The Duty and Pleasure of Memory: Constance Markievicz

The year 2018 marks a hundred years since the proclamation of the Representation
of the People Act and of the Qualification of Women Act by the
UK Parliament. It also marks a hundred years since a woman – Constance
Markievicz – was first elected in Westminster. A protagonist in the Irish
fight for independence, serving almost five years in prisons in England
and Ireland, Markievicz devoted her life to political and civil reforms. She
became a member of the first Irish Parliament, and in 1919 was nominated
Secretary for Labour, thus making also the first female Cabinet Minister
in Europe. Women like her contributed to make history and were often
the victors, but somehow became marginalised in official chronicles or
went lost in the folds of time. Long trapped in the selective mechanisms
of collective memory, these women are finally being acknowledged their
fundamental role in the shaping of modern nations. Where Markievicz is
concerned, the duty and pleasure of memory prompts the work of people
engaged in reassessing and promoting her legacy. Two such examples are
Olivia Crichton-Stuart, a great-great child of Markievicz’s, and Constance
Cassidy-Walsh, since 2003 co-owner of Lissadell House, the Gore-Booths
historical property, to which she and her family have since committed.
This article informal conversation with both.