Homespun Living History Guild

 

Cumann na mBan

Cumann na mBan (The Irish Women’s Council) was organized 5 April 1914 in Dublin, Ireland. Their main purpose at that time was to raise money for the purchase of arms and ammunition for the IRB (Irish Republican Brotherhood) and the Irish Citizen Army. Some of the women made their own uniforms which consisted of a green jacket and skirt with a slouch hat. Countess Constance Markievicz was elected President and during the 1916 Rising she was second in command at St. Stephen’s Green and the College of Surgeons garrisons.

 The ladies in the Cumann na mBan prepared bombs, cartridges and bullets and couriers were mainly women who notified all the Volunteers of the Rising which was planned for Easter Monday, 24 April 1916. During the actual Rising, women cooked, tended to the wounded, commandeered vehicles and guarded the gates at St. Stephen’s Green. Many of the women were snipers at the GPO and some were armed with rifles, Webleys and knives. Approximately 77 women were imprisoned in Kilmainham Gaol, Mountjoy Jail and the North Dublin Union following the Rising.

 The Civil War began on 28 June 1922 in the Four Courts. Again the women were a major force, tending the wounded, delivering dispatches, finding safe houses for the men and fighting right along with the men. Countess Markievicz was one of the snipers at the age of 54. During these years, the Free State Army were aware of the contributions made by the Cumann na mBan and many were killed for working with the IRA. The majority of the women that were arrested were held in either Mountjoy Jail or Kilmainham and quite a few of them were on hunger strikes just as the men were.

19th Century

 20th Century