Rosamond Jacob (13 October 1888 – 11 October 1960) was an Irish writer and political activist. She was a lifelong activist for suffragist, republican and socialist causes and a writer of fiction.
Early life
She was born to lapsed
Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
parents, Lewis Jacob and Henrietta Harvey, in Waterford, where she lived until 1920.
Her parents' support for
Irish Nationalism
Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cu ...
placed them at odds with the majority of the Quaker community in Waterford and resulted in isolation. Rosamond was educated in Quaker schools in Waterford and amongst other things through this became proficient in languages such as French and German.
Political activism and writing
As a young adult Jacob become involved in organisations such as the
Gaelic League
(; historically known in English as the Gaelic League) is a social and cultural organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as its first president, when it em ...
, the
Irish National League
The Irish National League (INL) was a nationalist political party in Ireland. It was founded on 17 October 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell as the successor to the Irish National Land League after this was suppressed. Whereas the Land League ...
, and
Inghinidhe na hÉireann
Inghinidhe na hÉireann (; "Daughters of Ireland") was a radical Irish nationalist women's organisation led and founded by Maud Gonne from 1900 to 1914, when it merged with the new Cumann na mBan.
Patriotic Children's Treat
The Inghinidhe or ...
, a dedicated women's radical nationalist organisation. She, along with her brother Tom, was a member of
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...
from 1905, and it was Rosamond who opened the first branch of Sinn Féin in Waterford in 1906. It was that same year Rosamond became an
Irish language
Irish (an Caighdeán Oifigiúil, Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic languages, Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European lang ...
speaker and writer, a language she'd go on to become fluent in. Jacob's time in the Gaelic League over time began to grate, however, as she began to find the Catholic atmosphere there stifling to her developing feminist and agonist beliefs. In 1908 she joined the
Irish Women's Franchise League, created by her friend and fellow feminist
Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington
Johanna Mary Sheehy Skeffington (née Sheehy; 24 May 1877 – 20 April 1946) was a suffragette and Irish nationalist. Along with her husband Francis Sheehy Skeffington, Margaret Cousins and James Cousins, she founded the Irish Women's Franchise ...
.
In the 1910s she opposed
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
on the grounds that it was an "imperialist war" and demonstrated against attempts to recruit Irish men for the British army by
John Redmond
John Edward Redmond (1 September 1856 – 6 March 1918) was an Irish nationalist politician, barrister, and MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. He was best known as leader of the moderate Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) from 1 ...
. Around the same time she joined
Cumann na mBan
Cumann na mBan (; literally "The Women's Council" but calling themselves The Irishwomen's Council in English), abbreviated C na mB, is an Irish republican women's paramilitary organisation formed in Dublin on 2 April 1914, merging with and di ...
and from inside the organisation was critical of its restrained stance towards Redmond. During this period Jacob also stood critical of the
Third Home Rule Bill, as the grounds it contained nothing towards the suffrage of women.
Jacob remained active in Waterford, supporting and leading groups such as Friends’ Relief, a Quaker charity group, and she was elected secretary of the Committee for social reform in Waterford, which sought to address local problems such as gambling and alcoholism. In 1917 she represented Waterford at that year's Sinn Féin Ard Fheis, where she forced more commitment towards women's suffrage. During the
1918 Irish general election she canvassed on behalf of
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera (, ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was a prominent Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of governm ...
, but upon the meeting of the
First Dáil
The First Dáil ( ga, An Chéad Dáil) was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919 to 1921. It was the first meeting of the unicameral parliament of the revolutionary Irish Republic. In the December 1918 election to the Parliament of the Un ...
was disappointed in its lack of female representation.
Jacob's first novel, called ''Callaghan'', was published in 1920. It had actually been written in 1915, however, it took Jacob five years to find a publisher willing to take a chance on her. Callaghan was published under the pseudonym of "F. Winthrop". The novel details a romantic relationship between a Protestant Suffragist and a Catholic Nationalist.
Jacob opposed the
Anglo-Irish Treaty
The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...
of 1921 and supported cause the
Anti-Treaty IRA in the
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...
, however, she sought peace above all, as did many in the labour movement. In July 1922 she alongside
Maud Gonne
Maud Gonne MacBride ( ga, Maud Nic Ghoinn Bean Mhic Giolla BhrÃghde; 21 December 1866 – 27 April 1953) was an English-born Irish republican revolutionary, suffragette and actress. Of Anglo-Irish descent, she was won over to Irish nationalism ...
led women activists in calling for a ceasefire between both sides, however, their call went ignored. In 1923 Jacob was arrested and imprisoned at
Mountjoy Prison
Mountjoy Prison ( ga, PrÃosún Mhuinseo), founded as Mountjoy Gaol and nicknamed ''The Joy'', is a medium security men's prison located in Phibsborough in the centre of Dublin, Ireland.
