Margaret Skinnider was a revolutionary and feminist born in Coatbridge, Scotland. She fought during the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin as a sniper, among other roles, and was the only female wounded in the action. As a scout, she was praised for her bravery. Sadhbh Walsche in The New York Times refers to her as "the schoolteacher turned sniper".
Early life
Skinnider was born in 1893 to Irish parents in the Lanarkshire town of Coatbridge. She trained as a mathematics teacher and joined Cumann na mBan in Glasgow. She was also involved in the women's suffrage movement, including a protest at Perth Prison. Ironically, she had learned to shoot in a rifle club which had originally been set up so that women could help in defence of the British Empire. During her trips to Ireland, Skinnider came under the influence of Constance Markievicz and became active in smuggling detonators and bomb-making equipment into Dublin in preparation for the 1916 Easter Rising. Along with Madeleine ffrench-Mullen, she spent time in the hills around Dublin testing dynamite. When Skinnider was shown "the poorest part of Dublin" by Markievicz, she wrote, "I do not believe there is a worse place in the world." The street was "a hollow full of sewage and refuse", and the building "as full of holes as if it had been under shellfire".
Easter Rising
Operating variously as a scout, message runner and sniper, Skinnider took part in action against the British Army at the Garrison at the College of Surgeons and St. Stephen's Green under the Command of General Michael Mallin and Markievicz. Skinnider was reportedly an excellent markswoman. She was seriously wounded when she was shot three times attempting to burn down houses on Harcourt Street to try to cut off the retreat of British soldiers who had planted a machine gun post on the roof of the University Church. Nora Connolly O'Brien describes Skinnider's leading role in this action: In her autobiography, Doing my bit for Ireland (New York – Century, 1917,Skinnider herself vividly describes her role as a sniper at St. Stephen's Green in the Easter Rising: In terms of her role as a woman taking part in military action Skinnider comments: The former president of Sinn Féin, Gerry Adams, quoted Skinnider's stirring words in his 2006 address to the Sinn Féin Ard Feis. Injured in the battle, Skinnider spent several weeks in hospital before she contrived to escape whilst awaiting medical treatment and obtained a travel permit from Dublin Castle to enable her to return to Scotland.
Post-1916 activities
Skinnider returned to Dublin later that year before fleeing to the United States in fear of internment. While in America, she collected funds for the republican cause and lectured with other women who had fought in the Easter Rising. Skinnider also wrote and published her autobiography in New York – Doing my Bit for Ireland. Skinnider later returned to Ireland and took up a teaching post in Dublin in 1917. Skinnider was perhaps a lesbian, and around 1919, she came to live with her partner Nora O’Keeffe as a couple. During the Irish War of Independence, she was arrested and imprisoned. In the Irish Civil War, she became Paymaster General of the Irish Republican Army until she was arrested in 1923 and held at North Dublin Union. There she became Director of Training for the prisoners.
Later life
After her release from prison, she worked as a teacher at Kings Inn Street Sisters of CharityPrimary School in Dublin until her retirement in 1961. She was a member of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation throughout her teaching career, and became its President in 1956. She also actively fought for the rights of women. She spent her last years in Glenageary, County Dublin. She died on 10 October 1971 and was buried next to Markievicz in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.
