Dorothy Macardle

==Early life==

==Early life==

Dorothea Margaret Callan Macardle was born in [[Dundalk]], [[County Louth]] on 7 March 1889 into a wealthy brewing family famous for producing [[Macardle Moore Brewery|Macardle's Ale]]. Macardle's father, Sir Thomas Callan Macardle, was a Catholic who supported [[John Redmond]] and the [[Irish Home Rule movement]], while her mother, Lucy "Minnie" Macardle, came from an English [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] background and was politically a [[Unionism in Ireland|unionist]]; Lucy had converted to Catholicism upon her marriage to Thomas.{{cite journal |last=Berresford Ellis |first=Peter |date=2016 |title=A Reflection of Ghosts: The Life of Dorothy Macardle |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/48536112 |journal=The Green Book: Writings on Irish Gothic, Supernatural and Fantastic Literature |issue=7 |pages=63–81 |jstor=48536112 |url-status= }}https://nationalarchives.ie/collections/search-the-1926-census/census-record/#a_id=410024 Macardle and her siblings were raised as Catholics, but Lucy, who was politically isolated in Ireland, "inculcated in her children an idealised view of England and an enthusiasm for the [[British Empire|British empire]]". Macardle received her secondary education in [[Alexandra College]], Dublin—a school under the management of the [[Church of Ireland]]—and later attended [[University College Dublin]]. Upon graduating, she returned to teach English at Alexandra where she had first encountered [[Irish nationalism]] as a student. This was further developed by Macardle's first experiences of Dublin's slums, which "convinced her that an autonomous Ireland might be better able to look after its own affairs" than the [[Dublin Castle administration]] could.{{cite web |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/macardle-dorothy-margaret-a5097 |title=Macardle, Dorothy Margaret |last=Maume |first=Patrick |date=October 2009 |website=[[Dictionary of Irish Biography]] |access-date=12 March 2023 }}

Dorothea Margaret Callan Macardle was born in [[Dundalk]], [[County Louth]] on 7 March 1889 into a wealthy brewing family famous for producing [[Macardle Moore Brewery|Macardle's Ale]]. Macardle's father, Sir Thomas Callan Macardle, was a Catholic who supported [[John Redmond]] and the [[Irish Home Rule movement]], while her mother, Lucy "Minnie" Macardle, came from an English [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] background and was politically a [[Unionism in Ireland|unionist]]; Lucy had converted to Catholicism upon her marriage to Thomas.{{cite journal |last=Berresford Ellis |first=Peter |date=2016 |title=A Reflection of Ghosts: The Life of Dorothy Macardle |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/48536112 |journal=The Green Book: Writings on Irish Gothic, Supernatural and Fantastic Literature |issue=7 |pages=63–81 |jstor=48536112 |url-status= }} name="census">{{Cite web|url=https://nationalarchives.ie/collections/search-the-1926-census/census-record/#a_id=410024|title=Census Record | The National Archives of Ireland}} Macardle and her siblings were raised as Catholics, but Lucy, who was politically isolated in Ireland, "inculcated in her children an idealised view of England and an enthusiasm for the [[British Empire|British empire]]". Macardle received her secondary education in [[Alexandra College]], Dublin—a school under the management of the [[Church of Ireland]]—and later attended [[University College Dublin]]. Upon graduating, she returned to teach English at Alexandra where she had first encountered [[Irish nationalism]] as a student. This was further developed by Macardle's first experiences of Dublin's slums, which "convinced her that an autonomous Ireland might be better able to look after its own affairs" than the [[Dublin Castle administration]] could.{{cite web |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/macardle-dorothy-margaret-a5097 |title=Macardle, Dorothy Margaret |last=Maume |first=Patrick |date=October 2009 |website=[[Dictionary of Irish Biography]] |access-date=12 March 2023 }}

Between 1914 and 1916, Macardle lived and worked in [[Stratford-upon-Avon]] in [[Warwickshire]], England. There, her encounters with upper-class English people who expressed [[anti-Irish sentiment]] and supported keeping Ireland in the British Empire by force further weakened her [[Anglophilia]]. Upon the outbreak of [[World War I]], Macardle supported the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]], as did the rest of her family. Her father led the [[County Louth]] recruiting committee while two of her brothers volunteered for the [[British Army]]. Her brother, Lieutenant Kenneth Callan Macardle, was killed at the [[Battle of the Somme]],{{cite news |author=[[Diarmaid Ferriter]] |date=14 December 2019 |title=Dorothy Macardle: A biography which gives her the literary treatment she has long deserved |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/dorothy-macardle-a-biography-which-gives-her-the-literary-treatment-she-has-long-deserved-1.4104389 |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |access-date=12 March 2023}} while another brother, Major John Ross Macardle, survived the war and earned the [[Military Cross]]. While Macardle was a student, the [[Easter Rising]] occurred, an experience credited{{by whom|date=June 2025}} for a further divergence of her views regarding republicanism and her family.{{cn|date=June 2025}}

