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396:. Coyle noted the terrible conditions at the North Dublin Union, which had previously housed troops: 'without exaggeration you could dig the dirt off the floors with a spade and leave enough behind for worms'. Coyle was one of twenty female prisoners to escape on 7 May 1923. She was recaptured the following day however. Coyle was finally released from Kilmainham in December 1923.
259:. She joined Cumann na mBan in 1917 and became active in fundraising and anti-conscription campaigns. Her father died at the young age of 36, a misfortune that Coyle attributed to the pressures of dealing with unscrupulous landlords who evicted her family from their lands. She notes in her private papers that it was during this fraught childhood that she first met
219:. However, her role in the period now known as 'revolutionary Ireland' (c1912-c1924) was more extensive than her membership of these two groups indicates. A letter from Peader O'Donnell dated 19 April 1945 in support of her application for a military service application noted she was targeted severely during the
430:
she started research to complete a history of the organisation from 1914 to 1923. She had a particular interest in the women involved from the north of
Ireland and Scotland. Her private papers reveal she had collected surveys and questionnaires from a range of women but she never published a book on
391:
By the time Coyle arrived at
Mountjoy there were already several Cumann na mBan members in the prison and overcrowding became a problem. Coyle led protests against these conditions, with the women throwing their beds out of the cells and sleeping on the floor. This lasted for six weeks before another
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an armed Coyle held up the train from which she removed all copies of
Belfast newspapers before publicly burning them. Coyle's activity, which was not sanctioned by Cumann na mBan's leadership, became a regular occurrence on that train line. She was also the official dispatch carrier between the IRA
306:
in
Roscommon, with her house twice wrecked by members of the organisation, she was arrested on New Years Day 1921 and subsequently sentenced to three years penal servitude for aiding IRA members. In keeping with Cumann na mBan policy, she refused to recognize the court during her trial. She noted in
322:
hatched a plan to escape from the prison. On 31 October 1921 Coyle and Kearns, along with two other inmates Mary Burke and Aileen Keogh, with help from sympathetic warders, scaled the wall of the prison and escaped in cars driven by republicans who had been instructed to wait outside. After that
307:
her private papers, 'I read a newspaper during the whole comedy and only raised my eyes once to tell the presiding officer that he was wasting his precious time, as I did not recognise his sham court, as I spoke Irish one of the police had to translate my seven words of wisdom.'
318:, where she was serving a sentence of two years hard labor. Coyle noted that 'we could only wave at her at Mass on Sunday as we were not allowed to kneel beside her at the altar rails.' Coyle and fellow inmate
439:
In 1935 Coyle married
Bernard O'Donnell, a Donegal IRA man, whom she had been in a relationship since 1918. Together the two had a son (who later become a priest) and a daughter (who later became a nun).
335:
Coyle supported the anti-treaty faction. Following the signing of the treaty she was appointed organiser for Cumann na mBan, who were the first major organisation to proclaim against the
227:
forces who 'regarded her more as an IRA officer than as Cumann na mBan organiser, which indeed she was'. She would also become notorious for her involvement in two high-profile
372:
During early 1922 Coyle's activities saw her frequently arrested by pro-treaty forces although on each occasion she was released without charge. However, in
September 1922 the
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hunger strike was begun. Later moved to the North Dublin Union internment camp after an infamous night of terror for women transferred from
Mountjoy Prison and
255:, to Charles Coyle and May McHugh (the youngest of their seven children). Her brother Donal Coyle served as Commandant in the 1st Northern Division of the
376:
decided to crack down on the activities of Cumann na mBan renegades and Coyle was the first member to be arrested as part of this move. Initially held at
373:
369:
1st
Northern Division and 3rd Western Division, a role that included rowing between Donegal and Sligo to ensure messages were not intercepted.
263:'who dazzled everyone by her beauty, charm, and humility'. For periods in the 1890s, Gonne campaigned in Donegal for tenant farmers' rights.
271:
As head of the County
Donegal branch of Cumann na mBan Coyle played a leading role in mobilizing her members to canvass on behalf of
519:
490:
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resigned after it became clear that a feud between the IRA factions would follow this move, something both women hoped to avoid.
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Barracks for two weeks Coyle was eventually taken to
Mountjoy Prison by boat, some eight weeks after her initial arrest.
