Eva Gore-Booth
Eva Gore-Booth | |
---|---|
Born | Eva Selina Laura Gore-Booth 22 May 1870 County Sligo, Ireland |
Died | 30 June 1926 Hampstead, London, England | (aged 56)
Resting place | St John-at-Hampstead |
Nationality | Irish |
Occupations |
|
Partner | Esther Roper |
Eva Selina Laura Gore-Booth (22 May 1870 – 30 June 1926) was an Irish
Family background and early life
Eva Selina Laura Gore-Booth was born in County Sligo, Ireland, to Sir Henry and Lady Georgina Gore-Booth of Lissadell. She was the third of five children born to the 5th Baronet and his wife and the first of her siblings to be born at Lissadell House. She and her siblings, Josslyn Gore-Booth (1869–1944), Constance Georgine Gore-Booth (1868–1927), Mabel Gore-Booth (1874–1955), and Mordaunt Gore-Booth (1878–1958), were the third generation of Gore-Booths at Lissadell. The house was built for her paternal grandfather, Sir Robert Gore-Booth, 4th Baronet, between 1830 and 1835 and three generations of Gore-Booths resided there during Eva's childhood, including her paternal grandfather and her maternal grandmother Lady Frances Hill.
Both Eva and Constance were educated at home[2] and had several governesses throughout their childhood, most notably Miss Noel who recorded most of what is known about Eva's early life. She learned French, German, Latin and Greek and developed a love of poetry that was instilled by her maternal grandmother. Eva was troubled by the stark contrast between her family's privileged life and the poverty outside Lissadell, particularly during the winter of the Irish Famine (1879) when starving tenants would come to the house begging for food and clothing. Esther Roper later remarked that Eva was "haunted by the suffering of the world and had a curious feeling of responsibility for its inequalities and injustices."[3]
Eva's father was a notable Arctic explorer and, during a period of absence from the estate in the 1870s, her mother, Lady Georgina, established a school of needlework for women at Lissadell. The women were trained in crochet, embroidery and darn-thread work and the sale of their wares allowed them to earn a wage of 18 shillings per week. This enterprise had a great influence on Eva and her later women's suffrage and trade union work.
In 1894, Eva joined her father on his travels around
Eva became a vegetarian in 1900.[6]
Political work
The work of Eva Gore-Booth, alongside that of Esther Roper was responsible for the close link between the struggle for women's rights in industry and the struggle for women's right to vote. As a middle class suffragist representing Manchester, the work of Gore-Booth was mainly recognized in the Lancashire cotton towns from 1899 to 1913.[7] Her struggle began when Eva became a member of the executive committee of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. Carrying out work at the Ancoats settlement, Eva became co-secretary of the Manchester and Salford Women's Trade Union Council.[5]
1902 saw Eva Gore-Booth campaigning at the Clitheroe by-election on behalf of
In 1907 Eva Gore-Booth, reluctant to give up hope, contributed an essay "The Women's Suffrage Movement Among Trade Unionists" to The Case for Women's Suffrage. In this essay Eva gave a summary of reasons for the methods of the LCWTOW campaign to gain a vote for working women. In 1908 Eva was a delegate to the Labour Party Conference at Hull where she proposed a motion in favour of
Eva Gore-Booth continued to work for peace, writing poetry and for a privately circulated journal, Urania, for the rest of her life.[8]
Poetry
When Eva was embarking on her writing career she was visited by
Later life and death
Meeting political activist Esther Roper in Italy in 1896, where Eva was sent to recover from respiratory ailments, was a deciding factor in Eva's active involvement in women's rights of the suffrage movement.[4] The two women formed a strong attachment during the weeks spent together at the villa of writer George MacDonald and his wife in Bordighera which led to a partnership, privately and professionally, until Eva's death in June 1926.[12] How intimate her relations were with Roper is controversially discussed; however, letters and poems Eva dedicated to Esther suggest a romantic love between the two women.[13] One of those poems appears in a collection of Eva's poetic work "The Travellers, To E.G.R" which was published by Roper in 1929 in which Eva uses analogies of music and song to express how deeply she was struck by Esther's personality and charisma.[14][15]
After years of playing a lead role in the Women's Suffrage Movement and fighting for equality of women's rights in the UK as well as staying true to her literary roots, Eva and Esther relocated to London from Manchester in 1913 due to Eva's deteriorating respiratory health.[13] During World War I, Eva and Esther were actively involved in the British Peace Movement along with fellow suffragists, such as Sylvia Pankhurst and Emily Hobhouse. At the Women's International Congress which took place at the city of Hague in 1915, she jointly composed an open Christmas letter entitled "To the Women of Germany & Austria" urging to "... join hands with the women of neutral countries, and urge our rulers to stay further bloodshed ..." and appealing to a sense of sisterhood to prevent further atrocities and the war from escalating.[4]