Between 1914 and 1916, Macardle lived and worked in [[Stratford-upon-Avon]] in [[Warwickshire]], England. There, her encounters with upper-class English people who expressed [[anti-Irish sentiment]] and supported keeping Ireland in the British Empire by force further weakened her [[Anglophilia]]. Upon the outbreak of [[World War I]], Macardle supported the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]], as did the rest of her family. Her father led the [[County Louth]] recruiting committee while two of her brothers volunteered for the [[British Army]]. Her brother, Lieutenant Kenneth Callan Macardle, was killed at the [[Battle of the Somme]],{{cite news |author=[[Diarmaid Ferriter]] |date=14 December 2019 |title=Dorothy Macardle: A biography which gives her the literary treatment she has long deserved |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/dorothy-macardle-a-biography-which-gives-her-the-literary-treatment-she-has-long-deserved-1.4104389 |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |access-date=12 March 2023}} while another brother, Major John Ross Macardle, survived the war and earned the [[Military Cross]]. While Macardle was a student, the [[Easter Rising]] occurred, an experience credited{{by whom|date=June 2025}} for a further divergence of her views regarding republicanism and her family.{{cn|date=June 2025}}

Following the signing of the [[Anglo-Irish treaty]] in December 1921, Macardle took the anti-treaty side in the ensuing [[Irish Civil War]]. Alongside Gonne MacBride and Despard, she helped found the Women Prisoners' Defence League, which campaigned and advocated for republicans imprisoned by the newly established [[Irish Free State]] government. It was also during this same time that she began working alongside [[Erskine Childers (author)|Erskine Childers]] in writing for anti-treaty publications ''[[An Phoblacht]]'' and ''[[Irish Freedom]]''.

Following the signing of the [[Anglo-Irish treaty]] in December 1921, Macardle took the anti-treaty side in the ensuing [[Irish Civil War]]. Alongside Gonne MacBride and Despard, she helped found the Women Prisoners' Defence League, which campaigned and advocated for republicans imprisoned by the newly established [[Irish Free State]] government. It was also during this same time that she began working alongside [[Erskine Childers (author)|Erskine Childers]] in writing for anti-treaty publications ''[[An Phoblacht]]'' and ''[[Irish Freedom]]''.

In October 1922 Despard, Gonne MacBride and Macardle were speaking at a protest on [[O'Connell Street]], Dublin against the arrest of [[Mary MacSwiney]] (a sitting Teachta Dála) by the Free State when Free State authorities moved to break it up. Rioting followed and Free State forces opened fire, resulting in 14 people being seriously wounded while hundreds of others were harmed in the subsequent stampede to flee. Following the event, Macardle announced she was going to pursue support of the Anti-treaty side full-time in a letter to Alexandra College, which ultimately lead to her dismissal on 15 November 1922. In the following days Macardle was captured and imprisoned by the Free State government and subsequently served time in both [[Mountjoy Gaol|Mountjoy]] and [[Kilmainham Gaol]]s, with [[Rosamund Jacob]] as her cellmate. During one point at her time in Kilmainham, Macardle was beaten unconscious by male wardens. She became close friends with Jacob and shared a flat with her at Herbert Place, [[Ballsbridge]] later in the 1920s.{{cite web|url= https://www.woodfield-press.com/acrobat/activist3.pdf|title=Rosamond Jacob (1888-1960|first=Damian|last=Doyle|website=woodfield-press.com}}>https://nationalarchives.ie/collections/search-the-1926-census/census-record/#a_id=410024>

In October 1922 Despard, Gonne MacBride and Macardle were speaking at a protest on [[O'Connell Street]], Dublin against the arrest of [[Mary MacSwiney]] (a sitting Teachta Dála) by the Free State when Free State authorities moved to break it up. Rioting followed and Free State forces opened fire, resulting in 14 people being seriously wounded while hundreds of others were harmed in the subsequent stampede to flee. Following the event, Macardle announced she was going to pursue support of the Anti-treaty side full-time in a letter to Alexandra College, which ultimately lead to her dismissal on 15 November 1922. In the following days Macardle was captured and imprisoned by the Free State government and subsequently served time in both [[Mountjoy Gaol|Mountjoy]] and [[Kilmainham Gaol]]s, with [[Rosamund Jacob]] as her cellmate. During one point at her time in Kilmainham, Macardle was beaten unconscious by male wardens. She became close friends with Jacob and shared a flat with her at Herbert Place, [[Ballsbridge]] later in the 1920s.{{cite web|url= https://www.woodfield-press.com/acrobat/activist3.pdf|title=Rosamond Jacob (1888-1960|first=Damian|last=Doyle|website=woodfield-press.com}} name="census"/>

The Irish Civil War concluded in the spring of 1923, and Macardle was released from prison on 9 May.

The Irish Civil War concluded in the spring of 1923, and Macardle was released from prison on 9 May.