and feminist born in Coatbridge, Scotland.

Margaret Skinnider fought during the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin as a sniper, among other roles, and was the only woman wounded in the action.

Margaret Frances Skinnider was born in 1892 to Irish parents in the Lanarkshire town of Coatbridge.

Margaret Skinnider trained as a mathematics teacher and joined Cumann na mBan in Glasgow.

Margaret Skinnider was involved in the women's suffrage movement, including a protest at Perth Prison.

Margaret Skinnider was seriously wounded when she was shot three times attempting to burn down houses on Harcourt Street to try to cut off the retreat of British soldiers who had planted a machine-gun post on the roof of the University Church.

Margaret Skinnider was treated for her wounds by Nora O'Daly and Madeleine ffrench Mullen, who provided first aid in the College of Surgeons garrison.

Nora Connolly O'Brien describes Margaret Skinnider's leading role in this action:.

Margaret Skinnider was severely injured during the Easter Rising, being shot 3 times, with one of the bullets missing her spine just a quarter of an inch.

Margaret Skinnider's wounds were treated with corrosive sublimate, but too much was used and as a result they removed all the skin on her back and her side.

Margaret Skinnider returned to Dublin later that year before fleeing to the United States in fear of internment.

Margaret Skinnider later returned to Ireland and took up a teaching post in Dublin in 1917.

Margaret Skinnider remained imprisoned until November 1923, six months after the end of the civil war.

Margaret Skinnider returned to Dublin and took up work with Jim Larkin's Workers' Union of Ireland.

In 1925, Margaret Skinnider applied for a wounded pension based on her involvement in the Easter Rising.

Margaret Skinnider was a member of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation throughout her teaching career, and became its president in 1956.

Margaret Skinnider actively fought for the rights of women, with the marriage bar being a particular target of her campaigning.

Mary McAuliffe, a historian who has written a biography of Margaret Skinnider after researching her life, believes Margaret Skinnider was a lesbian.

Margaret Skinnider's partner was Nora O'Keeffe whom she met in 1917 while in New York as the two of them had been sent by Eamon De Valera to collect funds for the nationalist cause.

Margaret Skinnider was amongst a number of lesbian women who participated in Easter 1916, as she would have fought alongside Kathleen Lynn, Madeleine ffrench-Mullen, Julia Grenan and Elizabeth O'Farrell.

Margaret Skinnider spent her last years in Glenageary, County Dublin.

Margaret Skinnider died on 10 October 1971 and was buried next to Markievicz in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.

Margaret Skinnider was only the third woman to have been buried in the "Republican plot" area of Glasnevin, Markievicz being the first and James Connolly's wife Lillie being the second.