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My 1916: The woman with the golden gun

26 August 2015
The Royal Irish Academy is shining a spotlight on some of the lesser-known participants in the Rising, including a mysterious female sniper.

Ruth Hegarty, Managing Editor in the Royal Irish Academy, appeared in the Irish Independent talking about the Academy’s latest release 1916: Portraits and Lives, being published by the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) in advance of the centenary commemorations next year. 

Long before the Russians had women snipers fighting for the Red Army during World War Two, Ireland had her own femme fatale picking off the enemy during the Easter Rising.

One of the lesser-known figures of 1916, Margaret Skinnider would regularly don her dark green ICA uniform to take pot shots from the Royal College of Surgeons. Then she'd put on a dress and cycle into the city to pass on a message, after which she'd return, pull on her soldier's breeches and start shooting again. And if that doesn't already sound like a character who'd give James Bond a run for his Moneypenny, she was also known for smuggling detonators concealed in her hat, then testing them with Countess Markievicz in the Dublin mountains.

Read the article in full.

Learn more about the Academy’s centenary projects here.

Want to buy the book? 1916: Portraits and Lives is available to buy now.

 

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