by Pat Burke

Created on: June 14, 2008

SKEFFY

Of all the deaths that occurred during Easter week 1916, perhaps none was more tragic than the cold-blooded murder of Francis Sheehy Skeffington, while in custody, by Captain Bowen Coldhurst in Portobello Barracks. But who was Sheehy Skeffington, affectionately known as Skeffy?

Franis Skeffington was born in Bailieborough, Co. Cavan in 1878. He was educated at home by his father, who was a schools inspector, and he later attended the then new National University in Dublin. In 1902 he became the first lay registrar at the college. There he first met Hanna Sheehy, the founder of the Women`s Graduates Association', whom he married the following year. As a supporter of womens rights and suffrage', he adopted his wife`s surname and became

Francis Sheehy Skeffington. Both he and Hanna became prominent in both Irish labour and pacifist circles. In 1905, along with fellow writer Tom Kettle, he helped to edit a small newspaper,the Nationalist. He also became a member of the Young Ireland branch of the United Irish League. In 1908, he wrote and published Michael Davitt: Revolutionary, Agitator & Labour Leader. He also helped Hannah James and Margaret Cousins to set up the Irish Womens Franchise League.

In 1912 he became editor of the Irish Citizen , and was also regularly contributing to the Manchester Guardian, the American Call and L`Humanit. During the 1913 lock-out he tried through the Peace Committee to mediate in the dispute. Seeing the police brutality meted out many Dublin workers and their families, he joined the Citizen Army and was elected vice-chairman. At the outbreak of the Great War, he joined with the Irish Neutrality League, which campaigned against army recruitment and Irish participation in the conflict. In May 1915, after delivering a speech in Dublin attacking conscription, Skeffington was arrested under the Defence of the Realm Act. He was subsequently sentenced to six months imprisonment, In Mountjoy,he promptly went on hunger-strike on June 7th. As a result he was released under the infamous Cat and Mouse Act, which left him open to re-arrest by the month`s end.

Francis Skeffington toured the United States in late 1915, promoting pacifism and neutrality as alternatives to the 20th century barbarism of total war. In his efforts he was supported by the newspaper magnate Randolph Hearst. American peace groups proposed international trade boycotts of the belligerent powers, called for a permanent peace conference to solve outstanding disputes and

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