Today in Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin, a new headstone will be placed at the formerly unmarked resting place of Margaret (Meg) Connery, and her husband Con. Mayo woman Meg was an important and formidable force in the Irish suffrage movement, whose work for gender equality and feminism in the early twentieth century was extremely significant. The commemoration ceremony aims to ensure her memory and legacy are celebrated and recognised, and is an important step, as Meg’s important role in Irish history is not well known or regularly shared.
As a historian of the Irish women’s suffrage movement, Meg has always held a special place in my heart for her intelligence, her passionate journalism, and her absolute fearlessness in her pursuit of equality. In her role an an active member of the Irish Women’s Franchise League, she trained herself in public speaking and addressed enormous (and often hostile) public crowds on the right for women to vote, door-stepped and heckled politicians about their stance on suffrage, smashed the windows of public buildings in militant protest, and wrote blistering critiques of the patriarchal society which constrained and limited her and her fellow Irishwomen.
Huge congratulations and appreciation are owed to the Meg Connery Commemoration Committee for the erection of the headstone at Meg’s grave, which will help to serve as a marker for her often unrecognised role in the shaping of modern Irish history.
Scéal Heritage Consultancy 