The current prison Governor is Edward Mullins.
History
...
upon the government discovering that Sinn Féin's publicity department was based out of Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington's house, where Jacob was living. It was during this time she shared a cell with
Dorothy Macardle, now also firmly on the Republican side.
Between 1920 and 1927, Jacob was secretary of the Irishwomen's International League, which had begun life in 1916 as the Irish branch of the
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...
. As secretary, she a delegate to their congress in Vienna in 1921 and to Prague in 1929, and was among the organisers of the congress held in Dublin in 1926. It was also in 1926 that she followed De Valera and
Countess Markievicz and their supporters out of Sinn Féin and into the
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtà Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christian ...
following a split over the policy of using
Abstentionism
Abstentionism is standing for election to a deliberative assembly while refusing to take up any seats won or otherwise participate in the assembly's business. Abstentionism differs from an election boycott in that abstentionists participate i ...
against
Dáil Eireann.
In the 1930s found herself increasingly unhappy with the independent Irish state, finding it oppressive, patriarchal, and overtly catholic. In the face of this, she continued to throw herself into political and social activism. She joined the International Disarmament Declaration Committee as well as tried to create an organisation to oppose
Capital Punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...
in Ireland. In 1931 she travelled to Russia as a delegate of the Irish
Friends of Soviet Russia, and upon her return to Dublin reportedly favourable on conditions there.
It was in the 1920s and 1930s that Jacob was involved in a relationship with fellow republican
Frank Ryan. She played a leading role in the political campaign to secure Ryan's freedom from Nationalist Spain, and later worked to defend his reputation after news of his death in Nazi Germany became known.
In 1937 Jacob wrote and published ''The Rise of the United Irishmen, 1791–1794'', an historical analysis of the
United Irishmen
The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association in the Kingdom of Ireland formed in the wake of the French Revolution to secure "an equal representation of all the people" in a national government. Despairing of constitutional reform ...
. It was praised as insight and for Jacob clearly differentiating her own views from those of the book's subjects. The success of that book allowed her to find a publisher for 1938 novel ''The Troubled House'', which had been written in 1921. The novel was set during the
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and United Kingdom of Gre ...
and it offers an
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
critique of war and patriarchy while strongly suggesting a lesbian relationship between two of its protagonists.
In 1957 Jacob wrote ''The Rebel's Wife'', a historical memoir written from the viewpoint of
Wolfe Tone
Theobald Wolfe Tone, posthumously known as Wolfe Tone ( ga, Bhulbh Teón; 20 June 176319 November 1798), was a leading Irish revolutionary figure and one of the founding members in Belfast and Dublin of the United Irishmen, a republican socie ...
's wife Matilda, but she was unable to find a publisher for it until she rewrote it as a historical fiction.
Later life
She lived in the
Rathmines
Rathmines () is an affluent inner suburb on the Southside of Dublin in Ireland. It lies three kilometres south of the city centre. It begins at the southern side of the Grand Canal and stretches along the Rathmines Road as far as Rathgar to ...
area of Dublin from at least 1942, firstly in Belgrave Square. From 1950 she shared a house with her friend Lucy Kingston at 17 Charleville Road. She died in 1960 after a road traffic accident in which she was struck down. Rosamond Jacob
kept a diary almost all of her life, and there are 171 of these diaries among her literary and political papers held in the
National Library of Ireland
The National Library of Ireland (NLI; ga, Leabharlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann) is the Republic of Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The mission of the National Library of Ireland i ...
.
Published works
*''Callaghan'' 1920 (as F. Winthrop)
*''The Rise of the United Irishmen 1791-94'' 1927
*''The Troubled House'' 1938
*''The Rebel's Wife'' 1957
*''The Raven's Glen'' 1960
Biographies
*Lane, Dr Leeann (2010), ''Rosamond Jacob - Third Person Singular''. UCD Press.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacob, Rosamond
1888 births
1960 deaths
20th-century Irish novelists
20th-century Irish women writers
20th-century Irish writers
Irish children's writers
Irish republicans
Irish socialists
Irish suffragists
Irish women children's writers
Irish women novelists
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom people