| Collection Description | Patricia Coghlan (2 March 1914–2 July 1975) was born in Frankfort House, Upper
Rathmines, Dublin. The
family home was used as a safe house during the War of Independence and the Civil
War and was frequented
by prominent republican figures during this period. There were close ties between
Frankfurt House and
Roebuck House, the residence of Maud Gonne and her son, Sean MacBride. Patricia
took up work at
Roebuck House for a short period in the 1920s and remained a close personal friend to
MacBride and his
wife, Catalina ‘Kid’ Bulfin, until Patricia's death in 1975.
Sean MacBride founded Clann na Poblachta, an Irish republican political party, in 1946.
The party was
officially established on 6 July 1946 and held its first Ard Fheis in Balalaika, Dublin in
November 1947. Clann
na Poblachta was intended to become a rival republican party to Fianna Fáil but also
held strong roots in
social democratic policies. Patricia was employed at the party headquarters at 20 Herbert
Place, Dublin,
following its establishment and she continued to work there until the closure of the offices
in the early 1960s.
[UCD Archives] |
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