Just weeks after the 1916 Rising, Eva traveled to Dublin accompanied by Esther and was pivotal in the efforts to reprieve the death sentence of her sister Constance Markievicz awarded for her instrumental role in the 1916 Rising, which was successfully converted to a life sentence. Her poetry composed during this period reflects the personal trauma and horror she was exposed to visiting her sister in solitary confinement.[13] She further campaigned to abolish the death sentence overall and to reform prison standards and attended the trial of Irish nationalist and fellow poet Roger Casement thus showing solidarity and support for the overturning of his death sentence.[13]
During the remaining years of her life, which was claimed by cancer on 30 June 1926, she remained devoted to her poetry, dedicated time to her artistic talents as a painter, studied the Greek language and was known as an anti-vivisectionist and supporter of animal welfare.[16][17] She also became a Theosophist and animal rights activist.[18] Eva died in her home in Hampstead, London she shared with Esther until her death. She was buried alongside Esther Roper in St John's churchyard, Hampstead.[19]
Sexuality
Eva Gore-Booth's sexuality has been a topic for debate among academics, and it is increasingly considered that she and Esther Roper were in a same-sex relationship, while some believe that the two women merely cohabited.
After being told that she was close to death in 1896 Eva took a trip to the home of George MacDonald in Bordighera, Italy, to recuperate. It was there where she met Esther Roper who was also recovering from illness. They formed a strong mutual bond and were partners in life and work from then on.[12] After the time they spent there together Eva further rejected her privileged rural life in Ireland and moved into the urban Manchester environment. There she purchased property with Esther, who became her partner in her sexual politics activism and suffrage work.[20] Although Eva and Esther lived together till Eva's death they slept in different rooms and there is no way of proving or disproving a sexual relationship or any sort of sexual encounters between them. However, it was also commonplace in this era for married couples (particularly among the upper class) to have separate bedrooms so this detail is superfluous. After knowing each other for four years Eva made Esther the sole beneficiary of her estate.[21]
Both Eva and Esther worked with a team of professionals to establish and edit Urania, a sexual politics journal that was circulated between 1916 and 1940.[22] The formation was due to the editors being connected through a feminist revolutionary group known as the Aëthnic Union which was formed in 1911.[15] Urania was a radical journal that contributed to the discussion on sexual politics of the Suffrage era. It was established to document and enhance the progress of the first wave feminist movement.[23] Its aim was to promote the elimination of the glorification of heterosexual marriage and sex and gender distinctions altogether.[24] It also became a point of reference for those worldwide who shared the editors' radical, Uranian Philosophy. 'Sex is an Accident' a term coined by Eva regarding biological gender distinction was used to sum up the Uranian philosophy.
The journal for most of its publication was privately circulated worldwide but was sent free to anyone who requested it to establish a network and register of supporters.[23] Eva was seen as the figure head and founder of this journal as it tied into her theosophical feminist beliefs. Urania was ranged from eight to sixteen pages of compositions, magazines clippings, extracts and reports about sex changes and scientific methods, lesbian women in history as well as challenging and overcoming society's gender norms.[24]
Urania monitored birth and marriage rates worldwide and celebrated when the rates fell. It also promoted the idea of same-sex love being the ideal particularly between females and it being spiritual in nature rather than physical. Throughout all this discussion Eva was noted in Urania as an inspiration and her words and her poetry was quoted in it long after her death.[24]
Eva is buried alongside Esther in Hampstead in England and her tombstone reads "Life that is Love is God".[15]
Despite the debate on her sexuality Eva Gore-Booth has been honoured for her work by the LGBT community including an award in her honour at the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival.[25] Eva has also been acknowledged by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions as LGBT and Worker's Rights role model.[26] Along with Cumann na mBan revolutionary lesbians Kathleen Lynn and Madeleine ffrench-Mullen, Margaret Skinnider and Nora O'Keeffe, and Elizabeth O'Farrell and Julia Grenan,[27][28][29][30][31] Gore-Booth was featured in a 2023 TG4 documentary about "the radical queer women at the very heart of the Irish Revolution": Croíthe Radacacha (Radical Hearts).[28][29]
