Sisters

Following on the heels of the Representation of the People Act (1918) which granted a measure of suffrage to women, came the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act which barred women’s exclusion from professions, societies etc., based solely on gender grounds. These two Acts were the motivation for our successful spring 2019 lecture series ‘Sisters’ celebrated sisterhood and specifically the lives and achievements of five families of sisters who made their mark on Irish life. Including artists, publishers, writers, educationalists, philanthropists, revolutionaries, suffragists — thinkers all — these were independent women with hopes and ideals who made a difference in their own times.Take this opportunity to hear about the diverse backgrounds and motivations of extraordinary sisters from four different centuries.

This series accompanies our exhibition, ‘Prodigies of learning: Academy women in the nineteenth century’ which continues until 3 May 2019.

13 March  ‘“Two girls in silk kimonos”: the Gore-Booth sisters, childhood and political development’ by Dr Sonja Tiernan, Department of History and Politics, Liverpool Hope University

27 March  ‘“A precious boon” in difficult times - Hanna Sheehy Skeffington and her sisters’ by Dr Margaret Ward, School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, QUB

3 April  ‘“Who will ever say again that poetry does not pay?”:  the Yeats sisters and the Cuala Press’ by Dr Lucy Collins, School of English, Drama & Film, UCD

10 April  'Ties that endure – the lives and correspondence of three eighteenth-century sisters – Katherine Conolly, Jane Bonnell and Mary Jones’ by Dr Gabrielle M. Ashford, Independent Scholar

17 April  ‘The Shackleton sisters:  Irish Quaker women c. 1750-1850’ by Dr Mary O'Dowd, MRIA, Queen's University of Belfast