Louie Bennett
Louie Bennett | |
---|---|
Born | Louisa Elizabeth Bennett 7 January 1870 |
Died | 25 November 1956 Dublin, Ireland | (aged 86)
Alma mater | Alexandra College |
Organization(s) | Irish Women's Workers Union, Irish Trades Union Congress, Irish Women's Suffrage Federation |
Political party | Labour Party |
Louie Bennett (7 January 1870 – 25 November 1956)
Early life
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. The eldest of nine surviving children of ten, she had four sisters and five brothers.[7] Her father, James Bennett, ran the family business as a fine art auctioneer and valuer on Ormond Quay. Her mother, Susan Boulger, came from a family of some social standing in Dublin. The family later moved to the suburb of Killiney, overlooking Dublin Bay.[8][9] Her mother's family disapproved of her parents' marriage; Susan Boulger came from a British Army family who did not approve of their daughter marrying "into trade".[citation needed]
She 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.[5] She briefly studied music in Bonn, Germany. As a young girl she immersed herself in novels by Dickens, Meredith, Austen and Thackeray, and was introduced to women's rights by reading George Eliot. She published two novels, The Proving of Priscilla (published by Harpers, 1902)[10] and A Prisoner of His Word (Maunsel, 1908).[11][12]
Suffrage movement and the Irish Citizen
Suffrage movement
The terms suffragette (militant) and
Some members of the Irish suffrage movement were also involved in the independence movement, though others were unionist. As the fighter for both suffrage and freedom Sidney Czira (John Brennan) put it in an interview with RTÉ Television, the suffragists wanted to get into the British parliament, and the independence movement wanted to get out of it.[15]
Involvement with the Irish Citizen
In 1920, Bennett took over financial and editorial control of the
Bennett was left in control of the paper until its demise a few months later. Funding decreased due to its dwindling support and the ethos of the paper changing to a trade union organ. The printing press was destroyed by the
Trade union work
Irish Women Workers' Union
The Irish Women Workers' Union was founded at a public meeting held on 5 September 1911 in the old Concert Hall on
The Union's role as a voice for women was centred on attempts to win improved pay and conditions for women workers, parity with male workers and the right to apply for the same jobs and be accorded the same status as men. On 20 November 1935, the IWWU, under Bennett, staged street protests against discriminatory sections of Seán Lemass's Conditions of Employment bill.[18] In 1945, the Union organised a successful three-month strike for improved conditions and won the entitlement, subsequently enjoyed by all Irish workers, to two weeks' paid annual holidays. On the political front, the Union was also an effective lobbying organisation that sought to make progress on a range of issues of direct relevance to Irish women by working to influence the wider trade union movement as well as successive governments.[17] Bennett continued to be involved in a leadership role until 1955.[19]
The Irish Trades Union Congress
She was a member of the national executive of the Irish Trades Union Congress from 1927 to 1932, and from 1944 to 1950. In 1932, Bennett became its first woman president, and was elected to the position again in 1948.[5][6]
Political activity
In 1927, she was elected to the executive committee of the Labour Party.[7] In 1943, she was elected as a Labour Party member of the Dún Laoghaire borough council.[19]
She was a pacifist and in later life she campaigned against nuclear power.[5]
Personal life, death and legacy
Bennett lived with her long-time romantic partner Helen Chenevix in Killiney, County Dublin.[20]
Bennett died on 25 November 1956, aged 86. Her funeral was attended by many trade union and Labour figures including
In 1958 a park bench memorial in St Stephen's Green was commissioned to pay tribute to her life and service.[22]
In 1996, she was commemorated with a stamp by An Post. The 32 pence stamp described her as a suffragette and trade unionist.[23]
See also
References
- ^ "Irish Genealogy". civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
- ^ Bennett, Louie (1902). The Proving of Priscilla. Dublin: Harper Bros.
- ^ Bennett, Louie (1908). A Prisoner of His Word. Dublin: Maunsel.
- ^ "History of Ireland". www.historyireland.com. 13 March 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ^ ISBN 0-9534293-0-X.
- ^ a b "Louie Bennet and Helen Chenevix". Irish Congress of Trade Unions. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
- ^ a b c Fox, R.M. (1958). Louis Bennett: Her Life and Times. Dublin: Talbot Press.
- ^ "National Archives: Census of Ireland 1911". www.census.nationalarchives.ie. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
- ^ "National Archives: Census of Ireland 1911". www.census.nationalarchives.ie. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
- ^ From Ireland in Fiction by Professor Alexander Brady: 'Story of an ill-assorted marriage. The wife, daughter of a Protestant rector, is a Puritan of the best type, simple, religious, and sincere. The husband is a fast man of fashion, who cannot understand her "prejudices". After much bickering they part. Troubles fall on both. In the end his illness brings them together again each grown more tolerant. Quiet and simply but well written, with nothing objectionable in the treatment.'
- ^ From Ireland in Fiction by Professor Alexander Brady: '"A tale of real happenings" (sub-title). Opens at Ballynahinch, Co Down, in June 1797 - A pleasant, exciting romance, written in vigorous and nervous style. A young Englishman joins the Northern rebellion. He pledges himself to avenge his friend taken after a fight at Ballynahinch and hanged as a rebel. The story tells how he carries out the pledge. The only historical character introduced is Thomas Russell. His pitiful failure in 1803 to raise another rebellion in Ulster is related. The little heroine, Kate Maxwell, is finely drawn.'
- ^ Louie Bennet, Radical Irish Lives, by Rosemary Cullen, Cork University Press 2001
- ISBN 9780946211081.
- ^ "The Suffragettes". HistoryLEarningSite.co.uk. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
- ^ "The First Shot Should Be Fired At Dublin Castle". Retrieved 4 July 2017.
- ^ ISBN 0861217098.
- ^ a b "A brief history". Irish Women's Workers Union. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
- ^ Dean, Carpenter, Williams: Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, Vol. V, p. 131
- ^ a b Clarke, Frances (10 December 2018). "Louie Bennett: Pacifist, feminist and trade unionist". Irish Times. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
- ^ O'Donnell, Katherine (2003). Lesbianism. Gill and Macmillan.
- ^ "FUNERAL MISS LOUIE BENNETT". The Irish Times. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
- ^ "Memorial to Louie Bennett". The Irish Times. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
- ^ "Famous women recalled on stamps". The Irish Times. Retrieved 25 October 2022.