Eva Selina Laura Gore-Booth (22 May 1870 – 30 June 1926) was an Irish poet and dramatist, and a committed suffragist, social worker and labour activist. She was born at
Lissadell HouseLissadell House is a large country house, located in County Sligo, Ireland.The house was built in the 1830s for Sir Robert Gore-Booth, 4th Baronet MP by London architect Francis Goodwin...
,
County SligoCounty Sligo is one of the traditional counties of Ireland and is located within the province of Connacht. It was named after the town of Sligo .Sligo is the 22nd largest of Ireland’s 32 counties in area and 25th largest in terms of population...
, the younger sister of Constance Gore-Booth, later known as the Countess Markiewicz.
Both she and Constance, who later became a prominent
IrishThe Irish people are a Western European ethnic group who originate in Ireland, in north western Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolgs, Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians The Irish...
revolutionary, reacted against their privileged background and devoted themselves to helping the poor and disadvantaged.
Eva Selina Laura Gore-Booth (22 May 1870 – 30 June 1926) was an Irish poet and dramatist, and a committed suffragist, social worker and labour activist. She was born at
Lissadell HouseLissadell House is a large country house, located in County Sligo, Ireland.The house was built in the 1830s for Sir Robert Gore-Booth, 4th Baronet MP by London architect Francis Goodwin...
,
County SligoCounty Sligo is one of the traditional counties of Ireland and is located within the province of Connacht. It was named after the town of Sligo .Sligo is the 22nd largest of Ireland’s 32 counties in area and 25th largest in terms of population...
, the younger sister of Constance Gore-Booth, later known as the Countess Markiewicz.
Both she and Constance, who later became a prominent
IrishThe Irish people are a Western European ethnic group who originate in Ireland, in north western Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolgs, Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians The Irish...
revolutionary, reacted against their privileged background and devoted themselves to helping the poor and disadvantaged. Eva became involved in the
suffragetteSuffragette is a term originally coined by the Daily Mail newspaper as a derogatory label for the more radical and militant members of the late-19th and early-20th century movement for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, in particular members of the Women's Social and Political Union...
movement and in 1890, with help of Constance, founded a suffrage society in Sligo.
In 1895, Eva became seriously ill with
tuberculosisTuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria...
. In the following year, while convalescing in Italy, she met and fell in love with
Esther RoperEsther Roper was an English suffragist who was one of the first women to graduate and gain her BA at Owens College in Manchester.Esther was the daughter of a Manchester factory worker who later became a missionary in Africa....
at the villa of Scottish writer
George MacDonaldGeorge MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister.Though no longer well known, his works have inspired admiration in such notables as W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Madeleine L'Engle...
.
Esther RoperEsther Roper was an English suffragist who was one of the first women to graduate and gain her BA at Owens College in Manchester.Esther was the daughter of a Manchester factory worker who later became a missionary in Africa....
was a young English woman who was then secretary of the North of England Society for Women's Suffrage. Instead of returning to
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
, Eva went to live in Manchester with Esther. They became joint secretaries of the Women's Textile and Other Workers Representation Committee.
In the aftermath of the 1916 Rising she was instrumental in the campaign to secure the reprieve of her sister who had been sentenced to death for her involvement. Along with
Alice Stopford GreenAlice Stopford Green was an Irish historian and nationalist.She was born Alice Sophia Amelia Stopford in Kells, County Meath. Her father Edward Adderley Stopford was Rector of Kells and Archdeacon of Meath. Her paternal grandfather was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Meath...
she also took part in the unsuccessful campaign for the reprieve of
Roger CasementRoger David Casement , , was an Irish patriot, poet, revolutionary and nationalist...
.
Eva was also an accomplished poet. Her first published volume was highly praised by
YeatsWilliam Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright.Yeats may also refer to:* Yeats ,* Yeats , an impact crater on Mercury* Yeats , an Irish thoroughbred racehorse-See also:...
. After
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, Eva and Esther became members of the Committee for the Abolition of Capital Punishment and worked for prison reform.
As she grew older, Eva was forced to give up active work but continued writing poetry. Esther took care of her throughout her long illness and they were together at the end. Eva died in 1926 at her home in
HampsteadHampstead is an area of London, England, located north-west of Charing Cross. It is located within Inner London. It is part of the London Borough of Camden. It is known for its intellectual, artistic, musical and literary associations and for the large and hilly parkland Hampstead Heath...
,
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
.
After Eva's death, Esther collected many of her poems for publication and wrote a biographical introduction to them. Esther was extremely reticent, and little is known of her final years. Constance wrote of her: "The more one knows her, the more one loves her, and I feel so glad Eva and she were together, and so thankful that her love was with Eva to the end."
Sources
- Gifford Lewis, ‘Booth, Eva Selina Gore- (1870–1926)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 29 July 2006
External links