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and found that many of the local branches had lost much of their membership and was forced to reorganise the movement in
651:
829:
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escape she stayed in an IRA camp in County Carlow until the Irish War of Independence truce (11 July 1921).
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Coyle was appointed to the executive of Cumann na mBan in 1924 and was elected as president in 1926, after
276:
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302:, providing them with sketches of a local police station that she knew. Regularly harassed by
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whilst Coyle was based in the Longford-Roscommon area she became a close comrade of the local
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Cumann Na mBan members May Burke (left), Eithne Coyle/Eithne Ní Chumhaill (centre) and
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to set up Cumann na mBan branches. She subsequently became Gaelic League organiser in
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in 1934 although on 18 July that same year she and fellow Cumann na mBan activist
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No ordinary women: Irish female activists in the revolutionary years, 1900–1923
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she created another first there by becoming the Cumann na mBan member to go on
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She was born as Annie Coyle on 3 January 1897 in Killult, a village near
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goods that had passed but which had met with little enthusiasm and the
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Coyle, who held socialist opinions, was a founder member of the
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40:
339:, for the North West of Ireland. She toured County Donegal,
49:(right) in Duckett’s Grove, Carlow, 1921, standing on the
412:. It was a post she held until her resignation in 1941.
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Donegal & the civil war : the untold story
815:People of the Irish Civil War (Anti-Treaty side)
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354:Coyle also sought to enforce the IRA boycott on
279:. Between 1918 and 1919 she lived for a time in
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283:as a Gaelic League organizer before moving to
644:Dissidents: Irish Republican Women, 1923-1941
491:"Eithne Coyle-O'Donnell's Papers IE UCDA P61"
211:activist. She was a leading figure within
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579:UCD Archive, P61, Papers of Eithne Coyle
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681:Cumann na mBan and the Irish Revolution
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477:Cumann na mBan and the Irish Revolution
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540:. Cork: Mercier Press. p. 32.
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763:, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002, p. 78
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479:, The Collins Press, 2007, p. 125
777:. Dictionary of Irish Biography.
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408:Markievicz resigned to join
138:1985 (aged 87–88)
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63:President of Cumann na mBan
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364:even reported that on the
310:She first recalled seeing
489:Coyle-O'Donnell, Eithne.
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536:Ó Duibhir, Liam (2011).
830:Women in war in Ireland
520:COYLE O’DONNELL, EITHNE
463:, O'Brien, 2003, p. 155
835:Cumann na mBan members
825:Women in war 1900–1945
820:People from Falcarragh
775:"Coyle, Eithne (Anne)"
642:Matthews, Ann (2012).
374:Provisional Government
267:Growth in the movement
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300:Irish Republican Army
277:1918 general election
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623:O'Duibhir, pg 33-36,
312:Constance Markievicz
215:and a member of the
86:Constance Markievicz
646:. Dublin: Mercier.
417:Republican Congress
33:Eithne Ní Chumhaill
747:O'Duibhir, pp. 199
341:County Londonderry
337:Anglo-Irish Treaty
333:Anglo-Irish Treaty
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243:Coyle, circa 1920s
202:Eithne Ni Cumhaill
154:Political Activist
97:Margaret Langsdorf
805:Irish republicans
773:Clarke, Frances.
547:978-1-85635-720-3
361:Belfast Telegraph
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194:Eithne Coyle
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93:Succeeded by
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22:Eithne Coyle
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800:1985 deaths
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410:Fianna Fáil
400:Later years
327:Anti-treaty
294:During the
235:Early years
115:Annie Coyle
81:Preceded by
789:Categories
734:McCarthy,
721:McCarthy,
708:McCarthy,
692:McCarthy,
679:McCarthy,
666:McCarthy,
610:McCarthy,
588:McCarthy,
500:9 December
444:References
261:Maud Gonne
249:Falcarragh
209:republican
151:Occupation
121:1897-01-03
51:Union Jack
556:670282546
406:Constance
281:Dungannon
273:Sinn Féin
204:) was an
127:Killult,
75:1926–1941
71:In office
712:, p. 209
696:, p. 200
683:, p. 199
670:, p. 198
614:, p. 150
386:Buncrana
275:for the
761:The IRA
592:, p. 97
356:Belfast
223:by the
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349:Ulster
143:Spouse
206:Irish
198:Irish
29:Irish
648:ISBN
552:OCLC
542:ISBN
502:2016
135:Died
111:Born
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