Francis Sheehy-Skeffington           

    The most interesting fact, to me, about Francis Sheehy Skeffington is that he took his wife’s name,Sheehy, and joined it with his own name. This was a symbol of his fight for women’s rights and not too many men would consider doing that even till this day. A well-known writer in Ireland, Francis was born to Roman Catholic parents and had a passion for Esperanto, an international language constructed in the 1880s. As our Irish language teacher would agree, Francis felt that the Gaelic language was dying off and he became fluent in Esperanto.

               Sheehy-Skeffington attended UCD and married Hanna Sheehy while he worked in the registrar’s office. Together, they worked towards both women’s suffrage and independence for Ireland. Francis was a journalist and most of his work included being the editor for the Irish Citizen, which he co-founded. During the Easter Rising, Francis was a pacifist and tried to dissuade the public in the Irish Citizen from using violent methods to further the cause. He even went as far as to start a citizen army to prevent looting during the Easter Rising. However, this did not end up happening as his life was tragically cut short.

Unfortunately, Francis was murdered at the behest of Capt. J.C. Bowen-Colthurst after being arrested for no apparent reason and held in custody. Colthurst was tried for the murder and found guilty but was deemed criminally insane. As a result, he was detained in Broadmoor Criminal Asylum. In the aftermath of his tragic death, the military authorities made an effort to cover up the murder of Francis and many people were angry, causing a distrust of those who were supposed to uphold the law and support for the insurgents who were fighting for independence. Sheehy-Skeffington was an interesting character in the Easter Rising because of his stance on women’s rights. As far as his opinion of Ireland today, I believe that he would be rather disappointed at the regressive move that the country has made since independence. Since the country’s “yes” vote on gay marriage, there is a growing argument that the eight amendment, which bars women from having abortions, should be repealed.