| Collection Description | Born Catherine Mary Kingston at Birr, Co. Offaly, in 1879. She was educated at the Sacred
Heart convent in Roscrea before moving, with her family, to Dublin in 1910. She was an active
member of the Gaelic League and met her husband through the League. Caitlín and Cathal
were staunch republicans and she acted to support her husband and other Irish Volunteers
during the Rising in 1916. Both Brughas were opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty and Cathal was
killed in the Civil War in July 1922, leaving Caitlín a widowed mother of six. At Caitlín's request,
the chief mourners at Cathal Brugha's funeral were republican women, who formed a guard of
honour. She served as Sinn Féin TD for Waterford from 1923-27, having succeeded her
husband to the seat. After resigning from the Dáil in 1927, she turned her focus to her family and
a drapery business that she established in 1924. She died in December 1959 and was interred
in Glasnevin Cemetary. |
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