| Collection Description | Sighle Humphreys was born in Limerick in 1899, the only daughter of Dr David
Humphreys and Mary Ellen (‘Nell’) O’Rahilly. Her father died four years after her birth,
having spent much of the intervening time travelling in search of a cure for his
tuberculosis. Her mother was one of the O'Rahillys of Ballylongford, County Kerry, her
brother Michael Joseph, ‘The O'Rahilly ,’ being the Volunteer leader killed in 1916 leading
a charge down Moore Street from the GPO during the Rising. The family background
was uncompromisingly nationalist. Sighle’s two brothers, Emmet and Dick both attending
Pearse’s school, St Enda's, and Dick served in the GPO with his uncle in 1916. They
took the anti-Treaty position and the family home at 36 Ailesbury Road was the object of
regular raids by government forces, the most significant involving the wounding and
arrest of Ernie O'Malley in November 1922.
Sighle own political involvement was centred on Cumann na mBan of which she was
variously secretary, director of publicity and national vice-president. She maintained her
republican convictions throughout her life, continuing her involvement with Cumann na
mBan, contributing significantly to republican causes throughout the 1930s, and
supporting political prisoners’ rights organisations until her death. She had married Donal
O’Donoghue, a veteran of the IRA Dublin Brigade, in 1935. He had been interned during
the Civil War and participated in the hunger strike of anti-Treaty prisoners in 1923. He
became editor of An Phoblacht in 1934 and was imprisoned again in 1936 for making
seditious speeches. He was actively involved with Clann na Poblachta, serving as
Chairman of both the National Executive and Standing Committee and stood as a Clann
candidate in the 1948 general election. [UCDA] |
|---|