Kathleen Clarke (1878-1972)
Age 33 at the time of the 1911 Census
Census 1901 Address: No 21, Lower William Street, Limerick1
At the time of the 1901 Census, Kathleen was living in Limerick with her uncle, grandmother, aunt, mother and eight siblings. The 1901 Census return included her brother Edward (Ned), aged 10, who was later executed for his part in the Easter Rising. According to the Census she was able to read and write and spoke both English and Irish.
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Limerick/Limerick_No__7/Lower_William_St_/1500998/
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000998890/
Census 1911 Address: 59, St. Patrick’s Road, Drumcondra, Dublin1
The 1911 Census return shows that Kathleen and Thomas J. Clarke had been married for 9 years. Her husband Thomas was aged 53, and his occupation was recorded as a newsagent and tobacconist. Thomas was the first signatory of the 1916 Proclamation. Her children are recorded as John aged 8, (Place of Birth - United States), Tom aged 3, (Place of Birth - Limerick City) and Emmet aged 1, (Place of Birth - Dublin City).
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Dublin/Drumcondra/St__Patrick_s_Road/28246/
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000031698/
Kathleen Clarke, nee Daly, was born in 1878 in Limerick City and was from a prosperous Fenian family. The head of the household was her uncle John Daly, (a Fenian and Mayor of Limerick). John Daly had once shared a cell with her husband, Thomas Clarke, who was 20 years her senior. Kathleen met Clarke when he was released from prison and awarded the freedom of Limerick City. While he did not immediately impress her, they began a correspondence.
When Thomas Clarke moved to New York in 1898 and in 1901 she followed him. They married and bought a farm but returned to Dublin in 1908 with their three children. They opened a tobacconist shop, initially at 77, Amiens Street and then at 75A, Parnell Street, Dublin2, which was a front for Irish Republican Brotherhood activities and had a permanent posting of detectives noting who came and went.
Though she was a founding member of Cumann na mBan, she did not participate directly in the Rising as she had been selected by the IRB to co-ordinate the distribution of support for the families of activists. She was selected by the IRB to be custodian of the plans and decisions in the event that senior members would be killed or arrested with the aim that she would then pass on the plans to other leaders.
Photo: Kathleen Clarke and family
Kathleen’s husband and her brother Edward (Ned) Daly were tried and executed in 1916 and the stress of these events led her to have a miscarriage. She set up the Irish National Aid Fund to aid families of those killed or imprisoned. In 1918 she was arrested and interned as a Sinn Féin activist in Holloway Women’s Prison with other activists including Countess Markievicz and Maud Gonne McBride. She was released in 1919.
Kathleen played an active part in the War of Independence and became a judge in the Sinn Féin courts. She later became a TD 1921-1927 and a Senator 1928-19363. She was the first female Lord Mayor of Dublin 1939-1941. She left Ireland to live in Liverpool with her son in 1965 and died there in 1972 aged 94. Kathleen Clarke was given a state funeral and is buried in Deansgrange Cemetery in Dublin
Sources:
Go to Elizabeth O’Farrell
