Grace Gifford Plunkett: A Definitely Not Unsung Hero

Like many women in history, Grace Gifford Plunkett is most well known for who she married. But this time is definitely unique: the most famous part of her story is that she married Joseph Plunkett, one of the signatories of the Proclamation and leaders of the Easter Rising, just a few hours before he was executed. This series of events has a sort of undeniable natural fascination around it, it seems some part of human nature enjoys tragic love stories, and has been immortalized through the song "Grace", a famous Irish ballad loved by many.

But we'll get to that in time. Grace was born in 1888 in Dublin, where she lived a fairly normal life. At 16 she attended art school and flourished, later able to go study in London because of her talents. 

Grace with William Orphen, her teacher

After her studies, she returned to Ireland to try and make a living as a newspaper cartoonist. She was never able to earn very much money, but Grace was already becoming politically active. Many of her cartoons were published in Irish nationalist newspapers, including The Irish Review, which, though she didn't meet him at the time, was edited by the man she would marry.

The two connected through a mutual friend, at the opening ceremony of a new bilingual (Irish/English) school on 1913. They must have known each other in passing before though, because Joseph's close friend Thomas MacDonagh, another main leader of the Rising, was married to Grace's sister. 

In 1915 Joseph proposed, and she accepted. But because Grace was raised Protestant and Joseph was Catholic, she had to convert in order to marry him. This was fine with her, but she had to take time to study Catholicism before she could officially join the church. She was accepted in April of 1916 - the wedding date was Easter Sunday. 

After their surrender, most of the leaders of the Rising were sentenced to execution by firing squad. Thomas MacDonagh was killed on May 3rd, Joseph was scheduled for the next day. Through impressive maneuvering and convincing, Joseph managed to arrange for he and Grace to be married just before midnight. 

"I was never left alone with him, even after the marriage ceremony. I was brought in and was put in front of the altar; and he was brought down the steps; and the cuffs were taken off him; and the chaplain went on with the ceremony; then the cuffs were put on him again. I was not alone with him - not for a minute. I had no private conversation with him at all. I just came away then." -Grace Gifford Plunkett

Grace and Joseph's marriage license

Grace didn't know about the details of the Rising and wasn't involved, but after her husband's death she became even more driven and politically active, using her art and influence to promote Irish nationalism.

In 1917 she was elected to be on a committee in Sinn Féin, the Irish Nationalist party. After the treaty debates she was firmly on the Anti-Treaty side of the Civil War, and at one point was arrested from February - May in 1923, imprisoned in the same jail as her husband and the other Rising leaders. Her imprisonment couldn't stop her from making art; Grace drew in the walls of her cells with crayons, most notably creating a drawing of Madonna and Child that has been recreated in the Kilmainham Jail today.

After her release Grace struggled financially and then became stable after the new government gave her a pension in 1932. Joseph had left everything to her, but legally the will was questionable because of the circumstances of it's creation while he was imprisoned. She had to take her in-laws to court to receive anything that Joseph had wanted her to have. Grace kept creating art, never remarried, and died alone in her apartment in 1955.
As a final note, I want to say that despite most historical sources referring to her as "Grace Gifford" I feel that this is incorrect. After her marriage Grace signed every piece of art as correspondence as "Grace Plunkett", and to not even include the name of her husband is invalidating to the way she felt about their marriage, as short as it might have been.