”Dress suitably in short skirts & strong boots, leave your jewels in the bank & buy a revolver.

Countess Markievicz, 19th century Irish revolutionary, dispensing eternally relevant fashion advice. (via naomicreys)

COUNTESS MARKIEVICZ GIVES ME ALL THE FEMINIST EMOTIONS, let me tell you about her.  Constance Georgine Gore-Booth was born in London, but she was a Dubliner by heart.  She married a Polish Count, which made her the Countess Markievicz, and they moved to Ireland, where she got REAL political.

- Markievicz opposed Winston Churchill’s election to Parliament during the Manchester North West by-election, flamboyantly driving an old-fashioned carriage drawn by four white horses to promote the suffragist cause. One male heckler asked her if she could cook a dinner, to which she responded, “Yes. Can you drive a coach and four?”
- She joined Sinn Féin and Inghinidhe na hÉireann (‘Daughters of Ireland’), a revolutionary women’s movement founded by the actress and activist Maud Gonne. Markievicz came directly to her first meeting from a function at Dublin Castle, the seat of British rule in Ireland, wearing a satin ball-gown and a diamond tiara.  You can imagine this didn’t go over well initially – it didn’t matter, she worked her way in despite her rank.
- In 1913, Markievicz recruited volunteers to peel potatoes in a basement while she worked and others worked on distributing the food. All food was paid out of her own pocket, Markievicz was forced to take out many loans at this time and sold all her jewellery. That same year, with Inghinidhe na hÉireann, she started a soup kitchen to feed poor school children.
- Markievicz lead the Irish Citizen Army to successful gun-running in Howth harbour in 1914.
- As a member of the ICA, Markievicz designed their uniforms, composed their anthem, and was given the rank of officer, allowing her to carry arms.  She was second in command of the group that held St. Stephen’s Green during the Easter Uprising of 1916 – the Uprising only lasted seven days; Markievicz held St. Stephen’s Green for six and had to be convinced of Ireland’s surrender.
- For her participation in the Easter Uprising, she was sentenced to death.  Her judge commuted this to life in prison on “account of the prisoner’s sex.” It was widely reported that she told the court, “I do wish your lot had the decency to shoot me”.  (She was later granted general amnesty by a London court.)
- She was the first woman elected to the British House of Commons (1918) and the first Irish female Cabinet Minister (1919), not to be repeated until 1979.
- She was jailed four times – the final instance of which involved her rallying 92 other female prisoners in a hunger strike, which eventually lead to her release.

Nay, on that undreamed judgement day, 
When, on the old-world’s scrap-heap flung, 
Powers and empires pass away, 
Radiant and unconquerable 
Thou shalt be young.

(via shadesofbrixton)

they tried to tell her she couldn’t be an officer and she told them in that case she’d take her guns and go home

(via gwenfrankenstien)

(Source: sharkyteeth)