Posthumous recognition
Her name and picture (and those of 58 other women's suffrage supporters) are on the
Selected publications
- Poems (1898)
- Unseen Kings (1904)
- The One and the Many (1904)
- The Three Resurrections and The Triumph of Maeve (1905)
- The Egyptian Pillar (1907)
- The Sorrowful Princess (1907)
- The Agate Lamp (1912)
- Whence Come Wars? (1914)
- Religious Aspects of Non-Resistance (1915)
- The Perilous Light (1915)
- The Death of Fionavar from The Triumph of Maeve (1916)
- Rhythms of Art (1917)
- The Tribunal (1917)
- Broken Glory (1918)
- The Sword of Justice: A Play (1918)
- A Psychological and Poetic Approach to the Study of Christ in the Fourth Gospel (1923)
- The Shepherd of Eternity and other Poems (1925)
- The House of Three Windows (1926)
- The Inner Kingdom (1926)
- The World's Pilgrim (1927)
- The Buried Life of Deirdre (1930)
References
- ^ Gore-Booth, Eva, The one and the many Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1904. Copy with hand-painted illustrations by Constance Markievicz [née Gore-Booth] held in the Manuscripts & Archives Research Library, The Library of Trinity College Dublin. Available in digital form on the Digital Collections Archived 15 April 2020 at the Wayback Machine website.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-78117-580-4.
- ISBN 978-0-9534293-8-7.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7190-8232-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-203-40390-7.
- S2CID 144004487.
- ^ Crawford, E (2006). The Women's Suffrage Movement in Britain and Ireland. UK & USA: Routledge.
- ^ Crawford, E. (1999). The Women's Suffrage Movement. UK & USA: UCL Press.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-85918-013-6.
- S2CID 144172402.
- ^ S2CID 36188888.
- ^ a b McGuire, J.I. (2009). Dictionary of Irish biography: From the earliest times to the year 2002. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ^ a b c d Gifford, L. (1988). Eva Gore-Booth and Esther Roper: a Biography. Pandora.
- ^ Gore-Booth, Eva (1926). Roper, Esther (ed.). Poems of Eva Gore-Booth: Complete Edition.
- ^ .
- ^ Commire, Anne; Klezmer, Deborah. (2000). Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Yorkin Publications. p. 411
- ISBN 978-0-313-34580-7
- ISBN 1-57607-101-4.
- ISBN 9780304329649.
- ISBN 978-1-57607-101-4.
- .
- ISBN 978-1-4742-9279-5.
- ^ a b Tiernan, Sonja (2010). "Tabloid Sensationalism or Revolutionary Feminism? The First-wave Feminist Movement in an Irish Women's Periodical". Irish Communications Review. 12 (1): 74–87.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84718-408-5.
- ^ "Gala Night & Awards". Archived from the original on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
- ^ "Workers' Memorial Day" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 April 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
- ^ Kelleher, Patrick (10 April 2020). "New book shines a light on the incredible role queer women played in the Easter Uprising". PinkNews. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ a b McAuliffe, Mary (22 June 2023). "Who were Ireland's queer revolutionaries?". Brainstorm. RTÉ. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ a b Tiernan, Han (27 November 2023). "Queer rebel women of Irish Revolution highlighted in new TG4 documentary". Gay Community News. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ "Hidden Histories: Queer Women of The 1916 Rising". Gay Community News. 22 March 2016.
- ^ McGreevy, Ronan. "The gay patriots who helped found the Irish State". The Irish Times.
- ^ "Historic statue of suffragist leader Millicent Fawcett unveiled in Parliament Square". Gov.uk. 24 April 2018. Archived from the original on 23 July 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
- ^ Topping, Alexandra (24 April 2018). "First statue of a woman in Parliament Square unveiled". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 June 2018. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
- ^ "Millicent Fawcett statue unveiling: the women and men whose names will be on the plinth". iNews. 24 April 2018. Archived from the original on 29 June 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- Gifford, L. 'Booth, Eva Selina Gore- (1870–1926)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 29 July 2006
- Tiernan, S. 'Eva Gore-Booth: An Image of Such Politics,' (Manchester University Press, 2012.)
Further reading
- Patrick Quigley: Sisters Against the Empire: Countess Constance Markievicz and Eva Gore-Booth, 1916-1917. Liffey Press, 2016, ISBN 9781908308870
External links
- Works by or about Eva Gore-Booth at Internet Archive
- Works by Eva Gore-Booth at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)